PEACH GROWING.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6749, 22 February 1909, Page 3

PEACH GROWING.

THE REQUIREMENTS OF SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTION. Successful peach-growing to-day is an art dependent upon skill arid knowledge, writes mi authority ill the “New Zealand -Herald." The, grower must select tho right class oi soil, because there are peach soils j ust ats there ore apple Boils and pear soils. Tho soil must have the proper aspect—a slope to the north or north-east, or a ■well-drained. Hat. Shelter iiom tho prevailing winds must be provided, for the peach cannot endure the cold gales of early spring. Anti then tho soil must bo well prepared—ploughed deeply, cleansed of weeds, worked up to a good tilth. And this is not all, for the grower must plant tho right variety for his particular soil. And this is not all—the right variety must be put on the right stock, and if tho grower is wise he will see to it that ho not only plants the right variety, but the best of its kind, the finest bud or graft from tho finest tree, wedded to tho most shapely and vigorous seedling. This is not all, for tho young tree must bo well planted and well pruned, and pruning so as to obtain the right shape and the proper proportion of fruit buds to leaf buds does not depend upon accident. From tho moment of planting in the orchard, even from the time the young tree appears in the nursery, it must bo protected against the various diseases and pests to which it is subject. It is comparatively easy nowadays with the proper formula of Bordeaux and strong winter spraying to keep tho peach free from most of the fuugoxds, especially those peaches which are strong and vigorous from tho start, well sheltered, well manured, well cultivated. It has been argued, and with some show of reason, that peaches, like other fruit trees, aro only subject to the ravages of fungoids when they lack some necessary form of plant food, and that a peach kept in perfect physical health does not yield readily to the invasion of spore* or germs. It is possible, of course, that tho peach-grower of the future may abjure spraying altogether, and trust to the tonic influence of chlorophyl; that, instead of poisoning spores and parasites, he will feed his trees through their root system to make them immune against disease.

No matter what the future may brine, and, when human intellingence is keenly devoted to the subject and science is brought to bear on it, frnit-growing will show many wonderful developments. There is no longer an excuse, at any rate, for tho superstition that peaches cannot be grown as luscious as in the old days. They may require more trouble and more skill, but tho modern orchard-i-st is no longer at the mercy of blind chance. Ho is becoming master of his subject and has before him infinite scope for development. He has begun the work of selection, and now he or tho nursery specialist must begin to work ot creation. It is possible to grow a particular peach of special merit for every week in tho peach season, ana to prodneo dessert varieties and canning varieties, and keeping varieties and carrying varieties such as are scarcely dreamt of now, and even then the capacity for development in. the peach wonld not he exhausted, and, if it were, well, there are other fruits.