Winter Mcctinz. 335 



"&> 



the lawn. What could be more unnatural and out of place? Schil- 

 ler tells us that, "If the art of gardening is at last to turn back from 

 her extravagance and rest with her other sisters, it is, above every- 

 thing, necessary to have clearly before us what we require. It is cer- 

 tainly tasteless and inconsistent to desire to incompass the world with 

 a garden wall, but very practicable and reasonable to make a garden 

 into a characteristic whole to the eye, heart, and understanding alike." 



PEACHES IX NORTH MISSOURI. 

 (By A. W. Bloomfield, St. Joseph, IMo.) 



The origin of the peach is hidden together with the prehistoric life 

 of the Aryan tribes of Central Asia. The primeval home of these early 

 tribes was on or near the 40th degree of north latitude. In fact the 

 Turko-Siberian city of Bokara, for which a well known variety of 

 peaches has been named, is located exactly on the parallel mentioned 

 above. 



This 40th parallel north separates our neighboring states of Kansas 

 and Nebraska and running thence east bisects Andrew county this State 

 and the other counties in the second tier from the north line. I have 

 shown that North Missouri is in latitude with the native home of the 

 peach. Next let us see if other physical environments are similar. The 

 altitude of Central Asia in general is high and the surface is drained by 

 several large rivers running in all directions. The soil must be somewhat 

 sandy and the air dry, as the country is dotted with arid deserts. 



The altitude of North Missouri ranges from 1,000 to 1,200 feet and 

 the nearness to the more arid regions between us and the Rocky Moun- 

 tains insures us the proper aridity of atmosphere. 



Our upland soil formerly covered with timber, is much of it of 

 loess formation and contains sufficient sand to make it well adapted to 

 the growth of the peach tree. 



My effort to prove North Missouri an ideal peach district would 

 be futile, unless substantiated by facts gathered from recent crop re- 

 sults. 



In the last ten years eight full crops of peaches have been raised in 

 Northwest Missouri. Can any other section of our State make a better 

 showing? This year the writer sold the crop from one acre, consisting 

 of Elberta, Champion, Crawford, and Summer Snow peaches, for $352. 



Twelve years ago ]\Ir. Hopkins of Springfield in a paper read before 

 this Society at Lebanon, said : "I cannot advise our friends in the 



