520 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



the peach orchards of Deleware, which are 

 almost universally loaded with fruit, it has 

 been a rare opportunity to see what the var- 

 ieties have done, and there seems to be no 



Fig. 1963. The Chairs Peach. 



variety of that season that equals it, although 

 there are plenty of competitors. It is just 

 like a very large Late Crawford, but excels 

 it in size and seems to be less subject to rot. 



It is also a trifle longer in ripening its fruit, 

 which is sometimes very convenient when a 

 large quantity requires marketing. The 

 fruit hangs on remarkably well. 



The variety originated on the premises of 

 Franklin Chairs, of Anne Arundel County, 

 Md. , about 1880, and has been grown more 

 or less in many sections ever since. At first 

 it was called Chairs Choice, but the name is 

 now cut down to the single word Chairs. 

 Many orchards of it have been in bearing for 

 years past, and thousands of baskets and 

 boxes of the fruit have gone to market and 

 been handled on the reputation of Late 

 Crawford, because the old name would be 

 an advantage in the sale, the dealer and 

 buyer both thinking they had rarely seen 

 such fine Crawfords, when it was reall}^ the 

 Chairs. Those who contemplate planting a 

 medium late yellow freestone will do well to 

 plant Chairs, except where varieties of the 

 Crawford type do not succeed. The draw- 

 ing reproduced in Fig. 1963 was made from 

 a good average specimen from a tree that 

 was well laden, on the farm of Charles 

 Wright, of Seaford, Del. 



H, E. Van Deman, 



in R. N. Y. 



Japan Plums. — Prof. Waugh, of the Ver- 

 mont Experimental Station, says: "Un- 

 doubtedly the hybrid varieties most widely 

 known are Wickson and Golden (often called 

 Gold) ; and if we were to add a third to the 

 list, it would certainly be Juicy — all three the 

 productions of one man, and that man Lu- 

 thur Burbank. The two varieties first men- 

 tioned have been planted all over the United 

 States, and have been fruited this year in 

 hundreds of orchards. The experience thus 

 gained may be fairly summarized, I think, 

 by saying that while both varieties are beau- 

 tiful in fruit and possess many desirable 



qualities, neither one has shown any men- 

 tionable promise of taking rank with our 

 well-known market plums, nor even of be- 

 coming a pre-eminently desirable house-use 

 plum in any part of the United States or 

 Canada. Both , promise to be grown for 

 years to come, but neither one has yet 

 secured first rank either in the market or the 

 amateur list, and neither seems likely to do 

 so. The experience of a few individuals 

 may not accord with this view ; but taking 

 the country as a whole, I am confident this 

 is the result." 



