ANNUAL MEETING. 137 



would reproduce itself from its pit. He said he could hardly believe such to 

 bo a fact, but that his experience with it, through the many years since, had 

 verified tiic truth of Mr. Wager's assertions. He further said he regardetl the 

 Wager i)each as being all his testimonial iiad claimed. 



He then had a few more than one hundred one-year Wager seedlings, which he 

 had grown from selected pits, taken from his own orchard at Miller's Corners. 

 These I purchased and brought home to Lapeer, setting them in nursery rows, 

 first pruning the roots fully one-third, and trimming the stem to a single whip 

 18 inches from tlie ground. They were then from f to ^ inch in diameter at 

 the base. 



The young trees made such a remarkable growth during the summer, that 

 being east again in August following, I hunted up Miller's Corners, to find, if 

 possible, the spot where the peach originated. 



Alighting from the cars the old Wager farm was soon pointed out, and there, 

 upon a side hill, was found the orchard Mr. Wager had set, his neighbors 

 said, something over twenty years before. The trees were thickly imbedded, 

 in sod, and had been badly cared for, Mr. Wager having been dead eleven 

 years. The fruit, however, in taste, color, and foriu, was, by comparison, 

 identical with that of a Mr. Taylor near by, wiio had 38 Wager seedling four 

 years from the pit, in their second bearing year, now over-loaded with fruit, 

 from which he estimated he would pick iOO bushels. He told me the trees 

 were seedlings from pits taken from the Wager orchard. I purchased two 

 bushels of his peaches, had them canned, and must say they have proved as 

 fine flavored and palatable as any peach I have ever eaten. 



The hundred Wagers, which had been set in nursery rows, had, by the last 

 week in August, made such a rapid growth that I cut them back nearly one- 

 half to thoroughly ripen the wood, and without any protection whatever they 

 stood our severest winter of 1879-80, the thermometer indicating from 2'Z to 

 36 degrees below zero, with none frozen save two, which had not been headed 

 in, of which some of the more tender branches were killed part way down. 



The spring succeeding, not being ready to set them in an orchard, I again 

 •cut them back to one-fourth of tlie previous season's growth. They were then 

 from ^ to 1^ inches in diameter at the base. 



During the summer, which was very dry, they made a strong, healthy 

 growtli, and in the last week in August, as before, one-half of it was cut back. 



A week or so earlier than this, having a few hundred plum stocks, and 

 thinking to produce a still hardier tree, as well as one the fruit of which, 

 would still reproduce itself fi'om the pit, I inserted the Wager buds in them, — 

 both trees and buds experienced no inconvenience from our past winter. 



Last May, the one hundred then three-year old trees were transplanted into 

 orchard rows, one rod each way. One peculiarity I then noticed was the 

 number and length of lateral roots, and great quantity of fibers, as some of 

 them required a hole six feet in diameter. 



Desiring more of the Wagers, 1 wrote the M.r. Taylor above referred to, 

 for one hundred and fifty, if they were one-year seedlings from the pit, and 

 asked him to state if they were so grown, also if there was any doubt in his own 

 mind, as to the perpetuity of the peach through its own pit. In reply he sent 

 the number ordered, and said vevbalini : " Tliese trees were grown by myself 

 from the Wager peach pits, and the peaches grew on trees I raised from the 

 pit, and know they will produce themselves. The first pits I got came from 

 the old Wager trees, which were set out twenty-five years ago, and bear almost 



