Peaches
Peaches are short-lived at best, and one should be satisfied with three or four crops from each tree. They bear young, usually a partial crop the third year. If a crop may be had every other year until the trees are eight or ten years old, they will have well repaid the effort of cultivation. But they often bear twice this long. Young trees may be set every four or five years to replace older ones, thus having trees at a bearing age at all times on a small place. Trees should be set 14 to 18 feet apart each way. A good selection of varieties for home use would be Early York, Alexander, Halo Early, Mountain Rose, Early Crawford, Wheatland, Stump, Elberta, Stevens, Oldmixon, Late Crawford and Smock.
Peach trees are always bought when they are one year old, that is, one year from the bud. For example, the bud is set in the fall of 1898. It remains dormant until the spring of 1899, when it pushes into vigorous growth; and in the fall of 1899 the tree is ready for sale. Peach trees which are more than a year old are scarcely worth the buying. It is a common practice, when setting Peach trees, to prune them back to a whip, leaving a stub bearing not more than one bud where each branch is cut off.
The three great enemies of the Peach are the borer, the yellows and the curculio.
The borer is best handled by digging it out every spring and fall. Trees which are attacked by the borer have an exudation of gum about the crown. If the borers are dug out twice a year they will not get sufficient start to make the operation very laborious. It is the only sure way.
The yellows is a communicable disease, the cause of which is not definitely known. It shows itself in the fruit ripening prematurely, with distinct red spots which extend through the flesh, and later by the throwing out of fine, branching, twiggy tufts along the main branches. The only treatment is to pull out the trees and burn them. Other trees may be set in the same places.
For a discussion of curculio, see the remarks under [Plum].
Pear. No fruit plantation should be considered complete without trees of various kinds of Pears, ripening fruits from early in August till winter. The late varieties are generally good keepers, and extend the season into February, thus supplying fruit for six or seven months.
As the Pear grows to perfection on quince, the dwarf tree is peculiarly adapted to planting on small home grounds, and is often used as a boundary plant, or to serve the purpose of a screen. These dwarf trees should be set deep—4 to 6 inches below the union—to prevent the stock from growing. Dwarf trees may be set as near together as 10 to 16 feet, while the standard or tall-growing Pears should be set 18 to 25 feet apart. Trees are planted when two or three years old.