THE APPLE AND PEAR TREES 



and from there it was rapidly carried to all 

 parts of Europe. The peach came originally 

 from China, and was brought to Great Britain 

 by the Romans, who got it from Persia during 

 the reign of the Emperor Claudius. It was 

 carried to North America by the first settlers 

 at the beginning of the seventeenth century. 

 The difficulty of raising peaches successfully 

 in the Northern States is not so much due to 

 the cold weather as to the swelling of the buds 

 on warm winter days and in the early spring, 

 which are afterwards destroyed if the ther- 

 mometer goes below zero. An interesting 

 experiment of whitewashing peach trees, to 

 prevent the buds from absorbing heat on sunny 

 days, was tried by Mr. Whitten of the Missouri 

 Experiment Station, and it was found that 

 whitened buds remained dormant until April, 

 while unprotected buds swelled perceptibly 

 in February and March. Eighty per cent of 

 whitened buds passed the winter safely, where 

 only twenty per cent of unwhitened buds 

 escaped injury by premature swelling. 



Shad Bush; Ser- ^ ''''''^^ ^^^^' 4° ^^ 50>/ high, 

 vice Berry ; ivitli smooth broivn bark. Slen- 

 June Berry ^^^ twigs. The buds arc brown 



Amelanchier canaden- *-* 



^" and covered with slightly doivny, 



silky scales, and the leaf-scars are alternate. 



173 



