BELLEGARDE PEACH. 
service to our readers than by aiding them in selecting from the 
many varieties extant. Mr. Thompson, out of his extensive 
experience in the Society’s garden, says, if twenty-four trees 
are required, take of Early Anne 1, Gros Mignonne 3, Royal 
George 2, Double Montagne 2, Noblesse 2, Malta 1, Royal Char- 
lotte 2, Bellegarde 4, Barrington 3, Late Admirable 4. These 
will produce a successive supply, and they are here placed in 
their order of ripening. 
All circumstances considered, there is no Peach more to be 
esteemed than Bellegarde. The tree is hardy, a prolific bearer, 
and less subject to mildew than most others. It is, too, a good 
one for forcing; and the fruit is of delicious flavour. The 
information given with the Elruge Nectarine (No. 35,) may be 
referred to, and as the leaf-glands are there noticed, it should 
be observed that the glands on the Bellegarde are globose ; a 
fonn which it has been thought belongs to those varieties which 
are the least liable to mildew. 
Peaches are usually distinguished as “free-stone,” or “cling- 
stone” varieties, in allusion to the union of the flesh with the 
stone ; a character in which they differ materially. The same 
distinction applies to Nectarines. 
The Bellegarde Peach ripens early in September ; it has a 
deep red colour on its exposed side, slightly streaked, and the 
shaded side is greenish yellow'. Its flesh pale yellow, with 
slight rays of red about the stone ; melting, juicy, and vei-y 
rich, and it belongs to the free-stone section. It ripens through 
a succession of about twenty days, and the fruit keeps longer, 
after being gathered, than most others. Although this Peach 
ripens even in Scotland, it should be remembered that, in our 
climate, it never can be planted in too w'arm a situation. 
