THE PEACH. 



land, and some choice Alicantes from the 

 borders of Wales. The supplies also come 

 from Potter's Bar, Finch ley, Fulham, Hamp- 

 ton, Barnet, Acton, Tottenham, Uxbridge, 

 and other places too numerous to mention. 

 There are also plenty of the famous white 

 grapes, Muscats of Alexandria, on sale. Al- 

 though the stocks both of white and black 

 grapes on hand are heavy for the time of year, 

 there will be little trouble in clearing out the 

 bulk for the Christmas trade, and at fair 

 prices. True, prices are vastly different to 

 what they used to be some years back. In- 

 stead of making from ten shillings to thirty 

 shillings a pound, traders are able to offer bet- 

 ter grapes at from one shilling and sixpence 

 to seven shillings and sixpsnce a pound, and 

 realize greater satisfaction from the latter 

 prices than they could from the former. The 

 British hothouse grape is the wonder of the 

 world. It finds its way to Paris, Berlin, and 

 even New York, where it is sold at fancy 

 prices by the retail fruiterers of the cities 



named. There are growers in the United 

 Kingdom who actually raise grapes in forcing 

 houses of an estimated total length of between 

 ten and twenty miles. The houses run from 

 fourteen to sixteen feet in width, and literally 

 cover acres of land. For the cheaper class of 

 grape trade there is the Spanish Almeria, 

 which is packed in barrels, holding from forty- 

 eight to seventy-two pounds of fruit and cork 

 dust combined. 



The retail shops are now all ablaz3, as it 

 were, with bright colours, the colours of 

 dainty, delicious, ripening fruits. They have 

 custard apples from Madeira, grapes from 

 Belgium, apples from Italy and distant Cali- 

 fornia, and even oranges from the land of the 

 Turk, telling us once again that, in addition 

 to consuming our home surplus, which are 

 not so light as many people imagine, to satisfy 

 the festive appetite of the nation our mer- 

 chants and distributors have to draw our 

 supplies of Christmas fruits from almost every 

 centre of production under the sun. 



THE PEACH. 



(HPs^r S this fruit is a native of a 

 // \ \ southern clime, and therefore 

 J\ \ \ somewhat tender, we must give 

 it all the advantage we can in 

 the way of location and culture if we 

 wish to succeed with it in this country. 

 An elevation near a large body of water 

 is preferable, with a light sandy loam, 

 and natural drainage to the depth of ten 

 or fifteen feet. When these conditions 

 cannot be secured we cannot look for 

 any great measure of success. 



By planting a tree oi two on the north 

 side of a building we can often grow a 

 crop of this fruit in sections where they 

 would fail without the protection thus 

 afforded. Hardy varieties should al- 

 ways be selected when planting outside 

 the " peach belt." Early Barnard, Ty- 

 hurst, Longhurst, Golden Drop, Hill's 

 Chili, and Lemon Free are among the 

 hardiest sorts thus far tested, and all of 

 them good kinds. In peach sections 

 the following is a good list, named in 

 their order of ripening : Early St. John, 

 Early Crawford, Fitzgerald, Yellow Rare- 

 ripe, New Prolific, Tyhurst, Elberta, 

 Golden Drop, Longhurst, Hill's Chili, 



Late Crawford, Jacques' Rareripe, 

 Lemon Free, and Smock. 



Cultivation should begin in early 

 spring, and discontinued the first of 

 August. This method of culture will 

 induce early growth of wood, also early 

 ripening of the same, which is very es- 

 sential to success. At the latter date 

 crimson clover should be sown among 

 young trees to give a covering for the 

 soil through cold weather, which pro- 

 tects the roots of the trees. Plow under 

 in early spring and cultivate again as 

 directed above. 



The black aphis is the worst insect 

 enemy we had to contend with thus far. 

 They do most injury to young trees 

 newly planted. Perhaps the best re- 

 medy we have is to treat the young trees 

 before planting by soaking a few minutes 

 in strong tobacco water. We take any 

 refuse tobacco, leaf or stems, for this 

 purpose. When this is done and good 

 culture given there is little trouble after 

 from this cause. 



W. W. HiLBORN, 



Experimenter at South-western Station. 

 Essex Co., Ont. 



58 



