CARE OF PEACH TREES 
43 
Peaches 
Peaches are grown successfully in every part of the United States 
except the northern part of Maine, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, the 
Dakotas, etc. They are not generally grown in southern Florida or the low 
country around the Gulf of Mexico. With few exceptions, peaches will 
grow in almost any of the localities where apples are grown. Where the 
thermometer goes 20 degrees below zero every year or so is as tar north as 
peaches can be grown commercially. If the cold continues for a long 
time, and the trees are not in a healthy condition, the fruit buds may be 
killed, and even the trees may be killed. On the other hand, some of the 
varieties have withstood as low as 25 to 30 degrees below zero for a very 
short time, when all other conditions were favorable. 
Peaches are not adapted to northern Maine. On the other hand, they 
do well in certain sections of Ontario, Canada, because of the protection 
given by the Great Lakes. Large bodies of water modify the climate. 
Peach trees are also susceptible to injury by late spring frosts, which 
occur when the trees are in bloom. They bloom early and it takes very 
little frost to kill the bloom. The successful peach-grower depends more 
upon a good location, free from spring frosts, than on any other one thing. 
The high elevations and the locations near large bodies of water are es- 
pecially favorable for peach growing. However, there are thousands of 
square miles in different parts of the country where bud-killing spring 
frosts are unknown, or so infrequent as to be almost negligible. There 
are some sections where the crop is 
lost frequently through spring 
frosts, but that danger has been 
overestimated. There are countless 
localities where peaches can be 
grown successfully where there are 
no peach orchards. 
The peach growing industry 
has been highly developed in a few 
localities, where thousands of acres 
are planted to peach orchards, and 
the peaches from these sections are 
shipped all over the country. Very 
few markets are supplied with 
home-grown peaches, and there are 
great opportunities in every part 
of the country for establishing or- 
chards and supplying local markets. 
Soil for Peaches. The poach 
is not so particular in regard to 
soil as some other fruits. They 
will thrive on very sandy soil, grav- 
elly soil, rocky soil, or clay soil. 
In a general way they prefer a 
sandy loam. This is especially true 
in the northern Unjted States, 
where the lighter, warmer soils 
produce better quality and high- 
colored fruit. Some of the best 
orchards are along the shores of 
the Great Lakes in Michigan, Ohio, 
New York, where the soil is com- 
posed almost entirely of lake sand. 
Some very fine" peach orchards are 
This Is an Ideal shape lor a younji 
peach tree, as trained by the late 
Parker Earle, of the Rcdland Heights 
Ranch Co., In Southern California. 
This Is a two-year-old J. H. Hale, 
which produced a number of very 
large peaches the second season. 
They have IS.OOO of these trees. 
