The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-03-22

| / was talking to man last sum
mer, neighbor Of mine, mar
about seventy years Of age now. wht
was born almost within sight O
where he now lives. He is one o
those bright and intelligent old gen
tlemen who seem to do ones hear
good to talk with. = w~re talking
Of the past and the present Of thi.
country, and before We had talked
long Oh this subject we turned oul
talk on fruit generally. He said h
could well remember when peaches
grew and bore abundantly al
through this part Of the country, ant
that they were Just about as sure O
| a crop of peaches then as We are o
a crop of apples now, adding that
they only had to cut off a piece o.
woods and plant out the trees, and
in couple years or so they would
bear "but it is different Eow." said
he /; 'for we can hardly get the trees
to live over the second winter, and
much less expect fruit from them
But believe that there is something
wrong with the tress that we get
now. / think they must be more
tender than they used to be"
"But where did you get your trees
from in those days ?" said |.
"Well,n he said, I'VE used to grow
them from the stone our
selves. Sometimes we had more
young trees than we wanted to plant
ourselves, and we would sell those
to our neighbors. A good, one-year
cid tree was worth then about six
cents, and they were worth more to
those who planted them than those
trees which agents ask from twenty
five to fifty cents for now. In TACT,
l have sold many bushel of fine,
ripe peaches for twenty-five cents /;
but those trees are all dead now, and
we some way or other neglected to
keep up the planting of our own
grown stock, but were prevailed on
to try something better as we
thought. Agents began to come
around from Rochester and other
places, taking orders for choice bud
ded trees. Well, to make short
story of it we have never had very
good success with peaches since we
began planting out those bought
trees" CThese are the words in the
same language as spoken to me.)
Now, in my mind there is great
deal to be learned from this old
man, and wouldn't wonder if We
could find many more men just like
him. suppose even that many of
tAe readers Of this article will say
that their experience has been SINH
lar to his. In the first place, in or
der to be successful with the peach,
we must do as they did years ago !,
we must either grow our own trees or
get them as near home as possible,
and from soil as nearly like our own
as we can. Then we must remem-
Der that years ago, when peaches
were easily grown, the country was
not cleaned up as it is now. The
fields were smaller and surrounded
by tall woods, so that in the winter
the sun did not shine on them much;
and, as / have been tolG, the snow
stayed On such places much longer
than now. Then, again, peaches
were not planted out in the open
field in orchards, as now, as they
were grown chiefly for home use.
They were planted around on the
borders of the fields, in the fence cor
ners, on the sides of lanes, ETC., and
they of course were shaded by the
surrounding woods therefore they
stayed dormant, the sap not moving
until spring, and there were no trees
killed by frozen sap in winter. Then
the trees were healthy and bore
abundantly. Yes, healthy, first, be-
cause they were acclimated to the
soil and surroundings. 1t was nat
ural for them to do well. Secondly,
they were not damaged by being out
of the ground any great length of
time. Thirdly, they were shaded by
the surrounding woods from the sun
in winter, and later spring frosts did
not damage them, simply because it
did not come in contact with the
trees until after the warm atmos-
phere had dissolved the frost on those
trees.