The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1916-04-13
SUGGESTIONS TO PEACH
GROWERS
Well Fed Soil, Careful Pruning,
Thinning and Irrigating
Prime Necessities
(By Paul Kefauver.)

sion that the peach market VIII De
better this year. The trees in the
East and Middle West rarely bear
two full crops in succession. The soil
there is not good enough to support
such a performance. If the trees
should set good crop the second year
most of it would drop off and the re-
mainder would be small. 1t is neces-
.sary and natural there for the trees to
rest every other year in order to 70
gain their strength after bearing
full crop. And we must in some way
maintain the fertility of our soil and
the strength of our trees here or we
will have the same experience.
We are already having it. Last
wear the quality of our peaches was
not as good as common, or as 1T
should have been. We must grow fine
peaches and ship nothing but the best
to command and get paying prices.
Only the skill of our selling agents
last year saved US actual loss. We
growers must absolutely do better or
fail through pure ineficiency.
l have grown and handled peaches
where ther are more peach trees IN
one couty than in all south Idaho, and
have grown them here now for seven
years, and l think that our Emmett
Slope beats all for peach land. We
can and ought to grow peaches here
which will outshine and outsell any
thing usually found in the East. If
we fail it is going to be mostly our
own fault or lack of efficiency, and not
that of the country.
But the fertility of the soil must
be maintained. Most of our Slope
land is fine as can be to start with
warm and responsive to manure, but
.any soil of this character will soon
burn out unless we'll fed Peaches,
Just like corn, must have good land
and good cultivation. Make them
grow, but control their growth. Don't
be afraid to cut them. Cut off the
lower limbs so you can cultivate and
put water burrows pretty close IN.
Then keep the top cut back so you
can reach every limb conveniently
from the ground to thin and pick
fruit.
Thin the fruit and thin it well.
Six to ten inches apart on an average
is close enough on full, wellrounded
tree. Do not allow it to exhaust it
self carrying a lot of Gull stuff to rot
-on the ground. Pull them off until
you are sure the tree can easily ma
ture all that is left into good-size
marketable fruit There is entirely
too much waste in most of our or
.chards. Discard the culls by all
means; but it shows bad management
to have many culls.
Much labor in thinning can be saved
by proper pruning, besides securing a
growth of bearing wood for next
year where it ought to be. Prune
and thin your early Crawford and st.
John trees extra hard. They will ma
ture fair crop and be out of the way
before Elbertas come in. But If over
loaded they will produce only small
peaches which mature later, lop over
on the Elbertas and cannot be sold.
Thin the peaches, if possible, be-
fore the stone gets hard in any OF
them. Growing the seeds exhausts
the trees even more than the fieshy
part. Cultivate well. Irrigate rather
.sparingly, but irrigate all the mid
dies. l think much of the bitter
taste next to the seed complained OF
last year was caused by letting the
'lmiddles get too dry. The character
'of the soil and season must determine
the irrigation, of course, but where
the fruit must go long ways IN
shipment it is better not to force 1t
too much right at the last by extra
irrigation. Grow it of the proper size
by good early management and 1t will
stand up much better than when IN
fiated by over-irrigation right at the
last. Carmen peaches can be so bloat-
ed in this way that they will hardly
keep over night, when they ought to
keep for several days.
Give our selling agents fair show
/ by sending them the best fruit on the
market and they will get good money
for US out of Emmett, crop or no crop
in the East. The best will always sell /
and the real good usually at fair
price on any market; but the common
and the inferior-where, where can
we get anything out of them on .