72 MAKING HORTICULTURE PAY 



bounds and thus the necessity of thinning can be 

 avoided to a large extent. 



From the very beginning the ground should be 

 kept cleanly cultivated until midsummer, when a 

 cover crop of crimson clover should be sown. This 

 must be plowed under early the following spring. 

 If the trees are making too much wood growth in 

 any year, it will be best to substitute rye or buck- 

 wheat, for the clover crop is a cover crop. Many 

 peach growers plant tomatoes, potatoes, cantaloups 

 or other cultivated crops in the young orchard for 

 the first two or three years in order to help pay the 

 cost of cultivation. It is disputed among growers 

 whether this is an advantage or a disadvantage to 

 the orchard itself. 



Rarely is it necessary to give the peach orchard 

 any more strong fertilizer than is furnished by the 

 clover. Nitrogenous manures should not be used. 

 Potash and phosphoric acid are necessary, espe- 

 cially when the trees are coming into bearing. 

 These fertilizers may be given in any amount, de- 

 pending upon the character of the soil, and the 

 grower's pocketbook. 



PEACH PRUNING AND TRAINING 



"At the Paragon orchards," writes Dr. J. H. 

 Funk of Berks county, Pennsylvania, " all peach 

 roots are pruned to about 5 inches ; the trees are 

 then set about 1 inch deeper than they stood in 

 the nursery. The tops are pruned before or im- 

 mediately after planting; all side limbs are re- 

 moved, and the stem cut back to 10 or 12 inches. 

 I prefer a medium-sized tree, as there are no large 

 limbs, but plenty of dormant buds to form a fine, 



