1874 
of the station investigated spraying, fertilization, 
pruning, packing, shipping and other essential de¬ 
tails of peach growing. Prof. M. A. Blake and his 
co-workers came to see in the earlier years of the 
work that eventually New Jersey growers would 
need better varieties if the industry was to flourish 
as it should. Such famous varieties as Early and 
Late Crawford, Mountain Rose, Fox Seedling and 
Smock, all varieties originating in New Jersey, were 
giving way to such newcomers as Greensboro, Car¬ 
man, Champion, Belle and Elborta and, while the 
latter were apparently popular and satisfactory to 
the growers in a large measure, Prof. Blake and his 
assistants saw that the time would come when bet¬ 
ter varieties than Greensboro, Carman and Cham¬ 
pion in particular would be needed in New Jersey, 
and how popular an attractive yellow-fleshed variety 
ripening with or soon after Carman would be. Some 
preliminary work in breeding was done previous to 
1914, but in that year individual trees were covered 
with tents of cheesecloth and a real effort to secure 
improved varieties was under way. 
Was it a new proposition? 
Breeding of plants is no longer the “hit or miss” 
system of early days; much has been learned in the 
last 10 years as to the behavior of plant charac¬ 
ters in crosses and how to obtain desired results. 
Comparatively little work had been done in the sci¬ 
entific breeding of peaches, however, previous to 
1914. To be sure, thousands of peach stones that 
were simply gathered from some standard variety 
had been planted from time to time, but only one 
parent was known, and no one could say whether a 
pit was the result of the crossing of .two varieties or 
only the self-pollination of the one. There was little 
accurate data as to whether the crossing of two 
freestone varieties would produce freestone seed¬ 
lings; as to whether crossing a white-fleshed fruit 
with a yellow-fleshed one would produce seedlings 
bearing yellow or white-fleshed fruits, as to whether 
the round or the oval form of fruit would dominate 
In a cross, whether it is possible to combine the high¬ 
est edible quality with good shipping quality; and 
many other things. 
Were these the principal reasons for the work? 
While the principal reason for undertaking this 
breeding work with peaches was to secure better 
varieties, it was also the idea to determine how the 
various characferistics of the peach behave in crosses 
and so determine the best ways of going about secur¬ 
ing definite results. For example, the St. John is an 
attractive round yellow freestone peach of good 
quality, ripening a few days later than Carman. It 
is uncertain in production, however, the tree is 
rather weak in vigor and produces the small type of 
flower and rather small fruits. If this variety was 
crossed with an early, vigorous, hardy, productive 
white peach of only fair quality, what characters 
would dominate in the seedlings? Would we be 
likely to get vigorous, productive, hardy trees that 
would produce large yellow fruits of a quality equal 
to St. John? Or would we be more likely to get seed¬ 
lings rather weak in vigor, producing white fruits of 
fair to poor quality? The way in which all the char¬ 
acters would behave could only be determined by 
such definite crossing work as was being started. 
Do peaches breed true through the pits or seeds? 
It is still quite generally believed that trees grown 
from the seeds of our common varieties of fruit will 
produce fruit inferior to that of the parent. This 
has come about largely because the great majority 
of wild seedling apples, pears and peaches found 
along the hedgerows, in fence cornel’s and elsewhere 
produce inferior fruits. While it is a fact that few 
of our fruit trees reproduce the parent true from 
seed, making it necessary to bud or graft, still many 
of our varieties will produce seedlings of consider¬ 
able merit, many of which are not inferior to the 
parent. Among the tree fruits the peach stands 
alone as being readily self-fertile; in other words, 
the flowers of the Elberta peach will develop into 
fruits by fertilization with Elberta pollen, the Car¬ 
man with Carman pollen, etc. It is not necessary for 
the bees to carry pollen from one variety to another 
to produce fruit, and it is certain that a large pro¬ 
portion of the fruits of the peach form and mature as 
a result of self-fertilization. Where self-fertilization 
is common in a plant there is much .less variation in 
the seedlings, and many are almost identical with 
the parent. This is true to a considerable extent 
with peaches. Such old authorities as William 
Prince in describing the Heath Cling in 1832 said, 
“it has the peculiar property of perpetuating itself 
from seed with but a partial variation in most cases, 
from the original; the fruit of some of the seedling 
trees being rather more firm, and that of others 
varying a little in the period of maturity, but the 
whole having a general affinity.” Seedings of Early 
The RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
Crawford commonly closely resemble that variety, 
and many seedlings of Elberta are much like that 
well-known sort. But few seedlings of merit, then, 
are likely to come from poor varieties. In trying to 
breed better varieties, and especially yellow-fleshed 
ones ripening earlier than Elberta, certain standard 
sorts were selected as.parents. 
