RUSSIAN AND OTHER FRUITS. 309 



but to wait and hope for the desirable results which he seems so confidently 

 to anticixmte. 



In the transactions of the Iowa Horticultural Society for 188G the professor 

 says: 



Of the Russian plums which I am testing I can say but little as yet; some of them are 

 of the Lombard type in appearance. Our native varieties seem to Uo well such as Bas- 

 sett, De Sota, Climax, Forest Garden, and Weaver. The last named does not seem 

 very productive. The Robinson and Marianna I have not tried long enough to speak 

 intelligently about. 



In the same volume, at page 437, Mr. Burtoti advances the idea that — 

 The Miner plum [why not others also— Writer] ripens its pollen before the stamen 

 is ready to receive it This difficulty could be obviated by planting another plum adja- 

 -cent, which ripens its pollen at just the right time. 



Some indications of the varieties of plum under cultivation in this region 

 may be gathered fron the following list. Their apparent relative popularity 

 is indicated by the numbers attached : 



De Soto, 29; Forest Garden, 17; Miner, 15; Weaver, 9; Wolf, 7; Wild 

 Goose 7; Eolling-stoue, 5; Maquoketa, 4; Cheney (the earliest, 2 ; New- 

 man, 2; Speer, 2; Marianna, 1 ; Kobinson, 1; Harrieon's Peach, 1; Moore's 

 Arctic, 1; Van Buren, 1; Winnebago, 1; Rockwell, 1; Shaffer, 1; Lombard, 

 1; Shipper's Pride, 1; Clemmons, 1; Oglesby, 1. Several of these are 

 recent introductions, and not generally known and tested. 



THE PEACH. 



The Peach {Amygdalus Persica) is reputed to be a native of Persia, and to 

 have originated from the almond. The Nectarine is usually considered to be 

 merely a variety of the peach with a smooth skin. It is known, in fact, that 

 within a recent period certain existing varieties of the nectarine have been 

 originated from seed of the peach. 



The limit northward of the peach growing region proper at the east may 

 be said to be about latitude 42^^; although near the sea-coast, and also in 

 New York and in portions of Ontario, the ameliorating influence of the ocean 

 and of Lake Ontario carry it somewhat above 43°. Further west, in Michi- 

 gan it extends yet further north; within the more immediate influence of 

 Lakes Michigan and Huron, even as far as latitude 45*^ 30". Further west, and 

 away from the influence of the Great Lakes, the limits of the profitable culti- 

 vation of this fruit occurs much further s )uth, probably even below 40", or in 

 southern Illinois and northern Missouri. 



At the northwestward of Lake Michigan the peach, therefor, can only be 

 grown as an exotic. There have been various efforts to devise some cheap 

 and effective process for the protection of the tree against the extremes of 

 cold during winter, which occasionally ruin the fruit buds and even the 

 trees. So far, however, nothing effective has been devised short of actually 

 laying down the trees and covering them with earth during the winter. 



Prof. J. L. Budd, in the course of his experiments with hardy European 

 fruits, has imported from eastern Asia what he hopes may prove a hardier 

 type of this fruit. In a college bulletin issued in 1885 he says: 



The peach does not vary as much in hardiness of varieties as the other orchard fruits 

 •of the tempsrate zone. In our experiments we have u-ed the Wager and Hill's Ciiili 

 as a standard of hardiness of the old varieties, coming originally from Persia. 



Four years Hgo we imported plants of eleven varieties of the peach from Pekin, China, 

 ithey having been procured for our use from the hill country northwest of Pekin. They 



