Fruits in Kentucky. 95 



well grown, it is grateful to any taste. The Rambo and Milam have 

 been long known, and are warmly appreciated ; and no orchard here 

 is complete without a few of each or one of them. 



In peaches the field is a much larger one, as there are more than a 

 score of excellent varieties, well suited to our climate. None of them, 

 however, bear every year, as our oft-repeated sleets in March and April 

 almost, often quite, destroy the entire crop. With us the peach is an 

 early bloomer, — often coming on with the jonquils and violets, those 

 hardy, simple, spring flowers, that come bursting out at the first warble 

 of the returned bluebird, and the earliest kisses of the spring zephyrs, — 

 and hence are killed by late frosts. Oldmixon Free (God bless it) 

 gives us the surest crop. Hale's Early the first, but rots too much and 

 too often. Van Zandt's Superb, George the Fourth, Early York, Old 

 Mixon Cling, and many others, yield fine crops on our mountains and 

 hills, on an average of one year in three. But, to our taste, the Craw- 

 ford's Early is the finest peach for Kentucky. One here cannot go 

 far wrong if he plants more of the above-named varieties than any 

 others. 



Dwarf pears do not generally succeed well. The leaves are apt to 

 fall prematurely, and we cannot hope for a fair crop, even, oftener than 

 once in five or six years ; a full crop scarcely ever. The same is true 

 of the Heart and Bigarreau cherries, except on very old trees. Stan- 

 dard trees do much better ; and our advice to beginners Would be, plant 

 dwarfs of any kind sparingly; standards, all you have room for. He 

 who plants a tree does well ; he who plants many trees does better. 

 Of small fruits hereafter. 



Stanford, Ky., 1S69. 



THE BLOODROOT. 



Th!S pretty plant {Sangiiinaria Canadensis) is easily cultivated, and is a 

 gem for the spring-garden. Large clumps are very showy, as the contrast 

 of white petals and the mass of yellow stamens is very marked. In culti- 

 vation, the flowers show a tendency to become double. We had several 

 partially so in our garden last spring. 



