PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING. 245 



most of our peaches the country over. The Crawford types thrive 

 best on a pretty stiff clay soil, if it is well drained and other condi- 

 tions are right for peaches. Now, possibly the soil in the vicinity 

 of this city is different. Perhaps there is a little more clay than 

 there is in your greater peach region down along the lake, and cer- 

 tain it is that while climatic conditions and certain seasons may affect 

 one type of peach and not another, it is also true with different soils, 

 and that the Crawford peaches, or peaches of that class, will fail on 

 sandy soils and sandy loams when they will thrive on quite heavy 

 sub-clay. All these things must be taken into account when we are 

 giving our testimony as to how they behave with us. 



Prof. Craig: I had in mind Reeves on sub-clay, just such as Mr. 

 Hale mentioned, when I asked that question, and it was the mag- 

 nificent showing that this orchard made last season that particularly 

 impressed me with the value of that variety, when traveling through 

 the peach districts of Ontario. I was in a number of places, and 

 perhaps the fruitful ness was produced by the trees being on clay. 



The President: Was it on land that had had hardwood timber? 



Prof. Craig: Yes, sir. The trees were all over ten vears old and 

 were all well laden with peaches, considering this as a peach year 

 in Ontario when such varieties as Crawfords did not produce more than 

 a fifth of a crop. But Reeves, I learn, does not come into bearing 

 early, but after five or six, or seven, years at the outside, it is a pretty 

 regular annual bearer; and when people get to know the quality of 

 the fruit, and where growers take the trouble to get the fruit into 

 the market in good condition, they have in every case found it a very 

 profitable variety. 



The President: That is an excellent thought to bring out. and some- 

 thing about which the prospective fruitgrower should know something. 

 It is noticeable in the southern part of the state, and I presume here, 

 that lands that are of clay and gravel, that formerly grew w^hite oak tim- 

 ber, seem to grow the Crawford variety of peach better than any other 

 soil w^e have, while many of our white varieties do well in drifting sand 

 wiiere the Crawfords are an absolute failure. Those are things which 

 it is best for you, if you are contemplating setting, to look up. You 

 have your soil, you know' what it is, and you w'ould better get a little 

 experience from other people, if you haven't it yourself, as to the varie- 

 ties that will succeed on that particular soil. There is quite a range of 

 difference. 



^Ir. AYhitmeyer: I find our Crawford peaches on clay soil, and some 

 other peaches of that type, have so much foliage that they cannot receive 

 the light; the foliage is so large that the fruit does not g( t the light and 

 color up. 



The President: Is it hardwood timber or oak? 



Mr. AYhitmeyer: Oak limber, and they do not color, and I set that 

 orchard of fift(-en acres thirty feet apart. In the center of the square I 

 have a pear, so the distance does not hurt them. Right on the other 

 side I have another orchard, some Crawfords that are only fifteen feet 



