The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1907-06-26
Growing Peaches on Uncultivated SOIL

cent article in the Galveston News,
written by Mr.. H. w. Strlngfellow,
author of New Horticulture. 1t is
both interesting and instructive, and
will doubtless meet the criticism Of
large majority of peach growers, on
account of his radical departure from
the common methods:
Having given in my former article
an explanation of the disastrous eff
fects on the pruned and cultivated Of
chards of last winters abnormal high
temperature, followed by several COM
paratively slight freezes along about
the 1st of February, I will now show
why trees thus carefully treated have
suffered so much more severely than
those growing in sod and not pruned,
as we'll as thousands Of seeding peach
trees in fence corners, back yards and
out of the way places, few, if any,
of which were killed or even injured,
and nearly all are now loaded with
fruit. Under the present orthodox
system of horticulture it is unver-
sally taught that fruit trees should
be planted in the winter and cultivated
clean until about August, when the
ground should be sowed to cowpeas
or the grass allowed. to grow as
cover crop, an admission that it is
good plan to quit destroying the
feeding roots for part of the year,
though not long ago it was considered
the proper thing to keep the plow
and cultivator going the whole of it
or at least whenever the fruit growers
supposed natural enemy, grass, show
ed it's head above ground. Presum-
ing, therefore, that the peach or
chards Of all up-to-date growers were
in some cover crop, about December,
that being the leisure time of the
year, it is natural to suppose the
p1ows were started generally to turn
ing under the cover crops, thus ex-
posing the pulverized soil to the
teaching and washing of heavy rains,
though nature leaves her forest COW
er crops on the surface to protect 1t.
But while far more of the elements
of fertility are annually carried away
from our orchards to the sea than is
appropriated by the trees, by this
wasteful treatment, in our mild, var1-
able climate still worse result often
follows from thus rendering soluble
so much plant food at that time,
which is to break the natural winter
rest of the trees if the weather should
be warm, as it happened to be last
winter, thus stimulating a premature
movement of the sap which would
otherwise have remained more dor
mant. Here, then, is the first reason
why cultivated orchards suffered more
severely than those in sod, for such
orchards were not only plowed, but
the ground was stirred several times
to destroy the winter grass and weeds
that sprout in warm season.
Now to the second reason, viz,
winter pruning, which the orthodox
text books teach just as positively as
they do winter blowing, all the att
thorities agreeing that the proper, in
fact only time, to prune tree is
when it is at rest and that the peach
above all trees should be severely
pruned, at least one-third Of the past
seasons growth, besides trimming out
here and there entirely many shoots
which the trees made mistake in
growing But all pruning, like Guilt
walton, is tree stinu1ant and should
never be done except when the tree
is in full leaf and growing, for other
wise the natural equilibrium between
the roots and top being destroyed,
movement of the sap will follow and
the freer the flow the greater the
damage, if suddenly checked by a
freeze followed by conditions that
prevent the immediate resumption OF
growth, as occurred last February.
Having now shown how at great