118 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



ture consideration of this subject, they had decided to recommend 

 that the subject be laid on the table till the next annual meeting. 

 This report was adopted. 



The President — Ladies and gentlemen, we are happy to have with 

 us a gentleman of world-wide reputation as a pomologist, who has 

 prepared a paper upon the new peaches, and other new fruits. We 

 extend our greetings and our welcome to Mr. Prosper J. Berck- 

 mans, President of the Georgia Horticultural Society. 



THE NEWER PEACHES AND NEW FRUITS FOR THE COTTON 



STATES. 



BY P. J. BERKMANS, OF GEORGIA. 



When we take a retrospective summary of the varieties of fruits known to 

 Southern fruit growers of ten j^ears ago, and compare these with our present 

 resources, we may, without presumption, take the heading of this essay as a 

 suitable subject. 



The advent of the Hale's Early peach was such a great step in the advance 

 of maturity of our earliest peaches, that by many of us this wonderful freak 

 was supposed to be an exaggeration from interested tree growers. As the 

 variety, however, sustained all that was claimed by the originator, this sup- 

 position gave place to another, that the earliest limit of maturity had been 

 reached. 



Again a change of opinion had to take place when the Beatrice, Louise 

 and Rivers proved to be still more precocious; thus upsetting all previous 

 theories, and leaving the undeniable evidence that a still greater step in 

 early maturity was not impossible. This was instanced by the almost simul- 

 taneous introduction of the Alexander and Amsden. 



We have thus advanced the period of earliest maturity of the peach, within 

 the short space of twenty years, from twenty-live to thirty days. Twenty 

 years ago the Early Tillotson, our best good early peach, seldom began to 

 ripen before the end of June ; now we are disajopointed if our Alexanders 

 are not ready for use by the 20th of Ma3\ 



Although the Alexander and Amsden originated about the same time, but 

 at considerable distances apart, I was struck with the similarity of the speci- 

 mens of the ripe fruit which I received from the original trees at their sec- 

 ond production. This evidently denoted their origin to be from the same 

 parentage. Subsequent experience leaves no dpubt as to. this, and further- 

 more that the Hale's Early was their common parent. 



We have, again, sufficient evidence that from this variety have originated 

 the many seedlings, whose characteristics have so much similarity that to 

 name one is to name nearly all. 



The regularity of bearing of the Hale's Early is due to its lateness in 



