The Somerset Reporter

FAMOUS PEACH ORCHARDS.
Facts Learned In Some of the Most
Noted Commercial Regions.

At its last meeting Professor W. C.
Johnson gave one of the most interest-
ing and valuable addresses ever pre-
sented before the New Jersey State
Horticultural society. The address
covered, somewhat in detail, a trip
through some of the largest and most
famous commercial peach orchards in
the United States. A few items are
here given in brief, showing the sharp
contrast in different fruit growing sec-
tions.

On the immense plantation of J. H.
Hale at Fort Valley, Ga., there were
over 250,000 peach trees in bearing.
The one great commercial variety was
the Elberta. The soil is light, sandy
loam. The trees are low headed, start-
ing in many instances at eight to ten
inches from the ground. They are
kept pruned back so that all the fruit
can be picked without the use of lad-
ders. This quarter of a million of
trees are regularly sprayed with bor-
deaux to prevent leaf curl, rot or any
disease of this character. The work
is usually done in January or early
February, before the buds open. They
are also sprayed where necessary with
the lime, salt and sulphur wash. Mr.
Hale is a thorough cultivator and fer-
tilizes heavily each year. In his young
orchard he plants two rows of cow-
peas between the rows of trees. The
entire orchard is laid off systematical-
ly in blocks, with avenues and streets
running through it. The fruit is pick-
ed in half bushel baskets by colored
men and women and carried in wagons
to the packing sheds. Here it is grad-
ed into three classes. The fruit is
packed in six basket carriers and ship-
ped to northern markets in refrigerator
cars.

Michigan Orchards.
The Michigan peach belt consists of
a strip varying from three to eight or
ten miles in width, extending along the
shores of Lake Michigan for about 150
miles. The strip is not continuous.
however. In the noted orchards of
Roland Morrill of Benton Harbor the
trees are planted usually twenty feet
apart. They are headed rather high
and make an enormous growth quite
in contrast to the low headed or dwarf
trees seen in Georgia on the Hale
plantation. Large quantities of hard-
wood ashes are used in these orchards.
Cultivation begins early and is kept
up constantly. About the 1st of Sep-
tember Mr. Morrill sows oats between
his trees. The fruit is picked in one-
third bushel baskets and hauled to the
sheds in an orchard wagon. One horse
is used on this wagon, which has a flat
top bed. Owing to the immense size
of the trees, stepladders, some of which
are ten to twelve feet high, are neces-
sary. The fruit is sorted into three
grades. The best grade is packed in
six basket carriers
These are lined
with paper, thus presenting a very at-
tractive appearance.
Much of the
fruit is put in fifth bushel baskets with
slatted covers. The fruit is covered
with pink tarlatan before the covers
are put on. Bushel and half bushel
baskets are sometimes used for the
cheaper grades of fruit that go to the
canneries.