76 



498 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPAKTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



sprouts surrounding an older tree of an unrecognized winter variety. 

 Desiring to clear the ground to make way for planting other trees, 

 Mr. Crocker noticed fruit upon some of these young trees, which were 

 evidently suckers from the stock upon which the old tree had been 

 budded or grafted. He therefore deferred their destruction until the 

 end of the season, to permit the fruit to ripen. The pears remained 

 on the trees until December, when they began falling, although still 

 hard and inedible. Specimens that were laid away ripened gradually 

 from January until the end of winter and were of such excellent 

 quality that Mr. Crocker transplanted five of the largest sprouts to 

 his orchard, where they are still bearing annual crops. Later he 

 began the nursery propagation of the variety, and gradually increased 

 his plantings of it until he now has over 3,000 bearing trees. It is 

 locally known as the " Crocker Bartlett," and has been disseminated 

 under that name by Mr. Crocker since 1902. It has but recently 

 begun to attract attention elsewhere, but is considered worthy of 

 testing in eastern pear districts. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form oblong, obovate, pyriform, somewhat angular; size medium 

 to large; surface rather smooth; color rich golden yellow, somewhat 

 netted and overspread with russet; dots minute, russet; stem medium 

 to long, rather slender, inserted obliquely, with little or no depression; 

 basin of medium size, regular, deep, abrupt, russeted, and furrowed; 

 calyx segments rather small, converging; eye small, closed; skin rather 

 thick, but quite tender; flesh yellowish, buttery, juicy, with some 

 woody granules near core; core of medium size, oval, slightly open, 

 meeting the eye; seeds short, plump, round, rather numerous; flavor 

 mild subacid to sweet and very rich; quality very good. 



The tree is reported to be a vigorous grower, thus far free from 

 blight, and regularly productive. The fruit is somewhat subject to 

 scab in the locality of its origin, and therefore needs to be sprayed to 

 protect against this disease. Season, January to March in Placer 

 County, Cal. 



The specimen illustrated on Plate LX was grown at Loomis, Cal. 



EVERBEARING PEACH. 



[PLATE LXL] 



The so-called " Spanish" group of peaches, which is supposed to 

 have been introduced into both Mexico and our own Gulf region by the 

 early Spanish explorers and missionaries, is in some respects our most 

 interesting group of peaches. It unquestionably attained wider distri- 

 bution in the United States during the period of exploration and col- 

 onization which preceded the development of commercial peach culture 



