CHAPTER XXIL 



PEACHES PLUMS. 



Heretofore, Florida, partly because it is a newly settled 

 country, has not done much in the way of peach-raising ; but 

 the few who have had enterprise enough to plant and cultivate 

 a few trees have been amply repaid, and the result of such in- 

 telligent efforts is sufficient to justify the assertion that when 

 Floridians wake up to the fact that" there's millions in it," then 

 their State will easily step forward into the first ranks as a peach 

 grower, for the peach is a native of a mild climate ; severe 

 winters chill its life-blood, and late springs kill its delicate blos- 

 soms or young fruit. Florida's mild winters are congenial to it, 

 and if Ave exercise proper care in the selection of varieties, we 

 need have little, if any, fear of our crops being " nipped in the 

 bud " by Jack Frost. 



The peach, to do well, requires care and cultivation, but 

 given these it will accommodate itself to almost any soil, and 

 while preferring a clayey loam, will flourish in the sand if the 

 clay be three or four feet below it. 



Of course, with peaches, as with other fruits, not all varie- 

 ties are suited to all localities. For each section of country there 

 are certain kinds that do well, while others will not grow at all ; 

 and all succeed better in the more northern parts of the State 

 than in the extreme southern portions. 



The trouble in the latter localities lies in the tendency of 

 the tree to rest in its growth during the latter part of summer, 

 and then to start again in the fall, and come into bloom just 

 when they should be taking their winter's nap. This late bloom 

 rarely sets, and if it does, the fruit is caught by the cold weather, 

 and nipped in its early infancy. 



Fortunately, however, when this late bloom does come, it is 

 usually scattering, and does not materially afiect the proper- 

 162*' 



