1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



237 



ful, and one of the finest flavored. 1 have not 

 seen this variety. 



The Callie Scaft' peach was sent us by J. D. 

 Scaff, of Watervalley, Kentucky. They were so 

 much decayed I could judge nothing of its 

 merits, but Mr. Scaff and other persons inform 

 me that it is very fine, and equal in every way 

 to Amsden, if not better, of a higher color, and 

 about eight days earlier. It is a seedling of the 

 large Early York, four years old, and ripened 

 its first fruit this season the 27th of May. 



Dr. J. H. Watkins of Palmetto, Georgia, has 

 been collecting and testing all the new varieties 

 he could obtain, and writes me " that I have 

 fruited together this year, on the same tree, 

 Alexander, Amsden, Honeywell, Early Canada, 

 Briggs' May, Beatrice, Louise, and Rivers 

 peaches. The seperate limbs were eight to ten 

 feet long, and had on quite a quantity of fruit. 

 In appearance the first four were strikmgly simi- 

 lar, the Honeywell slightly smaller, but equal 

 to any in flavor, with the exception, possibly, of 

 Early Canada, which showed the highest color, 

 and, as my little children would say, ' it's a black 

 peach,' (where well exposed.) If there was 

 any diff'erence at all in the earliness of the first 

 four peaches, the Canada certainly had it ; the 

 Canada is almost a perfect freestone, adheres 

 very slightly, unlike the others in this respect, 

 so far as I had an opportunity to examine. 

 Briggs' May followed these four in one week, was 

 smaller, but quite passable in flavor ; then came 

 Beatrice, Louise, Rivers. Rivers is fine for home 

 use ; Louise first-rate, but small ; Beatrice too 

 small ; "Wilder will most likely take the place 

 of all peaches ripening between Alexander, 

 Amsden, «fcc., and Hale's Early, Tillotson, «&c. 



" I failed to fruit Mr. Engle's peaches this 

 season, but Wilder, Saunders and Downing were 

 fruited near here — Downing is not thought equal 

 to Alexander. The hardiness of trees, quality 

 and appearance of fruit, size, flavor, &c., will 

 determine which is most suitable for general 

 cultivation — Alexander, Amsden, Honeywell, 

 Downing or Early Canada, as the slight diff'er- 

 ence in time, where it exists, is of no practical 

 value. Perfect specimens of Alexander, Ams 

 den, Honeywell, Early Canada, were ripe this 

 year the 1st of June ; in 1877, June the 7th ; in 

 1876, June 20th. 



" "Will it not take two or three years yet with 

 trees, or a tree of each variety, growing side by 

 side, on the same soil, with same culture, to de- 

 cide Uilly as to time of ripening? (Yes. to 



give a decided opinion, five years from its first 

 fruiting is not too long.) I have a single tree 

 of each varietv, I have arranged them in this 

 way, besides Musser, Cumberland, and a number 

 of other kinds, said to be extra early, in addition 

 all the old kinds, and, indeed, I may say one of 

 each of all varieties in general cultivation, with- 

 out regard tcT period of maturity ; and next year, 

 if we have fruit, I will be able to report faith- 

 fully as to the behavior of Mr. Engle's peaches 

 in this section, by the side of all those men- 

 tioned. I am very much struck with the growth 

 of Musser, it is extremely vigorous and healthy 

 in apperance, and Cumberland is very little 

 behind it." 



My experience with Alexander, Amsden, 

 Honeywell and Early Canada, with two years' 

 fruiting, is about the same as Dr. Watkins, and, 

 as I have before stated, that if the four kinds 

 were put in a dish it would puzzle a good pomo- 

 logist to separate them, and yet there is no doubt 

 but that they are all distinct kinds. 



DWARF JUNE BERRY. 



BY H. E. VAN DEMAN, GENEVA, KAN. 



I see by the June number of the Gardener's 

 Monthly that you doubt the existence of a 

 dwarf species. There would be no doubt in 3-our 

 mind if you would see plants grow and bear and 

 propagate for ten years, when not over three 

 feet high. One kind that I have never gets over 

 two feet high. 



THE DWARF JUNE BERRY. 



BY II. W. WILLIAMS & SONS, BATAVIA, KANE 

 CO., ILL. 



We enclose ,you two photographs of the 

 Dwarf June Berry, one representing the plant 

 in bearing, the other a single cluster of fruit, 

 natural size. They are both good representa- 

 tions of the manner of growth, and size and 

 coloring of the fruit, being both taken when the 

 fruit was ripening. We have cultivated them 

 for seven or eight years, having pi'ocured them 

 of a man who claimed they were the genuine 

 Whortleberry, which could be cultivated in the 

 same manner as any other fruit. The plants 

 have never grown higher than four feet, and 

 yield every year an enormous crop of fruit, or 

 rather would, if the birds could be induced to let 

 them alone, but they seem to have a peculiar 

 fancy for them, picking into them before they 

 are half ripe. The fruit we do not consider 



