THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
93 
PEACH GROWING. 
Read before the New York State Fruit Growers Association. 
By Orlando Harrison 
T HE subject assigned is “Peach Growing.” I will 
endeavor to confine myself to that part of the sub¬ 
ject which you will be most interested in,—Does 
it pay? 
I will try to tell you in a plain, practical way how we 
made our peach orchards pay in the season of 1913 and 
1914, and there is a good set of buds for 1915. 
How We Grew and Marketed our Peach Crop of 1914. 
Pruning: —Starting for a twelve months work, Jan¬ 
uary 1st is the time to begin. We cut back our peach 
when planted, to twelve inches. Our one and two year 
peach we cut back one quarter to one third of the pre¬ 
vious year’s growth to make a sturdy tree; three year 
peach cut out all dead wood and shortened ends of limbs 
to keep trees near the ground to save the expense of 
picking fruit. In our orchards four to nine years of age, 
one must use good judgment in pruning. No set rule is 
safe, but one that is to keep out all dead limbs at all 
times. It depends on the variety, prospects for fruit 
buds. First, we determine what we are pruning for, 
wood growth, or for fruit and govern accordingly. Do 
not prune the small live twigs near the trunk when trees 
are three years of age, that is where you get the first 
fruit. 
Spraying: —Spray early in March with concentrated 
lime and sulphur one to nine. 
Fertilizing: —About March 5th to 10th we use a mix¬ 
ture made up of five hundred pounds dis-bone, five hun¬ 
dred pounds kanit, five hundred pounds rock, five hun¬ 
dred pounds muriate potash, applying five hundred 
pounds per acre, broadcast with spreader. 
Cultivation: —Disc harrow, started March 10 to 20th 
followed once each week with eight feet broad tooth cul¬ 
tivator, crossing each way then on the bias, in order to 
break every foot of top crust. When the dry weather 
set in the cultivator was kept going oftener. The culti¬ 
vation was continued regularly till July 10th. 
Peach Borer:— During the growing season, the trees 
were hoed around about three times and borers cleaned 
out. The borer is the worst enemy to the peach trees. 
Manv orchards are said to be affected with yellows when 
the real trouble is borers. Apply the knife, or wire and 
kill the borers by picking them out. No sign of yellows 
has ever appeared in our orchards. Wood ashes is a 
good form of potash to apply around the trees when the 
earth has been pulled away—concentrated lime and sul¬ 
phur—one to three to live—around the trunks—waste 
sulphur and lime in making self boiled should be ap¬ 
plied to trunks at the ground. It will keep out borers. 
Spraying for Curculio and Brown Rot: Start one 
week before it is really needed, or generally recom¬ 
mended. then you are often too late for best results. If 
you are too early you can go after it again. If you are 
too late, you will not save that season what you have lost 
by delay. 
We spray before blossoms open with two pounds of 
lime, two pounds arsenate of lead and fifty gallons of 
water. Seven days later, when blossoms are full, or 
dropping, use eight pounds of lime, eight pounds of sul¬ 
phur, two pounds arsenate of lead. Repeat as just 
stated ten days later. When peaches are the size of 
hulled walnuts, or larger, repeat the same, except omit 
the arsenate of lead for fear of injuring fruit, and you 
will control the rot. This brings you to July 1st to 
10th. It should be remembered varieties running from 
Crawfords Late and later, can be sprayed later than the 
earlier varieties. 
Packages: —We use the Georgia carriers for all the 
well colored select fruit. The Georgia carrier is far su¬ 
perior to any other package. 
Varieties: —Our orchard, of one hundred varieties 
from four to nine years of age. consists of fifteen hundred 
Carman, five hundred Champion, five hundred Belle of 
Georgia, thirteen hundred Ray, five hundred Chair’s 
Choice, one thousand Crawford Late, forty-five hundred 
Elbertas with our test orchard of one hundred varieties 
which gives us peaches four months from June 15th to 
October 15th. 
Marketing: —In July, T visited a number of orchards 
in Maryland and other states. T found the prospect for 
a full peach crop was sure, especially for Baltimore and 
Philadelphia markets. I then spent two weeks among 
the commission men of Boston. New York and other 
cities to determine what was wanted hv their trade. I 
found poor peaches, or even medium peaches poor sale, 
but ripe, high colored, well packed in the Georgia car¬ 
riers selling at a good price—even on a full market. Re¬ 
turning. I determined to see our peaches were left on tbe 
trees until ripe—to use Georgia peach carriers, full size 
with cover pad to keep peaches from bruising on top 
layer. 
Picking Peaches: —More care was exercised this sea¬ 
son than in the past to see the fruit was full grown and 
ripe before picking, giving greater care not to bruise the 
fruit, the trees being loaded to the ground prevented get¬ 
ting a wagon in the orchards, and we hauled the fruit on 
a sled to the packing house. 
Packing: —3-2 tier, and fill the crates full with a raise 
of one half inch on each end of crate, when the lid went 
on a bulge of two inches in center. We secured an ex¬ 
pert, Georgia packer for one day to start our packers 
right. They caught the idea and carried it through the 
season. 
Refrigerator Cars: -We trv to have our cars iced, 
ventilated and cleaned at least twelve hours before load¬ 
ing. twenty-four hours is better. The P. R. R. new re¬ 
frigerator cars arc far superior to the old ones, yet the 
icing charge is greater, cost ranging from thirty 
dollars to fhirtv-eight dollars per car for ice. By having 
peaches packed full carrier we use a strip between crate 
of one and one quarter by two inch securely nailed see¬ 
ing that bunkers are well filled with ice before cars roll. 
