THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 155 



respond to cover-cropping to as great an extent as from theory one might 

 expect them to do. Thus, in several experiments being conducted by 

 this Station, apples and grapes give no very appreciable response to the 

 various cover-crops — at least pay but doubtftdly for the expense of seed 

 and seeding. While there are no very satisfactory experiments to confirm 

 the assumption, it would seem, however, that the peach of all fruits would 

 be most benefitted by cover-crops. It is patent to all who have had 

 orchard-experience that land is in better tilth when some green crop is 

 turned under in fall or spring; so, too, all know that a cover-crop sowed 

 in mid-stimmer causes the peach to mature its wood and thus go into the 

 winter in better condition; it is not unreasonable to assume, though it is 

 impossible to secure reliable experimental data to confirm the belief, that 

 cover-crops protect the roots of peaches from winter-killing. Leaving 

 out, then, the doubtful value of the cover-crop in furnishing plant-food 

 to the peach, at least three sufficient reasons make it a necessary adjunct 

 of a peach-orchard. 



Several cover-crops are now in general use in the peach-orchards of 

 New York, in order of frequency of use about as follows: Clover, vetch, 

 oats, barley, cow-horn turnip, rape, rye, buckwheat. Combination cover- 

 crops are less popular than formerly, cost of seed being the deterrent. 

 Yet many years of experience at this Station and wide observation in the 

 State, unsubstantiated, however, by any experimental work, lead to the 

 conclusion that some combination of a leguminous and a non-leguminous 

 crop makes the most satisfactory cover-crop for the peach. A half-bushel 

 of oats or barley plus twenty potmds of winter vetch or twelve pounds 

 of red clover is possibly the most satisfactory of all cover-crops for this 

 fruit in New York. Occasionally a change from oats to barley, and clover 

 to vetch shoiild be made and once in four or five years rape or cow-horn 

 ttimip should be worked into the rotation. 



In the matter of fertilizers, the peach-grower early learns humility. 

 He is no sooner certain that his trees must be fertilized and that he has 

 at last hit upon the right formula than his check plats or his neighbor's 

 orchard convince him that he is not getting the worth of his money in 

 fertilizers. In eastern New York, peach-orchards are very generally 

 fertilized and rather heavily, the amotmts and formulas being nearly as 

 diverse as the men applying them. In western New York, commercial 

 fertilizers are comparatively little used in peach-orchards. Experiments 

 in fertilizing peaches in progress at this Station are inconclusive and there 



