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Page 26
Of course we can grow this fruit on espaliers, as they do abroad;
but there are few localities where any advantage is to be derived
from this course. In our latitude I much prefer cool northern
exposures, for the reason that the fruitbuds are kept dormant
during warm spells in winter, and so late in spring that they
escape injury from frost. Alternate freezing and thawing is more
harmful than steady cold. The buds are seldom safe, however, at
any time when the mercury sinks ten or fifteen degrees below zero.
As we have intimated, abuse of the peach-tree has developed a
fatal disease, known as the "yellows." It manifests itself in
yellow, sickly foliage, numerous and feeble sprouts along the
larger limbs and trunk, and small miserable fruit, ripening
prematurely. I can almost taste the yellows in much of the fruit
bought in market. Some regard the disease as very contagious;
others do not. It is best to be on the safe side. If a tree is
affected generally, dig it out by the roots and burn it at once;
if only a branch shows evidence of the malady, cut it off well
back, and commit it to the flames. The only remedy is to propagate
from trees in sound health and vigor.
Like the apple, the peach-tree is everywhere subject to injury
from a borer, named "exitiosa, or the destructive." The eggs from
which these little pests are hatched are laid by the moth during
the summer upon the stem of the tree very near the root; the grubs
bore through the outer bark, and devour the inner bark and sap-
wood. Fortunately they soon reveal their evil work by the
castings, and by the gum which exudes from the hole by which they
entered. They can not do much harm, unless a tree is neglected; in
this case, however, they will soon enfeeble, and probably destroy
it. When once within a tree, borers must be cut out with a sharp-
pointed knife, carefully yet thoroughly. The wounds from the knife
may be severe, but the ceaseless gnawing of the grub is fatal. If
the tree has been lacerated to some extent, a plaster of moistened
clay or cow-manure makes a good salve. Keeping the borers out of
the tree is far better than taking them out; and this can be
effected by wrapping the stem at the ground--two inches below the
surface, and five above--with strong hardware or sheathing paper.
If this is tied tightly about the tree, the moth cannot lay its
eggs upon the stem. A neighbor of mine has used this protection
not only on the peach, but also on the apple, with almost complete
success. Of course the pests will try to find their way under it,
and it would be well to take off the wrapper occasionally and
examine the trees. The paper must also be renewed before it is so
far decayed as to be valueless. It should be remembered also that
the borer will attack the trees from the first year of life to the
end.
In order to insure an unfailing supply of this delicious fruit, I
should advise that a few trees be set out every spring. The labor
and expense are scarcely greater than that bestowed upon a cabbage
patch, and the reward is more satisfactory.
For this latitude the following choice of varieties will prove, I
think, a good one: Early Alexander, Early Elvers, Princess of
Wales, Brandywine, Old Mixon Free, Stump the World, Picquet's
Late, Crawford's Late, Mary's Choice, White Free Heath, Salway,
and Lord Palmerston.
If the soil of one's garden is stiff, cold, adhesive clay, the
peach would succeed much better budded or grafted on plum-stocks.
Some of the finest fruit I have ever seen was from seedlings, the
trees having been grown from pits of unusually good peaches. While
the autumn planting of pits lightly in the soil and permitting them
to develop into bearing trees is a pleasing and often profitable
amusement, there is no great probability that the result will be
desirable. We hear of the occasional prizes won in this way, but
not of the many failures.
By easy transition we pass to the kindred fruit the plum, which
does not generally receive the attention it deserves. If one has a
soil suited to it--a heavy clay or loam--it can usually be grown
very easily. The fruit is so grateful to the taste and useful to
the housekeeper that it should be given a fair trial, either in
the garden borders or wherever a tree can be planted so as to
secure plenty of light and air. The young trees may be one or two
years old from the bud; I should prefer the former, if vigorous.
Never be induced to purchase old trees by promises of speedy
fruit. It is quite possible you may never get any fruit at all
from them worth mentioning. I should allow a space of from ten to
fifteen feet between the trees when they are planted together, and
I should cut them back so that they would begin to branch at two
feet from the ground. Long, naked stems are subject to the gum-
disease.
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