392 ELEMENTARY STUDIES IN BOTANY 



quince stock and grown as a dwarf. These " dwarf pears " 

 reach the bearing stage earlier than the others and are more 

 easily handled in all the necessary operations, but they require 

 more care than do the ordinary trees. 



The quince needs no special statement. It is an interest- 

 ing and peculiar fruit, but there is no large or increasing 

 demand for it. 



97. Peach. The peach is probably the most highly prized 

 of the stone fruits. A native of Asia, its cultivation in the 

 United States is always attended with risk. This arises 

 from the fact that it is a very early bloomer, and being sen- 

 sitive to frost, the flowers and buds are in danger of being 

 killed by a late frost. This risk is greater in the south tnan 

 in the north, because the buds swell earlier. 



On account of this danger from freezing, the commercial 

 areas of peach cultivation are near large bodies of water, 

 where the winter temperature is milder, as near the sea- 

 coast, far enough inland to escape strong winds, and near 

 the Great Lakes. Of course peaches are grown over a great 

 range of country, the failures probably being as frequent as 

 the successes, but the commercial regions are not numerous. 



The peach orchards along the southern borders of the 

 Great Lakes extend along Lake Ontario in New York and 

 Canada, along Lake Erie in Ohio, and along the eastern 

 shore of Lake Michigan. It is in the " Michigan fruit belt " 

 that the peach reaches its northern limit in the eastern states. 



Another large area extends from Connecticut, near Long 

 Island Sound, southward to Cape Charles (Virginia), the 

 " Delaware peaches " holding the same important position 

 in the eastern market that the " Michigan peaches " do in 

 the western. 



Other peach areas are in northern Georgia and Alabama 

 and adjacent states; from southern Illinois westward into 

 Kansas ; in western Colorado ; and throughout California, 

 except in the mountains. 



