TENNESSEE NURSERY CO., CLEVELAND, TENN. 
7 
him, and we have weeded them out until now we have only the varieties described in this cata- 
logue. Our efforts in testing varieties have been attended by more than ordinary success, 
evident by the list of varieties in the following pages. 
While eliminating the undesirable and worthless, the matter of new and better varieties 
has not been overlooked. The nurseryman who does not constantly endeavor to better his 
assortment, to strengthen the movement toward more and better fruit, is on the way to 
enforced retirement. With great pride we can say that the Tennessee Nursery Company is not 
of that class. By far the most important variety brought out lately is our Early Elberta, a 
sort that bids fair to revolutionize the peach industry on account of its quality and season of 
ripening. 
Special attention is given to propagation from select and proven strains of bearing trees, 
a method not generally in force among -other nurserymen, but the importance of which will be 
readily appreciated. Our test orchards are indispensable for offering our customers trees of 
known and tested value. Our peach trees are all grown from native Tennessee pits, and are 
budded from bearing trees, buds cut from our own commercial bearing orchard of 30,000 trees. 
Experience has shown beyond question that buds cut from bearing trees make, by far, the 
healthiest, longest lived trees, and that the fruit is much superior to that not cut from bearing 
trees. 
The peach-growing industry in the United States, at the present time, has become a very 
important one, being second in extent among fruits only to the cultivation of the apple. Ac- 
cording to the 1900 census there were in the territory east of the Rocky Mountains approxi- 
mately 91,000,000 bearing peach trees. Since that time the number of bearing trees has 
increased by perhaps one-fourth, making a possible total of 113,750,000 bearing trees. Careful 
estimates indicate that the quantity of fruit annually harvested by peach growers in this ter- 
ritory is not less than 10,000,000 bushels. Thus the crop for 1910. although an unusually 
large one was, for the territory mentioned, probably not less than 12,000,000 bushels, with a 
gross valuation of from $12,000,000.00 to $16,000,000.00. The above are copies from Farm- 
ers' Bulletin 440, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and contain the real value of peach crops. 
This shows that there is a large profit in peach raising, because in the last ten years peach 
growing has increased one-fourth. If there was not a good profit, peach growing would have 
decreased instead of having increased. We think this shows that there is a greater demand 
for the fruit and a larger profit than ever before. 
In the Palisades of the Grand Valley of Colorado, peach orchards have sold for $4,200.00 
per acre, with owners reluctant to let go of their lands. Georgia and Michigan have made 
a reputaion for their peach growing industry, and there are other localities too numerous to 
mention that will produce marvelous crops, season after season. Yet if all the fruit from 
these favored sections were put together, it would not supply one-thirtieth of the demand. 
There is such a demand for American peaches in foreign markets that the time will probably 
never come when there are enough peaches to supply the demand. 
DIRECTIONS FOR CULTIVATING, PRUNING, ETC. 
A sandy loam is best suited to the peach, but it will adapt itself to almost any soil, pro- 
vided it is well drained. Cut the trees back to 18 or 20 inches, as it is always best to have 
low headed trees. In the Spring, after the growth has started, remove all but three branches, 
and let these be well distributed so that the tree will be well branched. For the first two 
years fertilize with well-decomposed barnyard manure, or a mixture of one part cotton seed 
or bone meal to two parts of acid phosphate. Apply \]4 to 2 pounds to each tree. After the 
third year avoid nitrogen fertilizers, and use a fertilizer containing a good percentage of bone 
phosphate and potash and a small percentage of nitrogen. Prune every year by cutting one- 
third of the previous year's growth. The head of the tree should be broad and open so as to 
