MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 377 



certain substances in the soil or on the leaves to enable the plant to 

 hold on to the water that it has. 



Finally, then, an accurate knowledge of the relation of water to 

 the growth of plants will enable us to control more fully the delelop- 

 ment of the plant as a whole, and also the relative growth of its parts. 

 It will show us how to so modify the growth of the plants that they 

 may be able most successfully to withstand the adverse conditions and 

 produce the most valuable substance for a given amount of labor. 



The above speaks volumes and should be carefully studied by all 

 horticulturists. Those who irrigate fully realize the truth of the above 

 summary. It shows conclusively that everyone should irrigate. 



Hardy Peaches. 



G. F. Espenlamb, as quoted in report of Missouri State Horticul- 

 tural Society, says: 



If peaches were as hardy as apples, there is no fruit that would 

 pay the horticulturist as well as the peach. But from 10 to 15 degrees 

 below zero will surely kill the fruit buds. To improve the hardiness 

 of the trees, seeds of the hardiest varieties of seedlings as well as 

 budded varieties should be selected and planted out; when these come 

 into bearing, and choicest and hardiest kinds should be cared for and 

 the poor and most tender to be cut out. Yellow and white varieties 

 could be grouped so as to make crossing more sure. Each generation 

 would thus be an improvement and a step toward the object to be ob- 

 tained, and there should be no halt made, as there is no limit as to what 

 may be reached. 



If the several experiment stations would take hold of this and 

 make it a branch of their work, and then exchange seeds of their most 

 promising kind with one another, there is no telling what may be ac- 

 complished in a few generations, which would not require a very long 

 time, as the peach soon comes into fruiting. We older horticulturists 

 could not expect to reach the maximum of success, but it would enthuse 

 our young men to take up the thread where we leave off, and the same 

 improvement can be made in the future as there has been made in the 

 past, when our luscious peach is the offspring of the once bitter almond. 



