SPRING LAKE— 1874. 371 



This bountiful season all varieties have yielded largely, — the Hales, the Yorks, 

 the Barnards, the Crawfords, the Old Mixons, Hill's Chili, and Smock. As a 

 general thing, I think the Early Crawford has been the finest peach, has given 

 the pomologist the most exquisite a'sthetic delight in its mammoth propor- 

 tions, its gorgeous damask cheek, melting into the lovely yellow of its skin like 

 the purple cloud tinged with the radiance that beautifies a summer sunset, 

 while its flavor, coveted by the epicure, makes it the queen of the market. 



But notwithstanding all this, the Early Crawford is not now planted, I may 

 say, at all in this locality. It is not a regular annual bearer, it is not an early 

 bearer, it is not a large yielder, for which reason I predict that five years hence 

 the Early Crawford will be low in the list of peaches as to amount produced. 



THE BAEKARD. 



I need not here say that I stand by my old hobby, the Early Barnard. It is 

 not all that the Crawford is, but it is all these things that the Crawford is not. 

 By careful thinning my Barnards sold in the same market, at the same time, 

 as well as my Crawfords, and yielded much higher to the tree. 



"WANTED. 



We need other varieties when we can get the right ones. We want a reliable 

 and popular peach in place of the Yorks, and a good bearer and a hardy tree 

 in place of the Jacques Rareripe, these varieties tilling the vacant market be- 

 tween the Hale's Early and the Crawfords, and between the Crawfords and 

 Hill's Chili. 



THE SMOCK. 



Perhaps the most profitable peach this year has been the Smock, but our 

 remarkable exemption from frost this season is the occasion, and they ripen 

 too late to recommend. 



IMPORTANCE OF THINKING THE FRUIT. 



I have not made any general inquiry, but my judgment is, from the sale of 

 my own and some of my neighbors' crops, that peaches, when well cultivated on 

 good soil, and well thinned, brought about fifty cents a basket in the basket on 

 the farm, which is nearly 12 per bushel. Very many crops brought less, but 

 only in eases where the want of thrifty and good culture was manifested. 

 This season has demonstrated the necessity of thinning all varieties except the 

 Early Crawford. In most cases the heavy bearing varieties when not thinned, 

 were Avorthless. 



GRAPES. 



Grapes, as usual, have been a heavy crop ; how profitable I am unable to say. 

 The Concord still merits its sobriquet given by Horace Greeley, — " the grape 

 for the million." It seems absolutely hardy, free from disease and from rav- 

 ages of insects. 



The Delaware, as in most other localities, is in rapid decadence here. Blight 

 and the ravages of the thrip, a little fly which sucks the sap from the leaves, 

 have prevented, I dare say, one half of the Delawares from ripening, and their 

 Talue in the market has been destroyed. Young vines seem to bear good 

 fruit, but vineyards in years are nearly or quite ruined. AVe await a suggested 

 remedy. 



