88 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
twelve to thirty inches the following win¬ 
ter, deciding by character of growth and 
shape of tree how much to cut back. The 
second season I usually make two applica¬ 
tions of fertilizer, in February and June. 
Cultivate land until June or beginning of 
rainy season, when middles may be allow¬ 
ed to grow beggarweed, keeping a good- 
sized circle hoed clean around trees. 
For the past two years I have been 
using pure kerosene oil for San Jose scale, 
applying with small hand or mist pumps. 
As I have only an occasional tree affected, 
I find this method effective. When prun¬ 
ing or digging out borers, the men carry 
one of these pumps along with other tools 
and where a jcaley tree or limb is found, 
use it. So far I have seen no bad effects 
from use of pure oil. 
Some trees affected with root- gall, I 
carefully cleaned out, cutting away badly 
affected parts, and sprayed with a very 
strong solution of Whale Oil Soap, just 
as heavy as it would work through the 
pumps, then put about two quarts un¬ 
leached hardwood ashes right about base 
of trees, where earth had been removed. 
This is an experiment. Present indica¬ 
tions look favorable, but too soon to arrive 
at a conclusion. 
I am growing principally BidwelFs 
Early, Suber, Maggie and Jewels, all early 
varieties. Have lately put out about two 
thousand trees of the new yellow varieties, 
such as Hall’s Yellow, Dorothy, Coope’s 
Golden Free and Hayward’s Rival, as an 
experiment for the Florida summer 
markets. 
Up to this time I have shipped by ex¬ 
press only. We hope to be able to try a 
few refrigerator cars this season. For best 
results much depends on careful han¬ 
dling and packing. One of the problems is 
to get careful and intelligent help for 
pickers. A peach that should be picked 
to-day, if left on the tree until tomorrow 
will be too ripe for northern markets. Or 
we may err in the other direction and pick 
too green. Peaches arriving without 
color, tough and but little flavor, go beg¬ 
ging and the grower will be fortunate if 
he gets back expense of picking, packing 
and shipping, to say nothing of the ex¬ 
penses of growing. 
I believe peach growing in Florida, if 
carefully looked after, when orchards are 
planted in suitable location, will prove to 
be fairly profitable. And I also have no 
doubt that new and better varieties will 
be developed in time. 
Report of Mr* H* Fred Hole. 
^Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
I approach the subject of Peaches, 
Plums and Pears with a great deal of dif¬ 
fidence. So much has been written on 
them, and as the soil on which they are 
grown varies, so also vary the opinions as 
to their treatment. Therefore, before 
readingthis paper, I would like members to 
bear in mind that my remarks are not to be 
considered as an infallible guide for 
others in any respect, but are merely the 
results of observation taken from our own 
orchards and similar lands adjoining. 
We began growing peaches at Fulton 
on the lower St. John’s river four miles 
from the sea-coast, in the spring of 1897 
on moderately high Hammock land, 
