483 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



and raaiuly be directed. Then a judicious selection of varieties is of the high- 

 est importance. Among the new varieties, as Foster, Alexander, Richmond, 

 the Rivers peaches, and others, we look for something worthy a place on our 

 professional list. Especially are we interested in those ripening before the 

 Early Crawford, a season wherein we have no tried sorts of first rate market 

 qualities. We will give our impressions of the well known sorts, in their order 

 of ripening. 



Hale's Early is very hardy and productive, a good grower, and everything 

 desirable in the tree. The fruit, when well grown, is of large size, beautiful 

 appearance, acceptable quality, and but for its liability to rot would be quite 

 satisfactory. It should be grown on ground having a free circulation of air. 



Wheeler's Early is a good grower and hardy, except that it is quite as subject 

 to cnrled leaf as any seedling. It is extremely liable to overbear; the fruit is 

 medium size, of very bright appearance, fair quality, quite exempt from rot, 

 and ships well. 



Cooledge's Favorite is a good grower, hardy, and prolific. The fruit is 

 medium size, of good quality, and beautiful appearauce. The pit is liable to 

 crack ; too near the Early Crawford in ripening. 



These three varieties have white flesh. 



The Yellow Honest John is very vigorous, hardy, and productive. The fruit 

 is of medium size, fair quality, and appearance, and ships well ; the same season 

 as Cooledge's Favorite. 



The Mountain Rose is highly recommended by IMr. Thomtis Archer, and 

 other fruit-growers, at St. Joseph. 



EAKLY AND LATE CRAWFORDS. 



The Crawford peaches are too well known to need any definite description. 

 Their old popularity is fully sustained, they outsell all competitors in the 

 market, and since at South Haven they passed through the nnprecedented cold 

 winter of 1872-3 with fruit buds intact, and the following summer bore a 

 large crop of the finest fuit, their hardiness cannot be questioned. They are 

 hardy in both tree and fruit, and quite exempt from leaf-curl. Add to this, 

 excellent shipping qualities in the fruit, long period of ripening, and the tenac- 

 ity with which the ripe fruit clings to the stem, and we have a rare combination 

 of market qualities. 



Commencing to ripen after a few of the first pickings of the Early Crawford, 

 and continuing until after it, comes the Barnard. This excellent peach, to which 

 we will have occasion to refer again, was received from western New York, 

 by Mr. George Parmelee, of St. Joseph, now of Old Mission, on an order for 



duced wonderful effects in the increase of the vigor, growth, longevity, and production of 

 the peach tree. No doubt the pruning sj'stem of President D3'ckman will be a subject of 

 much criticism, and with his consent we introduce here what Mr. Downing had to say about 



THE SHORTENING-IN SYSTEM. 



Pruning. — It Las always been the prevailing doctrine in this country that the peach 

 requires no pruning. It has been allowed to grow, to bear heavy crops, and to die, pretty 

 much in its own vi&y. This is very well for a tree in its native climate, and in a wild state ; 

 but it must be remembered that the peach comes from a warmer country than ours, and that 

 our peaches of the present day are artificial varieties. They owe their origin to artificial 

 means, and require therefore a system of culture to correspond. 



In short, we view tliis absence of all due care in tiie management of the peach tree, after 

 it comes intohearing, as the principal original cause of its present short duration, and the disease 

 which preys upon it in many of the older parts of the country. We therefore earnest)}'' 

 desire the attention of peach-growers lo our brief hints upon a regular system of pruning 



