236 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to have seen those that were not so brilliant, but in my case they were, 

 and I can not really account for that. I sent some down to the New 

 York state fair and they received very favorable comment there, but 

 I do not think that I have had a chance to see the peach at its best, 

 because ni} » r pes are only two years old, and we all know that no 

 peach tree sJi'iws what it will do nntil later than that. As a com- 

 parative test L'f hardiness, last wintei- we had weather eighteen degrees 

 below zero for a short time, and on one side of my Fitzgeralds stand 

 Lewis trees, which most of you knov\ ; on the other side stand Crosby. 

 This sjjring, before the buds started 1 counted two hundred buds on 

 each of several varieties, I found oi. J ewis 15 dead buds, on Crosby 

 27, on Fitzgerald 2, and I think that ^'as a pretty good showing for 

 a great, big, fine peach, as they appeared to be; and they have a remark- 

 able feature, the smallest pit I ever saw in a first-class peach. Now, 

 if they go on, and do not develop any faults, I think they are a good 

 thing. 



Mr. Riehl: I want to say to those gentlemen who were asking about 

 Chair, that we have it in several stations of southern Illinois, and 

 invariably it has done well. It is a fine grower and a good-looking 

 fruit, sends its fruit all over the tree, and all of it in good shape. It 

 has much of the character of Elberta in that respect, and the quality 

 ii"' A No. 1. It is tip-top in quality. 



The President: Professor Craig, what do you know of the Fitzgerald 

 peach ? 



Professor Craig: I think, Mr. President, you have said just about 

 all that I know, actually and personally, of the Fitzgerald peach, and 

 I can go just about as far as j'ou have gone, from personal knowledge. 

 I know that a few growers think very highly of it and are prepared 

 to touch it very strongly, and are planting it very heavily; but it is 

 a new thing, and it has been planted on this side almost as long 

 as it has on the other, with the exception of one or two points where 

 it is doing very well. I think it is one of the most promising of the 

 early peaches, but still I think that it is in the experimental stage. 

 That is just the sum and substance of it. 



The President: That is my opinion of it. 



Q. What is its time of ripening? The President: It is between Early 

 Crawford and Elberta. 



Professor Craig: That is, it comes in when the Early Crawford sea- 

 son is about half over. 



The President: I was at a little disadvantage in naming the sea- 

 son, because my trees are only two years old, while my Early Craw- 

 fords are seven or eight years old, and, you understand, fully ripeu 

 a week or so earlier; my Fitzgerald trees will ripen earlier two years 

 from now than they do now. 



Mr. Hale: I think your statement entirely agrees with my experi- 

 ence in mv orchard. You said it came between Earlv Crawford and 

 Elberta, and Mr. Craig said when the Crawford season was about 

 half over. In our orchard, Elberta begins to ripen just about the end 

 of the Crawford season, and Fitzgerald will fit in just about between 

 them. I am growing Fitzgerald, but they are not fruiting; the sam- 

 ples of it which I have had from Canada were very large, of rather 



