The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-03-31
PEACH CULTURE.
Some Points About Cultivation and
Manuring.

Manuring.
| Probably there are no other opera
tions connected with the culture of the
peach in which such variety of meth
DDS prevail as in cultivation and ma
nuring In bulletin on peach growing
in New Jersey, Professor Jordan con-
siders these points as follows:
On the one hand are those who pillow
and harrow their orchards but once a
season, perhaps even omitSing the lat
ter, and apply no plant food whatever.
On the other hand, there are those who
start the pillow early in the season and
cultivate continuously until the last of
July and apply plant food literally.
Between these two extremes all possible
gradations exist One quite common,
almost general, practice, however, is to
crop the land for two years or until the
trees occupy the ground. Corn or buck
wheat is the crop usually grown. The
one great objection to grain crop is
that it prevents proper cultivation.
Corn or other cultivable crop can be
grown without disadvantage. provided
sufficient plant food is supplied and
good cultivation given. Many growers
do not realize that two crops are grow
ing on the land at the same time and
thus fail to provide sufficient amount
of food for both On very rich Soils
however, cultivated crops would benefit
the orchard by checking any tendency
to excessive growth
The ideal culture for the peach is
shallow blowing or cultivation early in
May, followed by frequent narrowing
until the end of July. After this date
the growth should not be encourage |, in
order that the wood already made may
be properly ripened. The use of Grim
son clover, sown at the last cultivation,
as soil covering for the winter and to
be turned under in early spring as green
manure has been practiced quite large
ly in the state and with good success.
though the question has been raised
whether it's continued use is advisable.
since it provides surplus of slowly
available nitrogen. encourages a large
and continuous growth of tree through
out the season, which may not properly
ripen. 1t is the opinion of those who
practice this method that no danger is
liable to arise provided the trees are in
bearing and an abundance of the min
eral elements. phosphoric acid and pot
ash, is added
In fertilizing, nearly every substance
which contains an element of plant food
can be found in the list CT fertilizers
used All kinds Of combinations exist,
and the amounts applied vary from 100
pounds to 1, 900 per acre, averaging APP
proximately 325 pounds. A study of
the methods of feeding practiced by
growers reveals very strikingly the fact
that they are haphazard in their char
acter 1t is generally recognized. how
ever, that it pays to manure, even In
haphazard fashion. though the best and
most profitable orchards are those that
are Systematically cultivated and ferti
lized, which is in line with the results
obtained from an experiment continued
for ten years by the New Jersey sta
ton. The conclusions drawn from this
experiment were
First. That it pays to manure or
chards on land of medium fertility.
Second. That manuring, or fertiliz-
ing, extends the profitable bearing
period of the trees.
Third. That fertilizes or manures
containing all the elements of plant
food-viz, nitrogen, phosphoric acid
and potash-are more useful than single
elements or combinations of two ele-
ments.
Fourth. That chemical fertilizers
are more profitable than yard manure.
The complete fertilizer in this expert
ment applied per acre annually was
composed of $50 pounds of nitrate of
soda, $50 boneblack superphosphate
and 150 muriate of potash and fur
nished "a pounds of nitrogen, 56 of
phosphoric acid and rs of potash, all
from the most available FORMS