•] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



305 



growers, that the many contradictory testimonies 

 in regard to the earliness of peaches, may be ex- 

 plained by the condition of the trees. It is beyond 

 dispute, that when any tree is injured, the fruit 

 matures earher than it would do otherwise. This 

 is the foundation for horticultural practice of ring- 

 ing a branch. Now, anything that impairs the 

 vital powers of a tree, must have an influence on 

 the precocity of the fruit. We do not always see 

 the influence of insidious disease, and a tree ap- 

 parently healthy may have within the germs of 

 unhealthfulness sufficient to affect the period of 

 maturity in the fruit. In the case of the yellows 

 in the peach, this is certainly true. The disease is 

 there a year before there is any appearance thereof 

 to the general observer. Once in awhile we are 

 made aware of the presence of the disease by an 

 arrested and frowzy-looking branch, pushing out 

 late in the growing season from the lower part of 

 the tree trunk. A tree in this stage, healthy enough 

 to the eye, would no doubt produce earlier fruit 

 than heretofore ; and so it would from any other 

 depressing influence on the growth force. 



In short, it is coming to be an accepted doctrine, 



that when any unusual earhness is claimed for an 

 early peach, we must be sure there is no lurking 

 disease at work, before we are sure that the earli- 

 ness will be permanent. — Ed. G. M.J 



Purple Peach.—" B.,"Colora, Md., writes : " I 

 send you a few lines on two subjects that may be 

 of interest ; if not, they need not be noticed. 

 One is a Seedling Purple Peach— so I take it — 

 growing by a roadside. The color is as dark as 

 the one that has been propagated by buds for 

 several years, and this has the vigor of a seedling 

 that the old one now has not. Is there any value 

 in these as ornamental trees that will make them 

 ] worth propagating now ? I have not customers 

 ; for many but it may be of use to others in the 

 trade." 



I [The original purple-leaved peach, which was 

 found on the battle-field of Fort Donelson. has 

 the most worthless clingstone fruit a peach could 

 possibly have. Its sole value lies in its purple leaves. 

 A variety which would also have good fruit would 

 possess a double value, and it would be worth 

 while to see what another purple seedling would do. 

 —Ed. G. M.] 



Forestry. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Forestry in England. — Sir John Lubbuck is 

 endeavoring to have a School of Forestry estab- 

 Hshed in England. He says there are 2,500,000 

 acres of woodland in England. Mr. Courtney, of 

 the English Department of Woods and Forests, 

 thinks there is not a very large opening for a 

 school of forestry in a small country like England. 



Fragrance of Abies Douglasii.— Mr. T. D. 

 Fish tells Forestry that the grateful odor of the 

 Douglas spruce should make it class with sanitary 

 trees. 



Inverting Fence Posts. — Professor Beal finds 

 no difference between posts set the way they grow, 

 or upside down, in so far as their longevity is con- 

 cerned. 



Red Gum. — Professor L. Johnson, of Holly 

 Springs, tells the American Journal of Forestry 

 that the "Red Gum" is simply the timber from old 



trees of the Sweet gum, which is red from age ; 

 though sometimes the timber will remain white 

 even when the tree is old. 



Trees of Texas.— Mr. T. V. Munson con- 

 tributes to the Journal of Forestry a valuable list, 

 with observations, of the trees of Texas. There 

 are one hundred and eighteen species in all no- 

 ticed. Very good for one State, though perhaps 

 some of these will be found but mere variations of 

 other species when more particularly examined. 



Forests of Bananas.— Under the heading of 



"Arboriculture " in the Boletin de la Sociedad 



Agricola Mexicana, published in the city of 



Mexico, is a treatise on the culture of Musa ensete. 



It refers to the extensive culture of this species of 



j banana in Abyssinia for the excellent fibre it pro- 



I duces, and believes forests of it in Mexico could 



j be planted for the same purpose with great profit. 



j Mahogany.— The Boletin de la Sociedad Agri- 

 I cola Mexicana says this is native to the island of 



