PEDIGREE PEACH TREES PRODUCE PROFITS. 
DOLAND MORRILL, the famous peach grower, whose orchards in Michigan and Texas excite the admir- 
ation of the world, is a believer in Pedigree as an element in successful plant breeding and improvement. 
The illustration above is from a photograph of his orchard at Benton, Harbor, Mich. On the back of the 
photograph Mr. Morrill wrote as follows: "The trees in this orchard were propagated by myself on the 'pedigree' 
plan. The four acres, of which this picture shows a part, yielded $6,400 in 1899, and in the consecutive years 
of 1898-99-1900, produced $11,850, or more than $2,960 an acre. Has produced a fair crop every year since it 
was two years old and is still bearing good crops, one of the best trees producing this year fifteen bushels. This 
view was taken at second picking, crop about one-third gone." It takes Thoroughbred Pedigree peach trees to 
make a record like that — just as it does in the case of strawberries. 
fresh one. Continued cultivation through a 
drouth will check evaporation more than one- 
half. After the dust mulch lies eight or ten 
days undisturbed it becomes settled, letting 
moisture work up so near the top that there is 
danger of waste by evaporation, the capillary 
power becoming stronger as the water in the 
mulch increases. The importance of frequent 
cultivations during a drouth cannot be over- 
estimated. 
The Last Cultivation 
THE last cultivation will depend somewhat 
upon the varieties and the season. All 
those kinds which make a thin foliage and 
produce a heavy crop of berries should be cul- 
tivated later than the heavy foliage makers; this 
will keep the vegetative parts growing, thus get- 
ting a more perfectly balanced plant. A!! those 
which are shy bearers may be forced into greater 
productivity by discontinuing the cultivation 
early. Plants are very industrious if their growth 
is checked in foliage; they immediately devote 
their energies to the making of fruit. 
Study the habit of growth of each particular 
variety and act accordingly. 
No matter what variety or what grade of soil, 
after the last cultivation and before freezing starts 
a narrow furrow should be made directly in the 
center between the rows. This furrow should 
be about four or five inches deep, and its pur- 
pose is to provide drainage for the surplus water 
from heavy rains or melting snows in winter; 
preventing the settling of water around the 
crowns of plants which, freezing into solid ice, 
would shut off their air supply and result in 
certain death by smothering. 
Discouraging Plant Enemies 
THERE is, perhaps, no other single thing 
the strawberry grower may do to protect 
himself against the attacks of insect and 
fungous pests which will be so effective as to 
secure and set out plants that have been thor- 
20 
