Daily Republican., 1886-12-31
The Peach Question.

oono umu ago gave you my reco
I lections OF a political globe or ball ths
was rolled up the peninsula, and of th
hard cider barrel But In my humb
opinion there Is small ball Of vastl
! ! more Importance than either OF then
? or OF beer or whiskey with which 1
: roll up political majority.
The small bali to which L allude
our luscious peach, which fiourishes q
nneiy on our peninsula. Counting Ne,
castle aud Cecil, the + rat in Delawar
and the latter In MARYLAND, az the hea,
or the peach growing belt, about 3
miles wide and extending 10 Cap
Charles We have over fear million acre
OF land, once the leading wheat grow
Ing section of our country, but at tn,
present time 1t Ia the laud OF the peacI
aud berry.
10 give some little idea of the immeu
sity of the peach growing, md ustry W,
nave but to turn to the tports of ons
days shipping in M73. On that day
Al car leads OF 5J7 bas 4 cts TO q cal
were shipped east and nor,h. Here were
"a. 917 baskets, and recko ing sach bas.
ket TO contain 1tO peaches, We havs the
immense number Of s3,896, 500. enough
To make a peach pie ioi very man,
woman and child In Philadelphia,
Brooklyn, New York and Boston, and
have good mess left to eat with cream
1t hss lately been stated through the
pa pers that the peach OF Delaware and
tue Peninsula 10 running out, and in
some sections this may "a a certain
sense be true. 1t is a well established
principle In intelligent agriculture that
after any plant has absorbed a certain
portion OF the soil it will not grow and
flourish without renewing the soil by
'he application Of proper fertilizers.
! In this connection | will venture to
Isive liCtle of my own experience aud
observations. ! am not 30 egotistIc as
10 think that / know more than the
practical peach grower of o quarter of a
century, but as peach growing is still
in its comparative infancy, may drop
some thought that may lead to other
practical thoughts until something is
struck that will be of advantage.
My observation is that the peach tree
grows and bears peaches yesl after y ear
on Iron Hill, in Pencader HcHdred. II
have seen trees there grow sorle twelve
inches in diameter and large and high
in proportion, looking more like an
apple than peach orchard, which grow
peaches year after year unless caught
by a late frost or some other atm mos
pheric cause. am confident that it is
the iron In the sell that acts a. the fer.
tilizsr.t
had little experiences in growing
peaches on my own hook q few years
agc-I believe In 1872. l got some
gro ound, 1t was low, IL is true, but hav.
ing caught the wash from the Surround |
ing hills the soil was very deep, but |
there was no iron In 1t.
plented % peach trees, perhaps then
3 years old-they were about 6 Feet tall |
and divided into three varieties. They \
were Oil planted alike rs near as posi-.
bic, and the coil was the same. The Il
trees grew very finely, had very dark,
green leaves, and In two years after
wards they blossomed and some OIL
them bore fruit. The next yesr they
blossomed again. Peaches formed and
grew finely on them, and l gau toI
Ear that The weight Of the peaches
would fplit the limbs, as / ID fre-
guently seen IN large orah h,rds.
20. scN wire sz312 .ity-sra%a andI
piece some fifteen feet long, l fastened
one end of this wire Around tree about
six feet from the ground, and then took
Outoiuo VI tLO WulCQI
kept them from splitting off, but the
wire chafed the limb when the wind
blew. then sawed into the bark, and
perhaps through it In some places, but
10 waa fortunate that l did 30, as the
oxide OF iron got into the sap and saved
ny tree. The fruit natured, and the
Tree lived several years after all the
others had died. l put wires around
some of the other trees after wards thel
same summer, but the blight had set in
before the oxide Of iron had inoculatedI
,he sap.
To orive old nails into peach trees il
beneficial to both tree and
'ruit have such strong faith in the
beneficial effects of oxide of iron !orI
peach trees that, il / were growingI
peaches now, would go out to Whit
jaker's, Cooche's or McConaughy's iron
mines and get several bushels of the
;rupa bled iron ore and put 1t in the soil
around the trees. This would not be O
very expensive fertilizer. Iron hands
around limbs of peach trees would an.
'wer the double purpose of keeping thet
limbs from splitting and of purifier
If the system. l think it would pay toI
,ick come of the ycaDg peaches off and
lot let three or four grow on a small
limb not large enough to sustain one 1
You might have q less number oil
peaches, but finer in size.
A G. BRINToN.
Wilmington, Del, Dec. 81, 1886.