What varieties were selected as parents? 
Greensboro, because it is a hardy, productive, early 
peach of the true so-called Chinese Cling type; St. 
John, because it is a yellow freestone of fine quality 
for its season, ripening a few days after Carman, 
but of the Crawford race; Early Crawford, because 
it is as an old yellow freestone peach recognized for 
its quality and ripening before Elberta; Belle, be¬ 
cause it is an oval, white freestone peach of good 
quality and said to be of the same or of similar pa¬ 
rentage as Elberta; Elberta, because, in spite of the 
fact that its quality is often criticized, it is an at¬ 
tractive oval peach of good size and excellent ship¬ 
ping quality that succeeds in all peach districts from 
Massachusetts to Georgia, and from New Jersey to 
California. No other variety of our tree fruits can 
match this record in adaptability. Its general popu¬ 
larity means that it is a peach that the average man 
can grow successfully. It was also of interest from a 
breeding standpoint, since a parentage that would 
produce two such sorts as Belle and Elberta was 
thought to be worth taking into consideration. Since 
the first crosses were made several other varieties 
have been added to the listbf parents, including Car¬ 
man. a well-known, hardy, early white peach ; Lola, a 
hardy white freestone, ripening a few days later than 
Carman; Slappey, an oval, yellow freestone, ripening 
a week after Carman ; Arp, a hardy oval yellow cling¬ 
stone, ripening a few days later than Gi'eensboro; 
Dewey, a hardy yellow freestone ripening about 
Carman time; Early Wheeler, a very early, large, 
highly colored white clingstone, ripening ’before 
Greensboro. 
(To be continued.) 
Review of Season’s Work 
Part II. 
SPRAYING.—There ai*e four periods into which 
the spray year can be readily divided: The dor¬ 
mant season, including delayed dormant; the “pink” 
or pre-blossom season; the calyx spray, and the 
Summer sprays. The season of dormant sprays at 
a strength of one gallon of standard lime-sulphur 
solution to eight or less gallons of water lasts from 
the time the leaves are well off the trees until the 
apple leaves are nearly an inch long. When the 
leaves on the blossom buds are open enough for the 
spray to reach the stems of the fruit there is danger 
of serious injury to the fruit crop and it is time 
to start the “pink spray” at a strength of one gallon 
of lime-sulphur to not less than 25 gallons of water. 
The “pink spray” lasts until the blossoms open 
enough for the spray to liter and reach the repro¬ 
ductive parts (the stamens which produce the pollen 
and the pistil which gives it a chance to fertilize 
the fruit). The calyx spray lasts a few days after 
the petals fall. In some places it is only a day or 
two, and it may be as much as two weeks. The 
Summer sprays are from the end of the calyx spray 
until the leaves fall. It is our experience that the 
Summer sprays have little value in controlling 
dieases or most, insects. Please note that what is 
said here has reference only to Western Neio York, 
and may not apply at all to other apple growing 
sections. 
CALYX AND PINK SPRAY.—We have thought 
for many years that the calyx spray was the only 
one which had any value in controlling apple scab, 
but this year has shown that (he “pink spray” may 
have as much value under certain conditions. Heavy 
rains kept the ground wet later than usual, so that 
the time for the spray before blossoming found our 
orchards quite wet Even the best drained ones 
were hard to navigate with a wheeled vehicle. We 
were busy with the tractor and teams getting the 
early crops in, and it rained nearly every day, so 
there was little chance to get full days with the 
spray rigs. We got over the sod orchards and the 
sand orchards, but did not put on the second rig 
and try to get over all. When it came to the spray 
after blossoming we dug in with two rigs and gave 
the whole place a thorough soaking. It looked as 
though the apples were setting very heavily, but in 
a few days they began to drop, and it was soon 
evident that the crop would be very light. 
