Vol. LXII. No. 2801. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 3, 1903. 
PER YEAR. 
LAYING DOWN PEACH TREES, 
A Necessity in Cold Climate. 
We have heard much about “raising” peaches, but 
little is said about laying down the trees. In some 
colder parts of the country it is necessary to protect 
the trees during the Winter. In northern Vermont 
this has been done by training the trunk of the tre« 
along the ground with a small top rising straight 
from this horizontal trunk. In Winter the trunk is 
twisted around until the top lies on the ground, where 
it is fastened and protected with straw or pine bough.'?. 
Prof. Wendell Paddock, in Bulletin 80 of the Colorado 
Experiment Station, describes the Winter treatment 
of a peach orchard that will seem like rude surgery 
to many of our readers. We print it to show what a 
peach tree will stand, as well as to let some of our 
experts realize that they do not know it all. Mr. C. C. 
Rickard, of Canon City, has 1,000 trees which are 
handled as follows; 
•‘The method of planting an orchard with the in¬ 
tention of laying the trees down during the Winter, 
does not differ materially from that which is ordi¬ 
narily observed. Some, however, claim that when 
the tree is planted the 
roots should be spread out 
on either side of the tree 
at right angles to the di¬ 
rection in which it is to be 
laid down. Mr. Rickard 
pays no attention to plac¬ 
ing the roots, claiming 
that in a few years the 
roots spread so that any 
evidence of training is 
lost. Others make a point 
of setting the trees close 
enough in the row so that 
when laid down the tops of 
one tree shall overlap the 
base of another. The roots 
are thus afforded protection as well as the tops. Year¬ 
ling trees are set in the Spring, and they should be 
laid down the first Winter, repeating the process each 
season during the life of the tree. In this instance no 
attention is given to training or placing the roots. As 
soon as the trees have shed their leaves and the wood 
is well ripened, they are ready for Winter quarters. 
This is usually in the fore part of November, in the 
vicinity of Canon City. The first step in the operation 
consists in removing the earth from a circle about four 
feet in diameter around the tree. When sufficient 
trees have been treated in this manner to make the 
work progress advantageously, water is turned into 
the hollows. After the ground has become saturated 
the trees are worked back and forth and the water 
follows the roots, loosening the soil around them 
so that they are pushed over in the direction that 
offers the least resistance. When treated in this man¬ 
ner the trees go over easily and with comparatively 
little injury to the root system. That is, provided 
the trees have been laid down each year. It is diffi¬ 
cult to handle old trees in this manner that have 
never been laid down, and usually it will not pay to 
try. After the trees are on the ground, further work 
should be delayed until the ground has dried suffi¬ 
ciently to admit of ease in walking, and in the hand¬ 
ling of the dirt. The limbs may now be brought to¬ 
gether with a cord, and so lessen the work of covering. 
"After experimenting with many kinds of cover¬ 
ings, burlap held in place with earth has proved the 
most satisfactory. The burlap is spread out over the 
prostrate tree top, as shown in the picture, taking 
special pains to protect the blossom buds from com¬ 
ing in direct contact with the earth covering. A light 
layer of earth is now thrown over the tree and the 
protection is complete. The critical time in growing 
peaches by this method is in the Spring, when grow¬ 
ing weather begins. Close watch must be kept to see 
that the blossoms do not open prematurely, or that 
the branch buds are not forced into tender, white 
growth. When the blossom buds begin to open, the 
covering should be loosened so as to admit light and 
air, but it should not all be removed. More of the 
covering should be removed as the weather gets 
warmer, but the blossoms must be exposed to the sun 
gradually. Air and light are, of course, necessary for 
proper fertilization of the flowers, but after this pro¬ 
cess is complete and the fruit is set, all danger from 
the yield was almost the same, but in 1900, 20 tons, or 
80 pounds of fruit per tree was secured.” 
