130 



reference to light, etc., will vary more. While the percentage of 

 buds surviving on the tree when enough are killed that practically 

 all left are on these small spurs, would naturally be very small, it 

 should be remembered that only a very small percentage of buds on a 

 large healthy tree would be sufficient for a crop that would be profita- 

 ble to handle. Under conditions when the buds are killed in a fully 

 dormant state, or are killed after some starting following a warm 

 period coming late enough in the season so that the rest period does 

 not affect the amount of starting, the best plan for handling the trees 

 is to prune them down to a size that can be conveniently handled 

 in spraying, pruning, picking, etc., and to practice a system of prun- 

 ing and cultivation such that they will cease growing as early as 

 August in central Missouri. 



Varieties With Most Hardy Fruit Buds When Fully Dormant. 

 There is a great difference in the degree of cold that different varie- 

 ties will withstand even when fully dormant. Hedrick gives a list 

 of the hardiest varieties for New York and for Michigan, basing 

 his conclusions on letters received from a large number of New York 

 and Michigan growers. The New York growers name Crosby, Hills 

 Chili, Triumph, Gold Drop, Stevens' Rareripe, and Kalamazoo as 

 being the most hardy in bud, Crosby and Hills Chili being listed by a 

 much larger number of growers than either of the other varieties. 

 Hills Chili, Gold Drop, Crosby, Kalamazoo, and Bernard are the 

 hardiest varieties, according to the opinion of the Michigan grow- 

 ers. Waugh lists Greensboro as one of the hardiest under Massa- 

 chusetts conditions. Growers in the northern part of Missouri have 

 also found Greensboro probably the hardiest peach in bud that they 

 have grown. Judging from years when the buds were killed without 

 any starting into growth by previous warm periods, Hills Chili, 

 Lewis, Thurber, Gold Drop, Triumph and Crosby have been among 

 the very hardiest in bud in Missouri. Lewis is a seedling of Hills 

 Chili. Mr. R. F. Howard, formerly of the Nebraska Experiment 

 Station, and others in Nebraska place Russell, 1 another seedling of 

 Hills Chili, as one of the very hardiest of peaches in bud, as well as 

 in wood. 



In Missouri, besides Greensboro and Thurber, Carman, Belle 

 of Georgia, General Lee, and Chinese Cling, and some other varie- 

 ties of the Chinese Cling group, have been more hardy in bud even 

 under fully dormant conditions, than the majority of the well known 

 varieties. The Green Twig group, especially Snow and Rice 's Seed- 



'Yearbqok, U. S. Dept. Agr. 1911, p. 429. (Bibl. No. 109). 