SPRAY INJURY.—Wherever the trees were 
sprayed well there was a great deal of burning, 
which took off about all the leaves from many of 
the trees, but it was jmssible to show a patch of 
scab directly connected with practically every burned 
December 27, 1919 
spot on a leaf. This bore out our former idea that 
practically all the burning where eight gallons or 
less is used in a 200-gallon tank for spraying apples 
is due to the presence of scab infection on the in¬ 
jured leaf at the point where the injury occurs. A 
few months ago I noted in a farm paper the state¬ 
ment that apple leaves seemed to be more resistant 
to spray Injury if several applications were made 
in a season. This is easily explained by figuring 
that there will be less scab infection on leaves which 
have been sprayed, and so less places where the 
leaves can be burned. 
STRENGTH OF SOLUTION.—The condition of 
the apples at picking time leads us to believe that: 
(1) Healthy leaves and fruit are little injured by 
spraying as strong as one to 25; (2) the spraying 
at one to 25 will control apple scab by taking off 
every scab infected apple and leaf ; (3) spraying at 
one to 35 or 40 will give nearly as good control and 
will leave on the trees a much larger number of 
apples which can be grown to salable size and 
quality; (4) in cases of such severe infection as we 
had in 3919 there may not be leaves enough left on 
the trees to mature the good apples which the spray 
leaves. In the middle of the Summer there were 
very many Baldwin trees which lost hundreds of 
perfect apples because the leaf surface had been so 
reduced that the trees could not carry them. Trees 
which should have carried 15 or 20 bushels of per¬ 
fect apples lost them when nearly an inch in 
diameter. Alfred c. weed. 
(Concluded Next Week) 
The Green Pea Industry of Madison 
County, N. Y. 
C ROP RETURNS.—“C. W. Wiseman, a newcomer 
at Eaton Center, reports $1,200 as the receipts 
from four acres of green peas.” The above item ap¬ 
peared in the Madison County Leader one week in 
November, and it does not exaggerate in the least 
the returns secured by many farmers with this Mad¬ 
ison County crop. The green pea is a market gar¬ 
den crop, but has become localized in this vicinity 
because of the proper climatic conditions. Peas re¬ 
quire a cool temperature and a great deal of mois¬ 
ture. In order to make 1 lb. of dry matter, 447 lbs. 
of water are required, and this means for a normal 
crop an excessive amount of rainfall. Moisture is 
also conserved by Fall plowing, as this loosens the 
soil and allows the water to penetrate. 
SOWING.—The peas are sown early in the Spring, 
the seed being covered about two inches. They are 
drilled in rows three feet apart, and cultivation is 
started as soon as possible and repeated at least 
once a week. Most growers sow 1% bu. per acre, 
but a better stand is usually secured by planting 2 
bu. Phosphates are the principal fertilizers used, 
and they are applied while planting the seed. 
HARVESTING.—The crop is harvested by women 
and girls, who go to the fields in trucks furnished by 
the growers. Each individual is given a row, the 
vines are pulled up and the peas picked into bushel 
baskets. Thirty cents a bushel is paid during the 
heavy picking, and as the season advances the price 
is advanced slightly. A good picker averages about 
$5 a day. The bushel baskets cost the growers 20c 
apiece, and the peas go directly to the market in 
these. The growers have formed an association, 
which has a manager who markets the peas. Dues 
are $1, and 3c per bu. is charged for all peas mar¬ 
keted through the association. Practically all pea 
growers are members and a large part of the crop is 
sold through the association. Peas are marketed 
mostly in New York, though the Philadelphia, Balti* 
more and Boston markets are also supplied. 
VARIETIES AND PRICES.—The varieties used 
locally are Gradus and Thomas Laxton for early 
peas, and Telephone and Champion for late peas. 
The price of seed this year is the highest eve? 
known. The writer ordered 25 bu. of Telephone in 
September, but latest advices state that due to crop 
failure but 25 per cent of these can be delivered. 
The price has jumped accordingly, so that at present 
they are worth $20 per bu. Seed is secured from 
Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming, large acreages being 
grown in each of these sections. Certain local grow¬ 
ers have saved seed from home plantings, but this is 
a poor locality to attempt seed growing because of 
the great precipitation. The seed does not have time 
to cure properly between showers, and many seeds 
mold and are useless. The prices the past season 
were exceptionally high, ranging from $2 to $4.S0 
per bu.; 23,000 bu. were shipped from Morrisville 
station during the past season, averaging close to $2 
net per bu. A little over half were billed to New 
York City. The cost to grow an acre of peas is about 
$75 under normal conditions; yielding 150 bu. a fine 
profit is realized. t. ir. townsexd. 
