36 The Colorado Experiment Station 
solutely necessary. This is wrong, however, as experience has 
shown that many bad habits may be rectified by proper pruning. 
Smallness of fruit and irregularity of bearing are among the ills 
which may be largely corrected in this manner. The pruning of 
pears has been too much under-estimated and neglected by Mesa 
County growers. 
Thinning 
It is essential that in the normal crop year pears should be 
thinned in order to get proper size. Thinning also tends to pro¬ 
mote annual bearing instead of biennial crops as often occur when 
pears are allowed to mature too heavy crops. If the pear growers 
would thin heavier, the demand for Colorado pears and the net re¬ 
turn from them would increase. 
Distance oe Planting 
Like apple trees, pears are often set much too closely. While 
they should be allowed 18 or 20 feet, they are often set 15 feet 
apart, and sometimes as close as 12 feet, in which case the or¬ 
chards develop into veritable thickets. It is farcical to-believe 
that the profits increase with the number of trees per acre. It will 
be a glorious day for horticulture when orchardists give their 
trees plenty of room to develop. 
PEACHES 
“Palisade Peaches” is a term that has been as popular- as 
“Rocky Ford Melons.” There was, indeed, good reason for this, 
since the Palisade products were superior to nearly all others on 
the market. The Palisade District is especially adapted to peach 
growing. Most of the soil is of a sandy loam character, naturally 
well drained, and easily worked. 
The orchards on the north extend clear to the foot of the cliffs, 
which rise abruptly to a height of several hundred feet above the 
Valley. These bluffs absorb the heat of the sun and radiate the 
heat so strongly that peaches grown next to them are from one to 
several days earlier than those grown lower down. These bluffs 
are also a great protection against frost. Some growers report that 
the blush on peaches grown close to the bluffs is often on the side 
nearest the cliffs, due to the additional heat. 
Varieties 
The Elberta has been the leading variety in Palisade, as in 
nearly all commercial peach sections. Although there are over 50 
varieties grown in Grand Valley, five-sixths of the trees are El- 
