QUESTIONS 221 



SURVEYS, PROJECTS, AND EXERCISES 



1. Orchard Projects. — A student may manage the peach orchard for one 

 season or more. Perform the pruning, spraying, cultivation, fertilizing, inter- 

 cropping, growing the cover crop, fighting borers, harvesting, marketing, etc. 

 Make directions and record blanks to suit. 



2. A more limited project may include merely the inter- cropping in a young 

 orchard. Plant, cultivate, harvest, and market these crops. 



3. A short project may be made of the picking, packing and marketing 

 of a crop of fruit. 



4. Fertilizer trials may be made in the orchard to determine which are 

 best for your particular soils, which hasten the ripening, which delay the ripen- 

 ing. 



5. An Orchard survey should be made to determine what varieties are 

 most successful, times of ripening, best exposures, loss from spring frosts 

 benefits of spraying, damage from borers, scale, curculio, brown rot, scab; 

 system of heading, picking, packing, and marketing. 



6. Blossoming Dates. — Make a list of all the varieties of peaches grown in 

 the region. Opposite each of these indicate the date of (1) first bloom, (2) full 

 bloom, (3) falling bloom. From these tables determine what varieties could 

 be used to cross pollinate others. 



7. Spraying Dates for Second Brood Curculio. — Collect a few wormy 

 peaches that have fallen to the ground from early attacks of curculio. Put 

 them in or on a box of soil covered with a wire cage made of fly screen 

 tacked on a frame. Note the transformations of the insects and the time 

 required for pupa stage for egg laying, and for eggs to hatch. 



QUESTIONS 



1. What regions of America are best suited to the growing of peaches? 



2. Why is an eastern or northern slope best for peach orchards? 



3. Describe best soils for peaches, plums, and cherries. 



4. Make a list of varieties of peaches arranged according to dates of ripening. 



5. Give several points to consider in selecting trees for planting. 



6. Give directions for laying out and planting the peach orchard. 



7. Mention several good crops to grow between the rows of the young orchard. 



8. Give several advantages of using cover crops in the peach orchard. 



9. Give directions for pruning trees at setting time. 



10. Give arguments for low heading and for high heading. 



11. Discuss fertilizers for peaches. 



12. Give directions and reasons for thinning fruit. 



13. Give several cautions and directions for harvesting peaches. 



14. Describe some good fruit packages for peaches. 



15. How is the peach-tree borer kept in control? 



16. The plum curculio? 



17. Give directions for control of San Jose' scale. 



18. Same for brown rot. 



19. Same for peach scab. 



References.— U. S. Farmers' Bulletins: 685, The Native Persimmon; 900, 

 Homemade FruitButters; 917, Growing peaches: Sites and Cultural Methods; 

 918, Growing Peaches: Varieties, Classifications, and Propagation. Read the 

 peach article in The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. 



References.— U. S. Farmers' Bulletins: 181, Pruning; 685, The Native 

 Persimmon; 900, Homemade Fruit Butters; 917, Growing Peaches: Sites and 

 Cultural Methods; 918, Growing Peaches: Varieties, Classifications, and 

 Propagation; 1096, Prevention of Damage from Frost; 1211, Home Canning; 

 1246, The Peach Borer (Para-dichloro-benzene treatment). Read the peach 

 article in The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. 



