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Peaches Pears Cherries Grapes


Our harsh, capricious climate north of the latitudes of Philadelphia,

Cincinnati, and St. Louis--so much severer than that of corresponding

latitudes in Europe--is unfavorable, or at least very trying, to all the

more delicate and luscious Fruits, berries excepted. Except on our

Pacific coast, of which the Winter temperature is at least ten degrees

milder than that of the Atlantic, the finer Peaches and Grapes are grown

with difficulty north of the fortieth degree of latitude, save in a few

specially favored localities, whereof the southern shore of Lake Erie is

most noted, though part of that of Lake Ontario and of the west coast of

Lake Michigan are likewise well adapted to the Peach.



It is not the mere fact that the mercury in Fahrenheit's thermometer

sometimes ranges below zero, and the earth is deeply frozen, but the

suddenness wherewith such rigor succeeds and is succeeded by a

temperature above the freezing point, that proves so inhospitable to the

most valued Tree-Fruits. And, as the dense forests which formerly

clothed the Alleghenies and the Atlantic slope, are year by year swept

away, the severity of our "cold snaps," and the celerity with which they

appear and disappear, are constantly aggravated. A change of 60 deg., or

from 50 deg. above to 10 deg. below zero, between morning and the following

midnight, soon followed by an equally rapid return to an average

November temperature, often proves fatal even to hardy forest-trees. I

have had the Red Cedar in my woods killed by scores during an open,

capricious Winter; and my observation indicates the warmest spots in a

forest as those where trees are most likely to be thus destroyed. After

an Arctic night, in which they are frozen solid, a bright sun sends its

rays into the warmest nooks, whence the wind is excluded, and wholly or

partially thaws out the smaller trees; which are suddenly frozen solid

again so soon as the sunshine is withdrawn; and this partly explains to

my mind the fact that peach-buds are often killed in lower and level

portions of an orchard, while they retain their vitality on the

hill-side and at its crest, not 80 rods distant from those destroyed.

The fact that the colder air descends into and remains in the valleys of

a rolling district contributes also to the correct explanation of a

phenomenon which has puzzled some observers.



Unless in a favored locality, it seems to the unadvisable for a farmer

who expects to thrive mainly by the production of Grain and Cattle, to

attempt the growing of the finer Fruits, except for the use of his own

family. In a majority of cases, a multiplicity of cares and labors

precludes his giving to his Peaches and Grapes, his Plums and Quinces,

the seasonable and persistent attention which they absolutely require.

Quite commonly, a farmer visits a grand nursery, sees with admiration

its trees and vines loaded with the most luscious Fruits, and rashly

infers that he has only to buy a good stock of like Trees and Vines to

insure himself an abundance of delicious fruit. So he buys and sets; but

with no such preparation of the soil, and no such care to keep it mellow

and free from weeds, or to baffle and destroy predatory insects, as the

nurseryman employs. Hence the utter disappointment of his hopes; borers,

slugs, caterpillars, and every known or unknown species of insect

enemies, prey upon his neglected favorites. At intervals, some domestic

animal or animals get among them, and break down a dozen in an hour. So,

the far greater number come to grief, without having had one fair chance

to show what they could do, and the farmer jumps to the conclusion that

the nurseryman was a swindler, and the trees he sells scarcely related

to those whose abundant and excellent fruits tempted him to buy. I

counsel every farmer to consider thoughtfully the treatment absolutely

required for the production of the finer Fruits before he allows a

nurseryman to make a bill against him, and not expect to grow Duchesse

Pears as easily as Blackberries, or Ionas and Catawbas as readily as he

does Fox-grapes on the willows which overhang his brook; for if he does

he will surely be disappointed.



Some of our hardier and coarser Grapes--the Concord preeminent among

them--are grown with considerable facility over a wide extent of our

country; and many farmers, having planted them in congenial soil, and

tended them well throughout their infancy, are rewarded by a bounteous

product for two or three years. Believing their success assured, they

imagine that their vines may henceforth be neglected, and in the course

of two or three more years they are often utterly ruined. I know that

there are wild grapes of some value, in the absence of better, which

thrive and bear without attention; but I do not believe that any grape

which will sell in a market where good fruit was ever seen, can be grown

north of Philadelphia but by constant care and labor, or at a cost of

less than five cents per pound, under the most judicious and skillful

treatment. In California, and I presume in most of our States south of

the Potomac and Ohio, choice grapes may be grown more abundantly and

more cheaply. Yet I think the localities are few and far between in

which a tun of good grapes can be grown as cheaply as a tun of wheat,

under the most judicious cultivation in either case.



I do not mean to discourage grape-growing; on the contrary, I would have

every farmer, even so far north as Vermont and Wisconsin, experiment

cautiously with a dozen of the most promising varieties, including

always the more hardy, in the hope of finding some one or more adapted

to his soil, and capable of enduring his climate. Even in France, the

land of the vine, one farm will produce a grape which the very next will

not: no man can satisfactorily say why. The farmer, who has tried half a

dozen grapes and failed with all, should not be deterred from further

experiments, for the very next may prove a success. I would only say, Be

moderate in your expectations and careful in your experiments; and never

risk even $100 on a vineyard, till you have ascertained, at a cost of $5

or under, whether the species you are testing will thrive and bear on

your soil.



In my own case, my upland mainly sloping to the west, with a hill rising

directly south of it, I have had no luck with Grapes, and I have wasted

little time or means upon them. I have done enough to show that they can

be grown, even in such a locality, but not to profit or satisfaction.



I would advise the farmer who proposes to grow Pear, Peaches, and

Quinces, for home use only or mainly, to select a piece of dry, gravelly

or sandy loam, underdrain it thoroughly, plow or trench it very deeply,

and fertilize it generously, in good part with ashes and with leaf-mold

from his woods. Locate the pig-pen on one side of it, fence it strongly,

and let the pigs have the run of it for a good portion of each year. In

this plat or yard, plant half a dozen Cherry and as many Pear trees of

choice varieties, the Bartlett foremost among them; keep clear of all

dwarfs, and let your choicest trees have a chance to run under the

pig-pen if they will. Plant here also, if your climate does not forbid,

a dozen well-chosen Peach-trees, and two each year thereafter to replace

those that will soon be dying out; and give half a dozen Quinces moist

and rich locations by the side of your fences; surrounding each tree

with stakes or pickets that will preclude too great familiarity on the

part of the swine, and will not prevent a sharp scrutiny for borers in

their season. Do not forget that a fruit-tree is like a cow tied to an

immovable stake, from which you cannot continue to draw a pail of milk

per day unless you carry her a liberal supply of food; and every Fall

cart in half a dozen loads of muck from some convenient swamp or pond

for your pigs to turn over: Should they leave any weeds, cut them with a

scythe as often as they seem to need it; never allowing one to ripen

seed. There may be easier and surer ways to obtain choice fruits; but

this one commends itself to my judgment as not surpassed by any other. I

think few have grown fruits to profit but those who make this a

specialty; and I feel that disappointment in fruit-culture is by no

means near the end. You can grow Plums, or Grapes, or Peaches, outside

of the climate most congenial to them, but this is a work wherein

success is likely to cost more than its worth. Try it first on a small

scale, if you will try it; and be sure you do it thoroughly.



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