216 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



yellow freestone, good for canning, etc. It is also a good bearer with us, 

 and a popular market variety. The Elberta, a large, oblong, yellow free- 

 stone, which is well known nearly everywhere in the peach belt, and a 

 very profitable market vai'iety that will bear handling well. It is con- 

 sidered the best peach for commercial orchards on account of its large 

 size and fine appearance; also the hardiness of the trees and their fruit 

 buds. Just after the Elberta, or lapping in the latter part of its season, 

 comes the finest and largest yellow freestone peach that I ever saw. 

 Fifteen inches in circumference is no uncommon thing to find. I have 

 often picked specimens measuring sixteen and one-half inches in circum- 

 ference. This peach originated here in this (Greene) county from the seed 

 of the Ai'kansas Ti-aveler, first grown by William Hannah. I procured 

 the first buds from his trees and propagated quite a lot of these trees 

 and sold them to my neighbors, which since that time (1894) have come in 

 bearing, proving one of the most popular canning peaches known in this 

 part of the State. It is a perfect freestone, not having a trace of white, 

 bitter wax next to the seed, so commonly found in freestone peaches. 

 The meat is sweet, juicy and a beautiful clear yellow from the skin to 

 the seed. The tree is a good grower and hardy. The fruit is all that can 

 be desired as a seller on the markets. It will outstrip the famous Elberta 

 when thoroughly introduced, because it is more showy on the market and 

 of much better fiavor. I named it the Hannah Seedling peach, after Mr. 

 Hannah, who planted the seed that produced the original tree. It is pretty 

 well known in two or three of the adjoining counties. 



The next peach ripening after the Hannah is the Norvell's Mammoth 

 Cling, another Greene County peach, produced from the seed of a peach 

 procured at the World's Fair at Chicago, planted by Dr. H. V. Norvell, 

 of Bloomfield, Ind. The peach is a white cling, larger than Heath Cling, 

 with a dingy red cheek on sunny side. It is a fine canning peach, ripens 

 the middle of September, and promises to be a winner in the markets, 

 because it is ripe and gone before the Heath Cling comes in. Then fol- 

 lowing the Norvell come the Wheatland and the Wonderful, both ex- 

 cellent, late, yellow freestone peaches, coming in the season when it 

 seems they are needed most. Last, but not least, by a good deal, comes 

 the old, tried, true and ever-to-be-adored Heath Cling, a large white 

 cling— ripe first week in October; some seasons the last week in Septem- 

 ber, but nevertheless one of the best known and the most popular of any 

 cling peach in existence. The trees are hardy, productive and long-lived. 

 In our propagation of peach trees we always bud a large number of 

 Heath Cling trees, which never go begging for a purchaser. 



I will have to add another good peach, which I had nearly forgotten. 

 It is the Heath Free; something similar in appearance; ripens earlier; not 

 quite so large as Heath Cling, but very much like it in flavor. 



Now, the varieties I have mentioned are good and profitable kinds. 

 If I were to plant a thousand acres to peach, I don't know of anything 

 bettei' than I have mentioned. 



