Milford chronicle., 1885-11-13
A PlEA FOR BETTER CULTURE.

Just now every train brings to us car loads
f peach trees. We think our people have
been careful in their selection both as to
quality and kind The varieties for profit
have been so fully discussed that the stand
ards between Troths and Salways, inclusive,
are understood to embrace the best
Now that we know what to plant, the next
question is, in what kind of soil There is
scarcely any land i'll Sussex that will not pro-
duce good peach tree and with profit, ifnot
too damp-even our low black corn lands
wen drained will not disappoint but the best
is light surface with clay sub-soil. Here we
get the highest favored, best colored fruit
and largest limbed trees.
They may be planted in spring or fall, and
from 20 to 81 feet apart. It requires no little
labor and money to plant out and properly
care for an orchard; 500 trees properly looked
after will pay more and better than 5000 half
cared for, or as our people generally do it
Nothing pays better than taking time and
carefully setting out the trees; not racing, as
we have often seen, as to who will reach the
end of his row first We have seen hundreds
put out at the rate of one, or one and a-lialf a
minute and afterwards treated with no more
consideration than they were put down. We
have seen trees for which high prices were
paid, put out slovenly and carelessly, and
ploughed but once during the ensuing sea
son; they lived, made poor trees, brought
1ad
they been cared for as we do our corn fertil-
lied, pruned, plowed and narrowed regularly
during the growing season, beautiful healthy
trees, high colored, luscious and paying
fruit would have been the result, with an or
chard lasting twenty years or more instead
of dying out at six or eight CAS- you sow SO
shall you reap" This applies to nothing
more surely than to the cultivation of
peaches.
Probably the best time to prune tree is in
September just as the sap goes out or down,
or in early spring as it comes in or rises,
Pruning should go to the extent Of cutting
off superluous wood with an eye to prevent
splitting, and the long branches with the idea
of rounding up tile tree. 1t has been the
custom to trim up the newly planted tree to
a straight stick two and a-half or three feet
i'll height One very successful grower
thinks lie has lately discovered they should
not be trimmed till the warmth Of spring
throws out the buds, and tllen cut off top and
all, except the buds that make the future
bearing limbs. His loss has been one i'll ten
by the former process, nothing by the latter
Almost every kind of manure will make
peach tree grow, and nothing better responds
to the treatment; but essential to them all
the time, particularly i'll the bearing season,
is potash The poorest of our sandy soil
that will not produce five bushels of corn to
the acre, with care and attention viii pro-
duce thrifty trees bearing splendidfru They
can be fertilized at any time of the year, best
III winter or spring, and S. worth of kainit
German potash) annually, will suffice for an
acre, or one hundred trees after they have
grown up. Nothing gives better results than
good unleached ashes from the day of plant
Ing. New orchards can be made out ofold
ones by the proper treatment On many
farms there are ditch banks that should at
any rate be cleared away, and these, spread
among the trees, pay many fold.
From diseases we are comparatively free.
If there is any such thing as the ''Yellows, -
we don't know it. We see the curled leaf
occasionally, i'll every orchard an afflicted
tree surrounded by the most healthy, but at
the roots will generally be found the trouble
-worms-and there is no better remedy than
taking them out, which with proper care can
be done without injury and at almost any
time April, May and June, by some being
considered the best time. Drawing away
the earth, exposing the roots and throwing
in ashes early in the latter part of summer,
or fall, or at the close of the bearing season. |
is practiced by some with what they consider
good results.
There is much comment every spring about |
the safety of the crop-whether killed by the |
cold of the fall, the low temperature Of Sc
we're winter or the frosts of early spring |
They may be destroyed at any of these times |
If surrounding circumstances are favorable, |
but we can do much towards relieving these |
accidents A well titled orchard thoroughly |
worked, pruned and manured will produce a
strong, healthy growth that will stand lower
than a weak growth. In this
latitude we have seasons together when the
does not get to zero. About the
lowest we ever knew it here was sixteen de
grees below, followed by scarcely bloom
anywhere. We have had good crops to fol-
ow temperature of five degrees below zero
The most critical period perhaps is before
lie peach is formed and just as the bud opens.
t wouldn't require zero temperature to de-
troy it then and it often succunbs to black
rost, but it is really astonishing how much
he delicate, tiny things can stand. The best
ruits should be shipped in baskets, the ordi-
iary in crates. Sussex county, in spite of
Ierself is having the peach belt thrown
round her and will wear it at no distant day.
i few years ago New Castle grew all the ship
ing peaches of the State, now comparatively
aw, lower and lower down, till this year the
over districts of Kent excelled, and Sussex
showing splendid hand; and in order
hat we may supply the demand of the great
tiles and run hundreds of dryers in our
lidst, we have only to practice that thorough
ulture and bestow upon the branch the at
ention necessary to success in all things
lot until this viii we appreciate the beauties
f our soil so peculiarly adapted to peach