PEACH GROWING IN THE COLD NORTH. 



The peach and apricot must be protected here in 

 northern Vermont. No method of protection that 

 I have ever known is practicable, and at the same 

 time cheap and easy to manage, except the one I 

 shall here describe. 



The tree must first be rightly trained, to do which 

 you should procure a tree not more than one year 

 old. A June-budded tree would be good, or better, 

 one in bud. It should be planted where it is wanted 

 to grow, and all branches must be cut off, leaving 

 the central shoot, upon which allow only one bud to 

 grow. • The tree should be visited every week or two, 

 and all branches that have started out on the new 

 shoot should be broken oft, 

 taking care not to injure the 

 leaf below it. These little 

 branches should not be al- 

 lowed to get more than an 

 inch or two long. The object 

 is to get a long, slender cane 

 without branches. Fig. i 

 shows a tree in training ; a a, 

 are the little branches near 

 the top that should be broken 

 off. All the others below 

 them have been removed. 

 — About four or five weeks be- 

 fore frost may be expected, 

 you should stop breaking oft' 

 the branches so as to allow the wood to ripen enough 

 to stand the winter. On the approach 

 of freezing weather, place a round block 

 wood on the ground at the root of the 

 tree, and slowly bend the cane down 

 over it and fasten it there with a hooked 

 stick driven into the ground. Then cover 

 the cane with a couple of boards, nailed 

 together at their edges to form a trough. 

 This is all the protection it will need. 

 When the frost is out of the ground 

 in spring, remove the covering and 

 straighten up the tree. After it has 

 begun to grow, cut or rub oft' all the 

 branches and allow but one bud to grow, 

 and treat the tree just as you did the 

 previous season. At the end of the third season 

 you will probably have a cane long enough for your 

 purpose. Now the tree should not be lifted up in 

 the spring, but is kept in a horizontal position and 



allowed to grow up at the end and form a head, which 

 should be trained fan- shaped and parallel with the 

 horizontal trunk. Fig. 2 shows a tree trained ready 

 for bearing. 



There should be a soft pad of straw or cloth be- 

 tween the tree trunk and the block. On the ap- 

 proach of freezing weather loosen the tree from the 

 supporting stake, and after having placed some ever- 

 green boughs or boards on the ground to keep the 

 twigs off the earth, bend the head of the tree down 

 sidewise to the ground, and weight it if necessai'y ; 

 then cover the whole head with boards. I have 

 tried covering with evergreen boughs, covering some 

 trees a good deal and some but a little. Those tliat 

 had the most covering were killed by the snow drift- 

 ing in and over the covering, and then turning to ice 

 around the twigs during thaws. Those that were 

 covered the least did better, while some that were 

 laid on the ground without any covering bore some 

 fruit the next season, but there is danger of their 

 being injured by the sun in winter. I now cover 

 with boards, and find it tn be the easiest, cheapest 

 and best method. 



The object of the horizontal trunk is to have a 

 portion of the tree that can be easily twisted to al- 

 low the head to lie flat on the ground, and this trunk 

 meets the requirement perfectly. When I first be- 

 gan this method some told me that the horizontal 

 trunk would soon get too large to be twisted, but 

 this is not the case if the trunk is long enough, for 



Fig. 2. 



a trunk so trained and supported does not increase 

 in size nearly so fast as a short, upright one does. 

 This trunk should not be less than ten feet long ; 

 twenty feet would be better, but it would take longer 



