Summer Meeting. 143 



any other variety. It also can be left on the tree until fully ripe 

 and will still ship well. 



Old Mixon Free and Cling, Carpenter Cling, Lemon Cling, 

 Washington Cling and Stump the World are all good. Crawford 

 Late and the Melocotons are unexcelled for the home market, on 

 account of their size and quality, and they will always sell, no mat- 

 ter how over-stocked the market may be with inferior fruit. 



The buds on the latter-named are most apt to winterkill, but 

 on the whole I find them very profitable. The Crosby is very 

 productive, but rather small for market, while Ward's Late Free 

 has done very well for me, and although not very large, is of ex- 

 cellent quality and very productive. 



White Heath, Cling and Free, are the best canning and pre- 

 serving peaches, but with me have proven a very uncertain crop, 

 as they are subject to rot, and often turn black and shrivel up on 

 one side. 



Smock and Salway are good late varieties and should close the 

 season, as the still later one cannot be depended on to ripen prop- 

 erly, and there is little demand for same. 



These are all well tested varieties and will furnish fruit con- 

 tinuously for over three months, and, of course, may be improved 

 upon in some sections, but I would advise the amateur to plant 

 sparingly of new, untested kinds. It has been my experience that a 

 large number of nurserymen are very unscrupulous in labeling 

 peach trees, especially where sold cheap; therefore, it will always 

 pay to buy from a reliable nursery, even if the price be a little 

 higher. 



The state of California has a law on its statute books holding 

 the nurseryman liable for seven years' crops if varieties are not 

 true to name, and I think this State should have a similar law. In 

 my experience of former days, as nursery agent and solicitor, I 

 found that many people would rather raise their own trees from 

 seeds than pay fancy prices for trees which turned out to be noth- 

 ing but the commonest kind of seedling peach — thereby injuring 

 the honest nurseryman as much as the unscrupulous. 



As to location, I find a high elevation, sloping to the west 

 or northwest, the most desirable, as the buds will not swell as much 

 during warm days in winter as they would on a south slope, and 

 therefore are hardier. Besides, the soil will hold moisture better 

 during ripening time, which is very essential to the proper devel- 

 opment of the peach, and a tree being heavily loaded will usually 

 die after a drouth if too much exposed to the sun. 



