INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 217 



VARIETIES OF PEACHES ADAPTED TO SOUTHERN INDIANA. 



BY HIRAM P. DEAN, GREENWOOD. 



This is really one of the most important questions that occurs to us 

 in peach orchai-d planting: What varieties shall we plant? Yet thei*e 

 are so many varieties, and the list being constantly increased, and so 

 much confusion as to these many varieties being true to names, that 

 there is some doubt of my being able to aid the amateur planter to any 

 gi-eat degree. 



My father, Argus Dean, planted his first orchard in 1850, consisting 

 of 1,600 trees, embracing about sixty of the best known varieties at that 

 time, and it required about twelve to fifteen years in testing these va- 

 rieties as to quality, size, hardiness and the very essential linowledge of 

 time of ripening, in order to malie a constant succession from the earliest 

 to the latest. The list which he selected at that time made the basis of 

 our later plantings, which ran into hundreds of thousands of ti-ees, and 

 we never had cause to regret the use of this lot of selected varieties, al- 

 though we did later discard some, and add some new ones. This list as 

 we began our future plantings was as follows, given in succession of time 

 of ripening: Early Tillotston, Troth Early, George the Fourth, Craw- 

 ford's Early, Serate Early Yorli, L. E. York, Mixon Free, Mixon Cling, 

 Crawford's Late, Dean's L. Red Free, Druid Hill, Ward's Late, La- 

 gi'ange or Health Free and Heath. Cling. In a very short time we dis- 

 carded both the Crawfords. and later Serate Early York, Tillotston and 

 Lagrange. 



Our later and larger plantings were made with the following addi- 

 tions: Waterloo, Hale's Early, Mountain Rose, Shipley's L. Red, Crock- 

 et's White, Smock Free, Salway and Henrietta. Our still later experience 

 has been with Gudgeon, Chair's Choice, Globe, Wonderful, Wheatland, 

 Diamond, Crosby, Elberta, Swiss, Reed's Early Golden, Bilyeus Oct, and 

 of these I do not consider any that are extra hardy but Gudgeon and 

 Bilyeus Oct, and neither of these two are worthy of large planting. Now, 

 in favorable localities for the southern part of the State, I would select 

 our first list, less those first discarded, with these additions, making list 

 as follows: Hale's Early, Troth's Early, Mount Rose, L. Early York, 

 Mixon Cling, Mixon Free, Elberta, L. Red Free, Druid Hill, Shipley's L. 

 Red, Ward's Late, Smock Free, Salway, Heath Cling and Henrietta, as 

 representing main planting, but would recommend thorough trial and 

 smaller plantings of these: Globe, Chair's Choice, Crosby and Wheat- 

 land, since there is a growing demand for- yellow stock. Among the 

 newer sorts, I would advise trial of Champion, Triumph, Bokara, Carmen, 

 Piquet's Late, Fitzgerald and Golden Drop. Of locally known varieties 

 the Fleenor and Red Heath are worthy of trial plantings. There is, how- 



