FRUIT CULTURE IN FRANCE. 
167 
1878 one hundred trees in the valley of Sauvebonne, of the 
Amsde7i yaviety, which yielded in the spring of 1882 3,500 kilos, of 
excellent fruit, ripe about the 20th of June. The Alexa^iderYSiviety, 
which is hardly less early, and several other American novelties, 
the greater number of which are of the Amsden June type, 
resisted in the same way, and better than any others, the hard 
frost on March 9, 1883, on account of their late blossoming. 
The owner plants about 300 Peach trees per hectare, according 
to the character of the other things with which they are 
associated. The first crop is gathered in the third year, and a 
plantation will continue to yield for twelve years at least at the 
rate of 1,000 francs per hectare, not counting the crop of Straw- 
berries which cover the surface of the ground. In 1893 
150,000 kilos, of the Amsden variety, produced by the Decapris 
estate, were forwarded to the station at Hyeres. Each tree in 
a plantation sixteen years old will yield on an average 60 to 80 
kilos, of fruit. 
In 1893 a Peach-grower in Provence gathered as many as 
8,000 kilos, of the Amsden variety every day during the season. 
The Peach plantations in the Crau d'Arles district have reached 
such an importance that the Salons market, of such renown, has 
become insufficient, and the other communes of the canton have 
established similar markets for the sale of Peaches. Just as the 
Basses-Alpes grow the Bnmet and Mdzel varieties for preserving, 
so the Ariege department grows the Bicard for the large " Peach 
fairs," and the extreme South-west the Madeleine hdtive, a free- 
stone variety, for direct consumption. 
In the Pyrenees-Orientales the following early varieties are 
grown among the vines : Saint- As siscle, Grosse Madeleine^ 
PiqueroUe, Montreuil, Saint- Jacques, Saint- Jean, Pavie-Made- 
leine, Palonne, and Precoce jaune. In 1880 the fruit sent in 
cases to the Paris market was sold at 135 francs the 100 kilos., 
which gives a net profit of 70 francs. It is estimated that 2,000 
Peach trees give a net profit of 3,000 francs. Forty thousand 
Peach trees are grown in the Rivesaltes territory, all planted 
twelve years ago. The whole department contains 100,000 
trees. The fruit is sold at an average price of 25 francs per 100 
kilos. 
2. Cultivation as trained Wall Trees, — For profitable culture 
several free-growing and good varieties should be chosen, ripen- 
