266 THE STONE FRUITS 



The peach is usually planted by the square system, but other 

 systems are equally as good. 



Cultivation. — Clean culture is the common practice in nearly 

 all of the peach-growing sections. In fact, good cultivation is 

 essential to the continued success of the peach. 



The peach orchard should be cultivated throughout the 

 entire season, beginning with the first year the trees are 

 plantsd. The conditions surrounding the trees should 

 determine what the nature of the tillage should be. If the 

 soil is hard and the cover crop heavy it will be necessary to 

 turn the soil with a plow and follow it with a harrow or such 

 other implement as best suits the individual case. If the soil 

 is light, plowing can sometimes be omitted and some other 

 type of cultivation used to thoroughly pulverize the soil 

 to the desired depth. The soil should be worked with some 

 kind of a tillage implement often enough to keep it loose and 

 friable. A dust mulch 3 or 4 inches deep is valuable in holding 

 the moisture. If a crust forms on the surface it should be 

 immediately broken up. The soil should be worked after 

 every rain. 



The tillage operations should continue until the last of 

 July or the first of August. By that time the growth will be 

 made and the fruit buds formed for the next year's crop. 

 The seed for cover or green manure crops should be sown at 

 this time, which should be turned under the following spring. 



Pruning. — The peach is a stronger and a more rapid grower 

 than almost any of the other fruits. The young trees are 

 reduced to a single stem or whip and the head is formed from 

 the shoots that grow upon this whip the first >'ear. The peach 

 responds readily to good treatment and gives much pleasure 

 to the pruner. 



The object of the pruner in pruning the peach should be to 

 cut out enough wood to force a good strong growth each year, 

 to remove surplus fruiting wood and to gi\-e the tree the 

 desired shape. The peach bears its fruit buds in the axis 

 of the leaves and the fruit is borne on one-year-old wood. In 

 removing the new growth some branches should be taken out 

 while the remainder should be cut back to remove some of 

 the fruit buds which they carry. It is difficult to say just how 



