214 Glandular and Glandless Leaved Peach Trees. 



That the character of the future plant is early determined, 

 even from the time of the impregnation of the flower, from 

 which the seed is produced, I believe is now conceded by 

 our best vegetable physiologists. That the constitutional 

 character thus formed, may be impaired by disease, at any 

 time during the life of the plant, is self-evident ; but diseases 

 thus produced, and those that are constitutional, should be 

 considered separately. 



That those varieties of the peach, whose leaf stalks are 

 destitute of glands, are more subject to what is termed iZ/'g^//^, 

 or mildew, on the young shoots, in the after part of summer, 

 has long been noticed ; but as this mildew does not make its 

 annual appearance upon the peach tree until after the young 

 fruit is formed, and its character, so far as the young plant 

 to be produced from the seed, is determined, we cannot con- 

 ceive how this mildew, which is nothing more than a fungus 

 plant, uncongenial in its growth, by circumstances attending 

 its locality, can have any thing to do with forming a consti- 

 tutional disease, and should therefore be considered as an ac- 

 cidental injury, which, although it retards the growth of the 

 young shoots, after it fixes upon the tree, does not appear to 

 injure the wood formed before the mildew makes its appear- 

 ance. Trees of this description, although they do not extend 

 their branches quite as rapidly as those having glands, are 

 often as long-lived, and as productive, — and there is, at 

 this time, within sight of where I am writing this, a tree, the 

 leaves of which have no glands, and the ends of the shoots 

 are each year covered with mildew ; yet it has the appearance 

 of a healthy tree, although it is more than forty years old. 

 In some of the oldest fruit gardens in this vicinity, I find 

 trees of the Early Ann, Sweet Water, and Royal George, all 

 serrated varieties, and mildew badly ; yet they prove as long- 

 lived as any glandular varieties. 



There are some serious objections, however, to many of the 

 serrated varieties, as the New Early Purple, and the Early 

 Tillotson, as on these varieties the mildew extends to the 

 fruit covering the skin with unsightly spots, and causing it 

 to rot prematurely upon the tree. 



With the variety of peaches now under cultivation, there 

 is little difficulty in selecting a succession of kinds for the 



