Peach Varieties f Botany and Classification 351 



the orchard. To handle the crop satisfactorily and econom- 

 ically, a continuous and uniform supply of fruit is essential. 



While the matter of the adaptability of varieties to different 

 conditions calls for much consideration, it is usually a factor 

 that is less acute than with many other fruits. In other 

 words, there are doubtless more varieties of peaches that will 

 develop to a good degree of perfection under a wider range 

 of conditions than is true of many other kinds of fruits. But 

 the selection of varieties for growing in different sections that 

 will ripen at a time when the markets are not overstocked 

 is the real problem in this connection. Some districts owe 

 their prominence and importance as peach-growing centers 

 largely to the fact that some of the best market varieties 

 ripen in these districts at times when they usually bring 

 exceptionally large prices, because at those times relatively 

 little fruit is being marketed from other districts. Thus a 

 peach-grower in New Jersey may know that the Greensboro 

 peach does well under his conditions, but that he cannot 

 market it to advantage when there is a good crop of Elberta 

 peaches in Georgia, though it is profitable in seasons of light 

 crops in Georgia. Similarly the Salwey peach was formerly 

 a profitable variety to grow in some parts of California, but 

 in certain sections of that state it cannot now compete to 

 advantage with the Elberta peach from Colorado. Accord- 

 ingly, the Salwey peach is not found in many of the younger 

 orchards in certain districts of California in which it was 

 formerly a variety of considerable prominence. 



The choosing of varieties for particular uses injects into 

 the variety problem still other factors. For example, in 

 California certain varieties are planted for canning, others 

 for drying, still others for shipping in the fresh state. \Miile 

 some are dual-purpose varieties, particular adaptations to 



