237 
** The majority of peach orchards,” he continues, “South of Philadel¬ 
phia, it will be recollected, grow upon thin light soil, previously rather 
impoverished. (!) In such soils, it is necessarily the case, that the roots 
lie near the surface, and most of the food derived by them is from what is 
applied to the surface or added to the soil. Plowing, therefore, in such 
soils, wounds and injures the roots; and cropping the ground takes from 
it the scanty food annually applied or already in the soil, which is not 
more than sufficient for the orchard alone. In a stronger and deeper soil 
the roots of the peach tree penetrate farther, and are mostly out of the 
reach of serious injury by the plow/’ 
Now I fully agree with Downing that on this subject both the northern 
and the southern peach-growers are correct, but I differ in toto as to the 
reason of their correctness; and as this reason is necessary to the establish¬ 
ment of other important suggestions, and as a link in a chain of scientific 
reasoning on this subject, I am unwilling that this link should be broken ; 
and my readers will excuse me for giving my reasons wffiy this is so. 
It will be a matter of surprise, if not of consternation, to the peach- 
growers “South of Philadelphia,” particularly to those in the Southern 
parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and a great part of Kentucky, 
that their lands are poorer and more exhausted than those of the north¬ 
ern part of New Jersey, of New York, Pennsylvania, &c.; and as I am 
confident I cannot make people believe it, even if I try, I must find some 
other way to reconcile these apparent discrepancies, or this prize essay of 
mine will not be received as orthodox. I prefer rather to reconcile them 
in this manner. The peach tree is indigenous to the South, the seasons 
there are of sufficient length for it leisurely to perform all its functions, 
make a large growth of wood, and ripen it before the winter becomes 
sufficiently cold to endanger its life; or even if it should not be fully ma¬ 
tured, the winter is rarely so severe that the life is endangered by it. 
During the season of its growth, then, the nutritive functions of the 
tree should be as little disturbed as may be. Its roots and its leaves 
should be allowed to collect all the material they can for the growth of 
the tree and the perfection of its fruit, and leisurely to appropriate it. 
But in the North, the season is so short, and the growth of-the tree (as 
of all vegetation) so hurried, that if it be allowed to go uninterrupted, 
it deposits in the early season more new wood than it can possibly harden 
in the autumn. The winter surprises it in its immature state, and death. 
