THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 59 



peaches was passed through the sieve of selection; local varieties quickly- 

 acquired fame; and, as means of communication developed, the new varieties 

 began to be disseminated, until, in 1850, American nurseries were selling 

 over 400 varieties, a number which at the close of the century had increased 

 to over 1000. 



THE CARE OF THE PEACH IN COLONIAL TIMES 



Peach-growers, in the period under consideration, gave their trees 

 much the same care as is given in the present time except that they did not 

 spray. Pests were fewer and yet some were especially troublesome, notably 

 the peach-borer, the remedies for which were as numerous as today. 

 Curculio, then as now, almost prohibited the culture of nectarines. A rot, 

 the brown-rot, without doubt, did much damage. Peach-yellows, as yet, 

 was not the scourge it now is but, as we shall see, was well in evidence. 

 There were faddists in those days as in these. Thomas Coulter of Bedford 

 County, Pennsylvania, was one of the original " sod-miilchers " — ■ at least 

 year in and year out he inveighed against cultivation. He managed to get 

 himself in all of the publications of the times for a period of a half-century. 

 We find his method discussed in Volume V of the Transactions of the 

 American Philosophical Society, in the Domestic Encyclopaedia ^ in 1803 

 and, as late as 1821, a full account was published in the American Farmer} 

 We quote the article in full, as it came out in the three publications named, 

 as a record of the times and because it contains a number of novel ideas 

 some of which may commend themselves to modern orchardists of the 

 sod-mulch school who want a cheap and easy way of growing peaches. 



" Transplant your peach-trees, as young as possible, where you mean 



them to stand; if, in the kernel, so much the better because, in that 



case, there will be no check of growth, which always injures peach-trees. 

 Plant peach-trees 16 feet apart, both ways, except you would wish to 

 take your waggon through the orchard to carry the peaches away; in that 

 case, give 24 feet distance to every fifth row, one way, after transplanting. 

 You may plough- and harrow amongst your peach-trees, for two years, 

 paying no regard to wounding or tearing them, so that you do not take 

 them up by the roots. In the month of March, or April, in the third year 

 after transplanting, cut them all off by the ground; plough and harrow amongst 

 them as before, taking special care not to wound or tear them in the smallest 

 degree, letting all the sprouts or scions grow that will grow; cut none away, 

 supposing six or more should come from the old stunip; the young scions 



iWillich Dom. Enc. 4:244-246. 1803. 

 2 Am. Farmer 1:406, 407. 1821. 



