Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-08-19
PEACHES In CONNECTICUT.
The Way a Danbury Man Circum-
vents the Foes of His Trees.

Twenty years ago, or even less, peacl
growing was an industry of no little
magnitude in the Connecticut Valley
Just as tobacco growing is now. TIL,
fruit was large, handsome, and of ex
cellent flavor, equaling. if not surpass
ing, the best fruit of Maryland or Della
ware. The business gradually became
reduced to small proportions, anC
eventually became almost extinct. The
principal reason for this was the short
life of the trees. Five years of bearing
was about the average, and then the or
chard had to be replanted. Unless the
grower possessed land enough to keer
from 1000 to |, 800 trees in bearing al
the time he would lose three years be
tween the death of the old tree and the
time the new trees came into full bear
ing. For several years Mr.. William
Platt, of Newtown, has had peach or
chard in full bearing. He saw there
was money in the cultivation of the
fruit, and began to demonstrate the
truth of his ideas. He succeeded sc
well that he attracted much attention
from fruit growers, and among other:
of Mr.. Oliver NJ. Crosby, the specia
reporter for Fairfield County, of the
Agricultural Department, who has neal
Danbury one of the largest peach or.
chards in the State.
A reporter for the New York Sun
visited Mr.. Crosby's orchard recently.
1t is some two and half miles west OF
the village of Danbury, near Lake Ken.
osia. The land is perfectly level, and
the soil is a light loan. Mr.. Crosby
says his choice of site for an orchard
would be hill top, but none was avail
able. His reason for this is the lessened
danger from frost on the hill.
He has now 100 trees growing. set
ten feet apart. Before setting he prunes
them off to within one foot of the
ground, being careful to leave four of
the strongest branches as they sprout,
from which to make the future tree.
The reason for this is to keep the tree
as near the ground as possible, as pro-
lection from the winter sun. The sun
in winter is source of danger which
has to be closely guarded against. If
the young and tender musings are
frozen and thawed, and frozen and
thawed again, they are seriously in
jured. Mr.. Crosby's theory is that the
wind being unable to penetrate the or
chard on account of the low limbs. the
drifting of snow is prevented. In the
spring the grower prunes each tree.
Many growers advocate the doing Of
this in autumn, but MIR. Crosby holds
that spring is the time. He can then
tell which branches are alive and which
dead, and cut accordingly. His pur-
pose in pruning is to keep the branches
short and stocky, which both serves as
protection and prevents whipping
about by the wind. Another reason for
keeping the branches short is that it
causes more of them to grow out from
the trunk and main branches, and it is
on these little branches, or new wood.
that the fruit grows. As a still further
protection Mr.. Crosby has adopted the
suggestion Of the Agricultural Depart
ment, of planting an evergreen on the
north and west sides Of every tree. The
evergreens grow as fast or faster than
the peach tree, and form a barrier
against storms.
A deadly enemy to the peach tree is
the peach borer. Borers will kill tree
in two seasons. A gentleman in George
town, Conn, last season dis o lvered one
of these pests Just emerging from pear
tree and caught it. He preserved it in
ale )hol, and many fruit growers went to
see It. II is a winged insect. similar in
appearance to the wasp. II takes add
vantage of any knot, scar or excresence
on the tree to deposit its eggs. From
the egg is Matched the borer in the
shape of worm. The Georgetown
man, in trying to devise a remedy, hit
upon the use of fine woven wire cloth.
He takes piece four by six inches, and
setting it on top of the ground, wraps it
tightly about the trunk, so that it
reaches up about six inches then he
ties piece of Irvine around it to make
1t retain its shape. As the tree grows
the Irvine is broken, but the wire pro-
tector remains close to the bark, ex-
panding as the trunk increases in size.
This has proved SO far an effectual bar
rier against the pests.
The worst disease to which peach
trees are subject, and which annually
kills millions of trees In Maryland,
Delaware and Virginia. is called the
''yellows, from the appearance of the
tree. 1t is said to be caused by poor
soil, and to follow the weakening of the
tree by too heavy crops. The nature of
the disease is not exactly known. 1t
has been proved, however, that it is
highly contagious. 1t is said that in
cutting down and roofing out tree suf-
fering from this disease, it should not
be allowed to touch healthy tree, for
by the contact of diseased branch, the
blight may be communicated. 1t is
also carried all over an orchard by the
pruning Enife. When a tree is in the
first stages of the disease, fine needle
like branches grow out from the trunk
and main limbs. A cure is said to be
effected by putting coal or wood ashes
around the base of the tree in liberal
quantities. Prevention is better than
cure however; and it is prevented by
keeping the tree healthy, and by good
feeding.
Yet another danger to peach trees in
this latitude is the liability of the trees
to blossom too early, and the subse-
quent blasting of the blossoms by the
early cold storms. The means OF pre-
venting this, Mr.. Crosby affirms, is to
keep the frost in the ground as long as
/ possible. He effects this by heavy
mulching and coal ashes.
! Some growers allow the trees to bear
all they viii, under the notion of the
more fruit the more money. This is