MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 
139 
Second, Location must be high and fairly rolling with soil of proper char- 
acter. 
Third, When the orchard is set the soil must be given up to the trees and 
they must not be secondary to any other crop. 
Fourth, The trees should be grown with the greatest possible vigor con- 
sistent with sound, well ripened wood, as we want the greatest possible bear- 
ing area in the shortest possible time. 
Fifth, When trees come to bearing age they should be worked up to their 
•capacity and never beyond it; this is a. vital point in securing full and regular 
•crops and long life for the tree. 
HOW WE PRACTICE OUR THEORIES. 
As far as possible I grow my own trees, budding from young bearing trees, 
those three to five years old preferred, the object being to secure early fruiting 
in orchard and absolute certainty as to variety and besides there is a wide 
variation in the quality of trees of the same variety, owing to “bud varia- 
tion,” and we are enabled in this way to select the best trees for “breeding 
with a pedigree.” 
When trees are grown in a nursery we never allow hand stripping of 
foliage, insisting that foliage must ripen naturally and fall before digging. 
I practice late fall digging, heel in at a low angle and cover with evergreen 
boughs to protect from extremes of weather. Then set very early in spring 
as the sap starts quite early in the peach, and any check given after it has 
started weakens the vitality and recovery is never complete. 
The location for the orchard must be higher than the surrounding 
country to secure proper atmospheric drainage, and the soil preferred is 
■either good sandy graveley loam having a dry and naturally well-drained 
subsoil and at least thirty feet above permanent water level. 
For first two years some secondary crop may be grown, but it must 
be one that does not mature and make its heavy draft on the soil moisture 
■earlier than August 15, as we must have the strongest possible growth 
up to September 1st, which must not be interfered with by the ripening 
of any other crop, as such interference puts the jmung tree into a semi- 
ripe condition too early, and as this is likely to be followed by wet and 
warm weather with strong flow of sap and a second growth of wood that 
will surely be seriously injured by severe winter weather and may be killed 
outright. I am satisfied that thousands of peach orchards have had their 
lives must shortened, or perhaps ruined by the owner’s ignorance of the rela- 
tion between these secondary crops, or the after culture, and the proper ma- 
turing of the peach wood and buds. 
After the second year I begin culture by plowing about three inches deep 
with a gang plow, following this with a spring-tooth harrow and then with a 
smoothing harrow and later with a Breed weeder, going over the orchard with 
harrow or weeder twice each week until cultivation ceases. This is influ- 
enced so much by crop and weather conditions that no fixed rule can be 
given, but my orchards are cultivated from twenty to forty times each season. 
This plan secures the strong, rapid growth so desirable early in the season, 
as the culture begins just before or after the blooming period. 
I practice the heading back and thinning out plan of pruning, and 
find it entirely successful in the hands of competent men. It is important 
