DWYER'S GUIDE. 27 



expect to give them the ordinary pruning as practiced for the average 

 orchard purposes. 



Peaches are grown far more extensively than any other single tree 

 fruit as fillers between orchards of Apples and other fruits, the purpose 

 being to crop them for a few years before the other fruits come into 

 bearing, and then .remove them. It must be remembered, that unlike 

 the other tree fruits the Peach should be kept in a thorough state of cul- 

 tivation at all times. From the time they are first planted until they 

 are done bearing, the land should be kept at all times under tillage, loose 

 and clean. The one exception to this rule would be in isolated cases 

 where along in the last of July or early in August we found our trees mak- 

 ing a superfluity of new wood, then we should at once prepare our 

 ground between the trees and use the crimson or red clovers, selecting 

 the one that best suits our climatic conditions, and seed down at once. 



This will, of course, soon retard the growth of wood. The clover 

 under normal season conditions will make a top growth of eigth to 

 twelve inches before the end of the growing season. We advise that 

 this clover be left on the ground until early Spring, when it should be 

 plowed under Just as soon as the land is dry enough to cultivate — the 

 earlier the better. Clover when grown and managed in this way will 

 have served the triple purpose of retarding the excessive and injurious 

 wood growth, as a mulch or cover crop for the land during the Winter 

 months, and, perhaps, what is more important than all other considera- 

 tions — a valuable enricher of the soil, adding to it as it surely will, the 

 much needed humus and the all necessary nitrogen that is trapped free 

 from the air. The writer here wishes to caution the reader against 

 something that is quite generally unnoticed, overlooked, or entirely neg- 

 lected — the guarding against this superfluous wood growth in the late 

 growing season. Very many serious losses are solely attributable to this 

 neglect. This new growth must be checked sufficiently early in the 

 Autumn to give it the needed opportunity to ripen up thoroughly before 

 freezing weather begins, otherwise the trees will go into the Winter sea- 

 son with an over abundance of soft, immatured wood. The whole tree 

 will suffer accordingly and a partial or whole loss of the crop will be the 

 ultimate result. In this connection we want to advise against the in- 

 discriminate use of stable manure on Peach trees after the ground has 

 been prepared and the trees planted. If used at all, and of course it can 

 be used advantageously, it must be applied sparingly and cautiously, in 

 order to cope successfully against the production of too much wood. In 

 addition to stable manure, unleached wood ashes and pure ground bone, 

 nitrate of soda, or any good commercial fertilizer rich in potash is good 

 for Peach trees. The quantities required must be determined by the 

 grower who is familiar with the condition of the land, and the size and 

 requirements of the trees. If he is an observant man, in love and sym- 

 pathy with his trees and solicitous of their welfare, he will, like the 

 mother with the child that needs a little special attention, know what 

 to prescribe and when and how to administer it without perhaps being 

 able to give a scientific reason or explanation. 



The Borers and Yellows. — These are the two greatest enemies of the 

 Peach. The former is easily overcome by making a thorough examination 

 of the trees regularly every Spring and Autumn and cutting out with a 

 sharp knife the grubs, whose presence may be readily detected by the 

 gum formed from the exuding sap. The yellows, however, is a constitu- 

 tional disease which may come from many causes. For instance. It 

 may be distributed from the original pit. from the bud, or from land where 

 Peaches had been previously grown. One thing is certain, however, that 



