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How to Grow Peaches 
HOW TO GROW THE PEACH SUCCESSFULLY. The growing of peach trees has 
been a specialty with us for many years, and we use every care and precaution to have 
these trees healthy and true to name. We spare no expense to get the best seed obtainable 
and to renew our buds every two or three years from bearing trees in a section free from 
“yellows." 
HINTS ON SOIL AND CARE OF TREES. Peaches can be grown on a great variety 
of soils with varying success; but in selecting an orchard site we prefer one that has laid 
idle for years with soil both dry and strong. If the soil is not fertile to start with, it 
can be enriched as the trees grow. Land that will produce fifty bushels of corn per acre 
would, with thorough cultivation, bring a peach orchard to a bearing age in vigorous con¬ 
dition. Worn-out land can be made profitable peach land, if a liberal use is made of wood 
ashes, or a mixture of ground animal bone and muriate of potash. Land of intermediate 
fertility should be treated as the condition requires, using more or less fertilizer as may 
be needed to induce a moderate wood growth. 
DISTANCE OF PLANTING must be governed by local conditions. On rich, heavy 
soil, trees should be planted 18 feet apart; on average land, 16 to 18 feet is about right, 
while on light land 16 by 16 feet will not be too close. A few orchard men are planting 
10 by 18 and 10 by 20, and after getting one or two crops, cutting out every other 10 foot 
tree, this leaving the maturing trees ample space to develop in as well as doubling the 
yield of first crops. 
IT IS IMPORTANT that the young trees should be properly pruned at the time of 
planting. All side branches should be cut back to within a half-inch of the main stem, 
this stem itself being cut back at about two-thirds the distance from the ground. Small 
trees should be pruned to a whip, cutting back the stem very nearly one-half the way to the 
ground. Afterward all sprouts should be removed except just what are wanted for the new 
top of the tree. After this it will be necessary to prevent the tops getting too dense, as 
a result from using too much manure or too severe pruning, by thinning out part of the 
new growth. 
THOROUGH CULTIVATION is of much more importance than fertilization, and is 
indispensable to success. After an orchard has reached bearing age its condition must be 
an index to after treatment. A moderate growth only is required. An excessive growth of 
wood and foliage should be avoided, and this can usually be regulated by withholding 
fertilizer and cultivation. The beginner will soon discover that on rich land trees with 
excessively dense foliage will not produce brilliant colored fruit of fine flavor; but on poor 
land some of this luxuriant growth will be desirable and can be induced by liberal broad¬ 
cast application of fertilizer. Phosphoric acid, potash and clover are best for light or 
sandy land, which is usually deficient in potash. We have found wood ashes to be a most 
complete fertilizer for peach trees, but if some nitrogen is needed to induce more wood 
growth, a good grade of bone or tankage is always in order to use, giving both nitrogen 
and phosphoric acid. Avoid the use of dissolved rock in combination with wood ashes, 
but otherwise its use gives a cheap source of phosphoric acid and with muriate of potash 
gives a very low priced fertilizer. 
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Beginning to Load Cars With Peaches from Our Durham Orchards 
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