THE PEACH. 



583 



preference to warm valleys and southern aspects. In the colder ex- 

 posures the vegetation and blossoming of the tree is retarded until after 

 all danger of injury is past. Situations near the banks of large rivers 

 and inland lakes are equally admirable on this account, and the blossoms 

 are not injured once in a dozen years; while on level grounds, dis- 

 tant but a little way, they are destroyed every fourth or fifth season. 



With regard to the culture of peach orchards, there is a seeming 

 disparity of opinion between growers at the North and South. Most of 

 the cultivators at the South say, never plough or cultivate an orchard 

 after it has borne the first crop. Ploughing bruises the roots, enfeebles 

 the trees, and lessens the crop. Enrich the ground by top-dressings, and 

 leave it in a state of rest. The best northern growers say, always keep 

 the land in good condition, mellow and loose by cultivation, and crop it 

 very frequently with the lighter root and field crops. Both are correct, 

 and it is not difficult to explain the seeming difference of opinion. 



The majority of the peach orchards south of Philadelphia, it will be 

 recollected, grow upon a thin, light soil, previously rather impoverished. 

 In such soils it is necessarily the case that the roots lie near the sur- 

 face, and most of the food derived by them is from what is applied to 

 the surface or added to the soil. Ploughing, therefore, in such soils, 

 wounds and injures the roots, and cropping the ground takes from it the 

 scanty food annually applied or already in the soil, which is not more 

 than sufficient for the orchard alone. In a stronger and deeper soil the 

 roots of the peach-tree penetrate farther, and are mostly out of the 

 reach of serious injury by the plough. Instead of losing by being 

 opened and exposed to the air, the heavier soil gains greatly in value by 

 the very act of rendering it more friable, while at the same time it has 

 naturally sufficient heart to bear judicious cropping with advantage 

 rather than injury to the trees. The growth and luxuriance of an orchard 

 in strong land, kept under tillage, is suprisingly greater than the same 

 allowed to remain in sod. The difference in treatment, therefore, should 

 always adapt itself to the nature of the soil. In ordinary cases, the dura- 

 tion of peach orchards in the light sandy soil is rarely more than three 

 years in a bearing state. In a stronger soil, with proper attention to the 

 shortening system of pruning, it may be rjrolonged to twenty or more 

 years. 



Pruning. It has always been the prevailing doctrine in this country 

 that the peach requires no pruning. It has been allowed to grow, to 

 bear heavy crops, and to die, pretty much in its own way. This is very 

 well for a tree in its native climate, and in a wild state ; but it must be 

 remembered that the peach comes from a warmer country than ours, and 

 that our peaches of the present day are artificial varieties. They owe 

 their origin to artificial means, and require therefore a system of culture 

 to correspond. 



In short, we view this absence of all due care in the management of 

 the peach-tree, after it comes into hearing ', as the principal original cause 

 of its present short duration, and the disease which preys upon it in 

 many of the older parts of the country. We therefore earnestly desire 

 the attention of peach-growers to our brief hints upon a regular system 

 of pruning this valuable tree. Of course we speak now of common 

 standard trees in the orchard or garden. 



A peach-tree, left to itself after being planted, usually comes into 

 bearing the third or fourth year, and has a well-shaped rounded head, 



