NOTES FROM A PACIFIC PEACH ORCHARD. 



HE WAYS of fruit trees seem 

 past finding out. Last year, 

 on this farm, the Peen-to or 

 Flat Chinese peaches were 

 ripe first ; this year all the 

 "early tribe" of white-flesh 

 peaches, such as Briggs' May, 

 VVaierloo and Alexander, 

 have beaten the Peen-to by a 

 fortnight. " So:.iething in the season " says the 

 old rancher, with the air of having settled the 

 problem, "The Chinese peach tree 'curled' 

 badly this spring," says some one else in an 

 equally serene tone of conviction. But the Peen- 

 to has always " curled " more or less, and yet 

 usually leads the peach orchard in point of earli- 

 ness. Then, too, a tree of Brice's Early that 

 •.'T.S sent to me by mail ten years ago, from the 

 origir^ator's own nursery, ripened its most excellent 

 peaches several days ahead of the Alexander this 

 year ; usually it is a trifle later. This peach is 

 of so high quality here that I wonder it is not 

 more often planted, but it seldom appears in the 

 catalogues, nor has it a place in Wickson's "Cali- 

 fornia Fruits." 



We have the old Purple Alberge, or Alberge 

 Red, a peach that is here of remarkable quality, and 

 a prime family favorite. Thirty-five years ago it was 

 first grown on this farm, and a great many orchard- 

 ists wanted buds, but hardly one has kept the variety, 

 and yet it continues to thrive here, "curling" in bad 

 seasons, and casting its fruit, but averaging about 

 four crops out of five. The house-wife says that 

 she must have her Alberge peaches to can, and so the 

 orchard will never be without a dozen trees. 



I have grown a Yellow Alberge from another 

 source, a larger, lighter-colored and much less valu- 

 able fruit than the very dark yellow-fleshed peach 

 that has been so long famous in this township. 

 Thomas, in his "American Fruit Culturist, " says of 

 the Alberge : Yellow Alberge (Purple Alberge), size 

 medium, roundish, suture distinct, passing half round ; 

 skin yellow, with a deep purplish-red cheek ; flesh 

 deep red at the stone, juicy, sweet, pleasant, of mod- 

 erate flavor." Downing says it is an old French va- 

 riety, and "of only second-rate flavor." In fact, 

 none of the authorities give the Alberge a high rank. 



The Purple Alberge, as grown here, ripens a week 

 earlier than the variety sent from New Jersey as 

 "Yellow Alberge;" it is very dark in color, almost 



black on the sunn)- side, and dull red on the other — 

 "those black peac+ies o£ yours" is often the phrase 

 men use in ordering them. The shape, size, and 

 other details agree well enough with the description 

 given by Thomas, but in point of flavor it is certain 

 that this peach, as grown here, outranks any other 

 of its season. Elsewhere it often fails to come up to 

 the expectations of its growers, and it is not a mar- 

 ket peach, being so different in appearance from the 

 leading sorts. We probably have in this matter a case 

 of complete adaptation of the variety to its environ- 

 ment, and its possibilities are thus more fully devel- 

 oped than elsewhere. The highest-flavored, most 

 fragrant and luscious peach in the orchard, among a 

 hundred or more sorts, is usually acknowledged by 

 every visitor to be the Purple Alberge. If there is 

 any particular moral, it is to keep a good thing when 

 you find out its value. 



There was a peach " sport " on this farm a good 

 many years ago, that promised to be of enormous 

 market value. The history of its failure to be perma- 

 nent is perhaps worth the telling. In the early fifties, 

 when everyone in California was trying to raise some 

 fruit trees, being inspired by the huge profits of the 

 business, every peach-pit was planted out, and often 

 considered the most valuable result of an investment 

 of a dollar in a small, sour, Sacramento river peach. 

 Sometimes these seedlings were budded, and some- 

 times not, but buds of good sorts were worth ten 

 cents apiece, and were hard to obtain even at that 

 price. So the first lot of peach seedlings on the old 

 farm was for the most part left to grow up into trees. 

 One of them was particularly worthless and was one of 

 the first to be budded over. The kind chosen was a 

 forgotten California variety, originating in Alameda, 

 called " Myers' Rareripe " and historically of import- 

 ance because it was undoubtedly the first step on this 

 coast towards several famous early seedlings 



After the Myers peach had been bearing for sev- 

 eral years, a bough well up in the tree showed late 

 fruit. No one cared, and the branch was broken by 

 the weight long before the peaches ripened. A few 

 years later a bud from the stub had grown out, and 

 again bore fruit — a late white-flesh — very late indeed, 

 and soon found to be of surpassing excellence. It 

 was then named "October White," and largely dis- 

 seminated by nurserymen, and planted in orchards. 



But not one of the descendants of the "October 

 White " ever equalled the original tree for quality. 

 The variety "ran out" almost immediately, ripened 

 earlier and earlier, according as it was one or more 

 removes from the parent stock, and had more and 

 more of a "wild and woolly Western " aspect. la 



