The daily gazette., 1877-05-31
SECOND EDITION
Sometnins about eacbes.
How they Cultivate the Crop in
Delawa g. "a
BY THOMAS f. DILwoRTH.


Mr.. Dilworth, of Fort Penn, Delaware,
furnishes his method of cultivating the
peaches as follows;
AS soon in the spring as the ground is
sufficiently dry, begin n to plow my ORCH
ard, throwing the furrow from the trees,
using two-horse plow except close
along the rows, where | use one horse,
and shift the swingle.tree to one side.
The time OF commencing to plow Is sell
dom before April 10Th 1 do not regard
the belief of some that too early plowine
increases the danger from frost. Before
my orchards are three years old, plant in
corn each year, ,cultivating and manurine
well; the crops will pay for both manure
and culture. The manure is spread
broadcast, ten ordinary two-horse wagon
loads per acre. l apply also, around each
tree at planting, a pan-shovelful of CON-
post, made of well rotted manure and
rich earth mixed together. The second
year l apply one gallon of ashes around
each tr e, banking round the collar of the
tree; the next year the old ashes is spread
further from the stem of the tree, and a
fresh application made, and this is con-
tlnued as long as the orchard is consid-
cred worth cultivating. Had l a suf-
hcient quantity of manure, would con-
llnue its application every year while the
orchard is in bearing; my trees live the
longest and bear the largest and best fruit
where the land is the richest. have
been growing peaches for ten years or
more, and the mode have described has
been my practice; have not failed to
have good crop any year in that time,
with one exception.
At the time of plowing, the earth is
drawn from the trees, and the worms
sought for and destroyed by the use of a
sharp pointed awl, large enough to han,
die with ease. 1 like gouging better than
cutting out the worm holes. In July tie
earth is plowed back TO the trees. do
no trimming except to remove the limbs
that are in the way of plowing; l never
found any advantage in thinning out the
frult. L never cross-plow, and like to
have my rows running north and south,
and east and west, cultivating east and
west, and shortening limbs on north and
south side of the rows only, thus letting
the sun in free and allowing close plow-
ing.
After tree is five or six years old, the
fruit is not injured by density of foliage,
especially when the tree is full. The
depth Of blowing is very important
matter; four inches is the limit. Owing
to the expense, l have not been able to
manure longer than three years, expect
ing them to fail at six or seven, as has
been the case with so many. We have
not pulled one entire orchard out vet, al
though the Oldest is fourteen or fifteen
years old. l have now more than two
hundred acres of trees.
Passing from the subject of growing
this popular fruit,we turn to that of gath
ering, packing and marketing the same:
and on these points we present the sug-
gestions of Mrs. Dilworth. Mrs. d. saws
that the value of this fruit depends al
most entirely upon its handling before it.
is sent to market. First: Every variety
of peach should be picked over at least
three times; if they can be put on the
stand in twenty-four hours after picking,
peaches may be left on the tree till full
ripe; dozen or more will ripen on each
tree day or two in advance of the main
crop, and may be gathered when almost
soft, without bruisiDg, by the use of wire
''pickers''; the high price which the in
creased size, rich color, and evident ripe.
ness of the fruit will command, will more
than pay for the care required in gather
ING