Summer Meeting. 71 



HARDY PEACHES AFTER THE COLD WEATHER. 



(By John Brereton, Springfield, Mo.) 



The following paper addressed to the Society was read by Secretary 

 Goodman : 



Business having called me south for a few months, I am denied the 

 privilege of greeting you at the spring meeting. Down here in Arkansas 

 and Louisiana every old peach tree is loaded. Little attention is paid to 

 fruit and vegetables, although soil and climate are well adapted to their 

 production. At every saw mill town there are car loads of old tin cans, 

 telling of things shipped from far away, but no fresh fruit except what 

 grows wild. But you want me to tell the story of "Hardy Peaches in the 

 Ozarks," so I shall try to confine myself to the text. 



It is not easy to write with authority while a thousand miles away 

 from the facts. A thorough examination, made during March and April, 

 convinces me that no method of protection equals selection of hardy varie- 

 ties. Nearly all Elbertas and many other kinds were killed early in the 

 winter, while varieties of which I had kept a record were loaded with 

 live buds. After that fateful night of February 13, when the mercury 

 went to 22 degrees below zero, w^e feared all were dead. But we could 

 but hope, and watch and wait until^ 



Lo, the winter was past, 



The snow was over and gone; 



The flowers appeared on the earth, 



The time of the singing of birds was come, 



And the voice of the turtle dove was heard in the land. 



Then peach trees began to show the stuff they were made of. Every 

 bud was dead on the more tender kinds, while many hardy trees showed 

 a tinge of color; several almost enough, and a few were loaded with 

 bloom. Most of these trees are in city gardens, but are not specially 

 protected ; some are on the north side of buildings, some stand in the 

 open, while others are located on the south side in the blazing sun. 

 Many trees that occupy similar positions are bloomless and fruitless year 

 after year, while these trees seldom fail to bear a partial crop. Some 

 varieties growing in the open field prove equally hardy, and have yielded 

 crops for many years. This is a testing time ; few have stood the ordeal, 

 but the fact that some trees which have borne still continue tO' bear is 

 proof that by selection we may yet hope to produce a family of luscious 

 peaches, yielding fruit every year from June to October. 



