Covering Peaches in Kansas.. 101 
fan-shaped and is supported by a stake, and the bend 
of the trunk rests upon a block of wood. The 
long, horizontal trunk remains comparatively small 
and pliable year after year. It should be covered 
with an inverted board trough at all seasons, to 
prevent injury from the sun. The flat top is laid 
upon the ground each winter, by twisting the trunk, 
and is covered with boards; it is not lifted un- 
until all danger of late spring frosts is past. 
Experiments along this line have been made in 
Kansas:* “When the first attempt at their protection 
was made, the trees [peaches] were three years old 
from the bud. In the fall of that year, 1887, the 
block was thinned out by removing some of the 
trees, leaving the remainder at irregular intervals, 
the alternate best trees with single, unforked trunks, 
being left standing wherever they occurred in the 
rows, with the result of an irregular alternate ar- 
rangement, in which the trees stood perhaps from 
six to ten feet apart. The tops of a number of 
these trees were prepared for tying-up by the re- 
moval of any wide-spreading branches, and by the 
shortening-in of those remaining. After this prun- 
ing, the branches were drawn toward the main 
stem, held in place by ties of soft material to avoid 
the barking of the branches, and the entire tree-top 
thus prepared was surrounded by evergreen branches, 
mostly those of pine and red cedar, which happened 
to be at band through certain changes in the ever- 
* Bull. 14, Kan. Exp. Sta., Dec., 1890. 
