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duction of peaches. In many localities, we find not enough produc- 

 tion of this good fruit to supply the wants of the usual housewife, 

 not to mention the wants of the village, borough, town and city. I 

 believe I know what some of you are thinking, — "We haven't the 

 soil or location to produce peaches." Am I right. Again, you may 

 say we will let Michigan, West York State, Northeast Pennsylvania 

 and Northern Ohio ship us our late peaches for canning and the 

 South Atlantic States and South Central Mississippi valley ship 

 us our early dessert peaches. Well, let the above sections ship us 

 their products and still you will not have enough. You can compete 

 with them and to confirm this statement, talk with your local 

 dealers and grocerymen, and see if they don't tell you that home 

 grown peaches will bring a better price and also that they would 

 rather handle them. 



Now, as to soil for peaches, we have been taught that peaches 

 were very exacting as to soils. This teaching is all right but I am of 

 the opinion that it has been carried to the extreme. The very habit 

 and nature of the peach root tends to teach the above. Peach 

 roots are very fibrous, the fibrous roots being more abundant than 

 the stocky heavy ones, indicating as we study tree roots, that the 

 peach prefers a loose soil, and popular opinion has tied this fact to 

 a light, sandy soil. When I speak of light soil, I mean light soil 

 as we speak of it on the farm. As a matter of fact, our loams and 

 clayey loams and even clays can be made very light to handle and al- 

 so pliable, if we install an abundance of organic matter into it, and on 

 such soils the roots of the peach will be able to develop and obtain 

 plant food, and grow. If one has a clay or loam (a heavy soil) and 

 should desire to grow peaches on it, he should work it welf, add 

 manure, and plow under some form of green manuring crops be- 

 fore planting the peaches. Do this before you plant, because it may 

 take you two, three or even four years to fit such soil for peaches. 

 Remember the presence of plenty of organic matter is of great Im- 

 portance. 



Now, for the exact location for this planting. I learn that in 

 the mountainous sections of southern Pennsylvania, and eastern and 

 central Pennsylvania, that late spring frosts occur very seldom, pro- 

 vided the elevation is above the surrounding neighborhood. This 

 item is as important as organic matter to the soil. Have good air 

 drainage to protect your trees from spring frosts. It is late spring 

 frost that gets the peach crop more than the low temperature in the 

 dormant season. Peaches have stood a 17 degree below zero tem- 

 perature without injuring the buds. A tree must be dormant and 

 should have hardened its wood well and in good season to stand such 

 temperatures. Nevertheless, they have stood it and will stand it 

 again too. 



The stock you plant, in a general way regardless of variety, I 

 will say should be one year old budded stocks, from a nursery com- 

 pany that will be glad to have you visit their blocks of trees, and 

 select at digging time the stock you want. You may have to pay a 