The pictures shown here in Fig. 257 are redrawn 
from those in the bulletin. The one at the top shows 
three-year-old trees in full bloom. At the right Mr. 
Rickard is shown at work in his 10-year-old orchard. 
At the left is a row of covered peach trees on April 25, 
while at the bottom is shown the same orchard on 
September 20. The average price for peaches at the 
orchard is six cents a pound, which means an income 
of nearly $5 per tree. Such a method will not, of 
course, pay in localities where trees endure the Win¬ 
ter without protection. In very cold sections where 
ordinary peaches will not grow some such method as 
this may pay, since local fruit will bring a high price. 
In northern Colorado where this “laying down” 
method is practiced unprotected peach buds are killed 
four times out of five by cold in Winter or late frosts. 
SCENES IN A COLORADO ORCHARD 
TREES ARE “LAID DOWN.” Fio. 
the weather is considered as being over. The trees 
are usually raised about the middle of May at Canon 
City. Raising the trees is, of course, a simple task. 
The ground is again watered and when wet enohgh 
the trees are raised. To be sure, trees that have been 
treated in this manner will not usually stand upright 
unsupported. Consequently they are propped up at 
an angle, usually two props being required to keep 
the wind from swaying them. 
“This process seems to be in no way detrimental to 
the health of the trees, since they live as long and 
bear as much fruit according to the size of the top 
as those grown in peach sections. It is, of course, 
necessary to cut out the wide spreading branches and 
thus reduce the size of the top in order to lessen the 
work of covering. The following is the record of 
yields as given by Mr. Rickard: In 1902, 150 10-year- 
old trees and 350 nine-year-old trees produced 15 tons 
of fruit, or at the rate of 60 pounds per tree. In 1901 
FRUIT NOTES FROM CALIFORNIA. 
We arc now (September 17) in the midst of our 
prune harvest, and many hands are busy gathering 
the prunes from the 
ground, hauling to the 
drying ground, dipping, 
spreading on trays, haul¬ 
ing out in the field, where 
usually a crop of hav or 
grain has been raised, and 
later when partly cured 
stacking the trays so that 
the prunes will “finish” in 
the shade. When cured 
the prunes are scraped 
from the trays into boxes 
and hauled to the ware¬ 
house where they are 
graded and finally packed 
for market. The prune 
crop in this vicinity is gopd both in quantity 
and quality, and the sizes will run large, which 
is very satisfactory to the grower, since large 
prunes are worth more per pound than small 
ones. We have had our usual good supply of 
peaches for family use, although the main 
peach crop in the valley is quite short. We 
have been eating Muir peaches sliced with 
cream recently, but they are all gone now, and 
the Picquet’s Late are beginning to ripen, so 
we will soon have plenty of very good peaches 
for the table. Our trial of the dust spray for 
Codling moth has not been as satisfactory as 
we had hoped. It was almost impossible to 
do the spraying properly on account of wind, 
which while not usually very brisk here, is 
during the Spring and Summer quite con¬ 
stant, and we found it impossible to spray apple trees 
among cherry trees (as most of ours are planted) 
without putting as much poison on the cherries where 
we did not want it as on the apple trees where it was 
needed. The result is that our apples are quite 
wormy, and I see no help for it but to return to wet 
spraying and perhaps get a power spraying machine 
in order to do the work more rapidly. Our early 
apples. Red Astrachan, Red June and Gravenstein, 
were very good in size and quality this year. The 
Gravenstein has made a big bid for favor, as one tree 
has furnished us apples for sauce and to eat from the 
hand from July 3 to September 6. We ate the last 
of them yesterday while taking our lunch in a cool 
shady nook in the foothills of the Coast Range about 
10 miles from home. By reason of this variety’s good 
behavior I will graft over two seven-year-old Green¬ 
ings, a water-cored variety that drops before it is 
ripe. Our crop of 27 boxes of Skinner’s Seedling from 
WHERE 
2.57. 
