The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1880-05-21
. PENNSYLVANIA PEACHES.
WHY THEY FAIL. MD How THEY CAN
BE MADE TO SUCCEED.

BE MADE TO SUCCEED.
At the last annual meeting of the
Pennsylvania Fruit Growers Society,
extracts were read from a manuscript OF
a little book on peach culture in Penn
sylyania, and an address was given by
its author, Mr.. John Rutter, of West
Chester The book contains the result
of Mr. Rutter's experience in thirty
years of peach culture in this State and
in Maryland. His experience differs so
much from that Of other peach growers
in this State as TO entlte ms book to
careful study. He declares after haV-
ing grown many thousands of trees near
West Chester. as well as in Maryland
that peaches can he grown in this State
on a scale commensurate with the de-
mluds of our cities and towns, in or
cnlrd culture in larger quantities than
thev now or can be raised in the most
favored districts of Delaware or Mary
land. and can be sent into our markets
in better condition and at a much larger
profit. Ii that statement can be sub
s.antiated, and Nh Rutter writes his
book to prove it, the matter is very i'm
portaut to the farmers of the counties
near the great markets of Eastern and
Western Pennsylvania, which now main
ly receive their peaches from Delaware
and Maryland. Tie general impression
has been that the peach tree grown in
PENNSYLVANIA or further north is espec-
ialIv subject to injuries and diseases.
Mr.. Rutter saws there is only one dis
ease destructive of the tree-the specific
disease known as yellOWs-and that all
others are only slightly injurious, and
as common in what is considered the
healthy district Of MARYLAND as any
where else. The ''yelIOws,' which is
as fatal to the peach tree as yellow few
er to man. became so common in and
around Philadelphia early in the present
century That Judge Peters, who first
gave it its name. advised the abandon
meut of attempts to raise peaches except
for domestic use. "by planting a few
trees every year. The advice has been
generally followed i'm Pennsylvania and
the fatal disease has continued to Ell
the trees and keep alive the belief that
the peach could not be successfully cul-
tivated in this State.
In the carly DAYS Of the discussion as
to the cause of the yellOWs, Judge Pet
ers ascribed it to atmospheric faint,
but mentioned that Sir Joseph Banks,
an English naturalist, thought it came
from parasjtical fungi. while other wri
tars believed it to be caused by insects.
No effective attempt was made, how
ever. to study the disease or provide a
remedy. The cultivation of the peach
as Il matter of business was abandoned
10y farmers and peach trees were only
planted in gardens for the fruit they
might chance to bear no effort being
made to cultivate the trees. Many
years ago. when Mr.. RuttCr, having pur-
chased WOTu-Out farm near Vest CheS-
ter. Proposed to plant it with peach trees
which ne had cultivated i'm his youth in
Delaware, he was ridiculed and told
that Inc could not raise peaches in CEeS-
ter county. He set to work, however,
to find the reason why. and having as
Certaiued all that was then known about
the '-yellOws,' the only enemy he had
feared, and believing that Sir JOseph
Banks was right In ascribiug it 10 fungi,
he determined to use CdUstIc lime to de
Str0v them. lie planted one thousand
trees the first season, and four thousand
the second. using lime on the ground in
large quantities. and raising crops OF
corn while the orchard was maturing.
The first orchard bore q heavy crop in
the fourth year Of very fine fruit, and
chad continued adding to his orchards
uutII he had eight thousand trees in
Pennsylvania including an orchard in
Delaware county. All the trees came
into bearing coalition the fourth season
and continued to produce well from
twelve To fifteen years, quitting tho
We, Chester market with the finest
quality Of fruit and driving out all for
ei-u supply for years. Mr.. RutteI
says that these orchards ''mUre thar
paid The original cost Of the land or
each bearing year on a full. or even hal
crop''-audr rIl the time mcultivatct
peach lTrts round about were dying OF
the yellcws. After the war. when tho
Delaware Railroad was extended SOUtl
of Salisbury. Nh Euttcr purchased q
farm I'm Somerset county. MARYLAND
where he planted 1900 peach trees and
about twenty acres I'm pears. stTawher
rics and grape vines. Although these
peach trnes were so free from any dan
ger Ur the yallOws that they required
no special care or cultivation, they prov
cd less profitable than the PeHusyl ylyani5
orchards. chiefly because of the distanc,
from market and the losses on late
peaches thrown upon an OvcTstackeC
mark {. There is alsO.morc danger t.
peach trees south Of Pennsylvania fr0u
Le'yy frJsts succeeding early blooming
It Will be seen from this brief TecJta
that Mr.. Rutter'S experiments were at
leas. ,minoutIy practical. ON a sufficient
ly large scale AMI covering a long cuougl
period OF time 90 give them real value
II they should Io no more than lead {,
tie successful growth of peach trees fO
domestic or home use, they Will hay
done a. valuable service to the farmer
ui Icnusy iyJuiI. Mr.. RUttcr.s book
not simply Il record of his own cNperi
mCuts, but contains explicit instruction
Tor the cultivation Of the peach, and j.
declares that if these are followed East
Cru Pennsylvania Will supply the mark
cts of Philadelphia and New York wit
better peaches than now come from I'll
celebrated peach districts OF DclaWar