14 



CIRCULAR NO. 120, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



HORTICULTURAL WORK.' 

 THE MEXICAN SEEDLING PEACH. 



The Mexican seedling peach trees- l)()re a heavy crop of fruit, and 

 the early prospects were good that more data on the comparative 



merits of different trees might 

 he secured. The earlier ripen- 

 ing trees gave a heavy yield of 

 good fruit, but the continued 

 drought of midsununer dam- 

 aged all the jieaches from the 

 later maturing trees, making 

 the tests with these trees nearly 

 worthless. Nearly all the trees 

 bore an exceptionally heavy 

 crop, but they Avere not able to 

 liold the fruit through such a 

 long period of drought. 



The trees are becoming over- 

 crowded, owing to their size 

 and close planting, bringing 

 out the point that to obtain the 

 best results the distance be- 

 tween the trees will have to be 

 greater than is ordinarily 

 adopted in more humid sec- 

 tions. The trees were planted 

 1() feet apart, but it is now ap- 

 parent that better results would 

 be secured if they were 22 feet 

 apart. 



The Office of Foreign Seed 

 and Plant Introduction put 

 in 324 buds from what were 

 considered the best 9 trees of 

 the ]\Iexican seedling orchard. 

 These budded trees are to be 

 distributed to cooperators in 

 southwest Texas to test their 

 value undei 

 tions. 



I,'i,;. 5. — English walnut si':iftfcl on nativf 

 Texas black walnut iu February. Uni.'. 

 (PhotoKiaplied August 1!S. I!tl2.) 



varviu"' condi- 



1 The horticultural experiments were under the direct charge of Mr. U. E. Hlair, scien- 

 tific assistant. 



= The seed from which these trees wer.> produced was collected in Mexicii by Mv. Cilbert 

 Onderdonl<. under the direction of the Officp of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction. 

 They are listed under S. P. I. Nos. n:!L'0 and U:','21. 

 |fir. lliU] 



