m 



-n. 



THE 



Canadian Horticulturist 







Jill 





iic: 



THE SNEED PEACH. 



A promising early variety for home use and near 

 markets. 



Origin ; Tennessee, by Judge Sneed, of Mem- 

 phis, about 1880, from a pit of the Chinese Cling. 



Tree ; vigorous, but slender in young growth ; 

 productive, an early bearer. 



Fruit ; medium, about 2x2 inches in diameter, 

 roundish oval, slightly one-sided ; skin, light green- 

 ish white, with red cheek, and shcrt thick down ; 

 cavity narrow and deep, with distinct suture, and 

 a small pointed apex, in a slight depression. 



Flesh ; semi-cling ; color, yellowish white at 

 maturity ; texture, tender, fine, very juicy ; flavor 

 mild, vinous, pleasant. 



Season ; July 20th and 30th, 1900. 



Quality ; dessert, good. 



Value ; home market, fair ; distant market, use- 

 less. 



'HE earliest peach to ripen in our ex- 

 perimental orchard at Maplehurst, 

 in I goo, was the Sneed, which be- 

 '^■i gan to mature about the 20th of 

 July. At one time there was great profit in 

 early varieties. Thirty years ago we 

 began with Early Purple, which ripened 

 about the 20th of August. One season we 

 had such good prices for that variety that 

 we set quite a large orchard of it. The fruit 

 was excellent if you ate it just at the nick 

 of time, but alas ! if you left it an hour too 

 long it was all juice, and could not be ship- 



ped a mile from home. Then came Hale, 

 which ripened about the 15th of August, and 

 colored up so beautifully on the trees, but 

 was so disappointing when you tried to bite 

 it. Firm was it ? Why it would not get 

 ripe enough to eat unless you knew just 

 how to handle it, but usually it chose to rot 

 first, in a large section, as suddenly as if 

 struck by fire blight. But it sold well, and 

 that was the chief consideration for the 

 grower. Since its introduction we have 

 many claimants before us as early varieties, 

 such as Amsden's June, Early Canada, 

 Louise, Rivers and Alexander, the latter of 

 which ripens toward the end of July, and 

 has a very attractive appearance, if well 

 grown. But Crawfords, and other better 

 varieties from the South and from California 

 began pouring into our markets by cold 

 storage from Florida and Southern Califor- 

 nia, and thus crowded out our inferior va- 

 rieties of early peaches, until it now scarcely 

 pays us to grow them at all in the commer- 

 cial orchard. 



The Sneed adds one more to the list of these 

 early varieties, bringing in the peach season 

 still earlier than Alexander. Last year it ri- 



