Please give the formula for peeling peaches by dipping them in caustic
soda or lye.

Lye for peeling peaches is used at the rate of half to one pound to the
gallon of water, according to the strength of the lye, which you can
determine by the quickness with which it acts. The lye water is kept
boiling, and the fruit is dipped in wire baskets, only being allowed to
remain in the lye a few seconds, and is then plunged at once into fresh
water. You must be careful to keep the lye boiling hot, also either to
use running water for rinsing or change it very frequently, for you have
to rely on fresh water to remove the lye, or the fruit is likely to be
stained.



Aged Peach Trees.



What should be done with peach trees 35 years old which are becoming
unthrifty, bearing only at the ends of the limbs, etc.?

Old peach trees become bark-bound and need to be cut back to just above
the crotch for the forcing out of new branches, this being facilitated,
of course, by application of manure, good cultivation of the soil, use
of water during the dry season, etc. The peach is, under most
conditions, not a long-lived tree, and if your trees are 35 years of