SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
315 
to no diseases of any consequence ; and may be consid- 
ered a safe and profitable tree for extensive planning, es- 
pecially if the native (Southern) Winter varieties ‘ are 
selected. The Summer varieties ripening at the same 
time with the strawberry and the peach, have the supe- 
rior flavor of these frnits to contend with, and are not, 
therefore, as desirable, or so much sought after. 
The same feeling of dependence upon other sections, 
and distrust of our own resources, which has heretofore 
prevented the extensive culture of the apple, has retarded 
the planting of the Pear i though wherever this delicious 
frit has been fairly tried, it has attained a size and flavor 
elsewhere seldom known. Indeed, we have much reason to 
believe, that in the South only is the Pear destined to ar- 
rive at its highest development and perfection ; and that 
it can there be grown with that certainty and profit which 
alone justify the care and attention which this somewhat 
fastidious and exacting tree demands. Most of thelead- 
infi varieties known and cultivated at the North, succeed 
well in the South, either as dwarfs or standards, the prin- 
ciple requisites being deep, mellow and careful culture, 
and the training of the top of the tree very low and 
spreading, for the purpose of shading the trunk of the 
tree and the earth over the roots, from the scorching and 
blistering rays of the sun. With this system, and a libe- 
ral enrichment of the soil by proper fertilizers, the Pear 
with us does not seem to be liable to any diseases of suf- 
ficient consequence to deserve mention. We have not, 
as yet, succeeded in producing many Southern seedling 
Pears of marked excellence, though we doubt not that 
we shall be as fortunate as we have been with the apple, 
when the attention of our pomologists is more fully di- 
rerected toward the production of fine new sorts from 
seeds. The example of our distinguished friend. Dr. L. 
E. Berckmans, and many others, in raising from seed and 
planting large Pear orchards of all the established varie- 
ties, in various parts parts of the South, will, we trust, 
give quite an impetus to the culture of this magnificent 
fruit. 
The South is the true home of the Peach ; and it attains 
with us, undoubtedly, its very highest degree of perfec- 
tion. It has long been, and is yet, the favorite fruit of the 
people, no less for its intrinsic excellence, than for the 
ease with which it may be propagated from seed, and the 
early period at which it comes into bearing. Thousands 
of the very finest seedling Peaches, unnamed and com- 
paratively unknown, are scattered throughout the South, 
along the roadsides, in the open fields, and in the remote 
corners of fences and hedges. The tree will sometimes 
bear fruit the second year from the seed, and always the 
third year; and when “worked,” succeeds well either 
grafted or budded. Our nurserymen have many very 
superior sorts, almost unknown at the North or else- 
where, a few of the best of which I will mention : Ame- 
lia, Early Columbia, Baldwin’s Late, Canary, Exquisite, 
Golden Ball, Lady Parham, Pocahonta, Elmira, Tecumseh, 
Julia, Bordeaux Cling, Eaton’s Gold,Flewellen, Mitchell’s 
Mammoth, Griswold, Henrietta, O’Gwynne, White Globe, 
and many others. But perhaps the most attractive and 
valuable of our late additions to the list of fine peaches, 
is the “Honey Peach,” of China, one of the most delicious 
of all fruits, which cannot fail to become popular wher- 
ever it is known, and will succeed. 
The Peach tree, however, even in our favored clime, has 
many enemies, and is liable to numerous disasters. Among 
the first is the borer {cegeria ezitiosa,') v/hich is generally 
very destructive. The use of boiling water, poured free- : 
ly into a basin-shaped cavity at the “collar” of the tree ! 
^ to destroy grubs already formed,) and the planting of | 
clumps of the common tansy vulgar o') immediately 
around the trunk, as a preventive, have beSn found 
eflicacious in some cases. But the most practicable and 
easy plan of destroying the borer, where the Peach is 
largely cultivated, will be found to be the removal, in the 
fall, of the earth for the space of a foot, and the depth 
of from three to six inches, exposing the stem and “col- 
lar” of the tree to the action of the frosts of winter ; this 
cavity to be refilled in the spring with fresh earth, heap- 
ing it up into a conical mound, to the heighth of ten or 
twelve inches around the trunk, with a spadeful of sand, 
mixed with salt, lime and sulphur, and allowing it to re- 
main so until fall again. We have tested this method for 
some years past, and cordially recommend it to the public. 
Upon the first removal of the earth, if any borers are 
found in the tree they can be destroyed with the point of 
a sharp, slender knife-blade; and if the system above 
indicated is regularly kept up, it will seldom be necessary 
to resort to that somewhat dangerous tool afterwards. The 
berries of the “Pride of India” or “China Tree” {Melia 
Azedaradi) placed in the cavity around the bole or trunk 
of the tree, are also said to act as a preventive of the 
borer. 
When the Peach tree receives anything like proper 
culture or attention, in our climate, it is liable to few or 
no diseases ; and is far more thrifty and long-lived than 
in Northern latitudes. We have no “yellows,” nor simi- 
lar malady ; and all that is necessary to keep the tree in 
perfect health, is judicious pruning (“shortening in”) 
and frequent stirring of the surface soil around it. We 
generally find it no disadvantage to raise crops of field 
peas, melons or sweet potatoes in our Peach orchards, 
provided the refuse of the crop (stalk, leaves, &c.,) is 
left on the ground, and the growth of foul grasses and 
weeds prevented by constant culture. The greatest draw- 
back on Peach raising in the South, is the liability of the 
fruit to be cut off by the late Spring frosts. The warm 
weather of February and early March, generally forces 
our Peach trees into blossom ; and it too often happens 
that the succeeding frosts destroy the crop utterly, and 
blast the hopes of the cultivator. The fruit is seldom 
destroyed in the blossom, and never while the buds are 
dormant during the winter. The most trying and critical 
period, with us, is during the early part of April, after 
the blossom has dropped, and the fruit is about the size of 
a pea : though we have seerT the crop destroyed at a still 
later period. We are not aware that any economical and 
practicable plan of saving our Peach crop from Spring 
frosts has yet been discovered, though partial success has 
attended the building of smouldering fires in the orchard, 
the retarding of the time of blooming, by pruning (“short- 
ening in”) just as the buds begin to swell, covering the 
ground around the tree with a heavy mulch of leaves, 
straw, &c. We cannot consider the peach crop as gene- 
rally certain oftener than three years in five ; and yet, 
with this serious drawback, it has been found very profit- 
able, by those who have railroad and other easy access 
to our prominent seaports, to plant very largely for the 
New York market, which has been supplied to a conside- 
rable extent during the past four or five years, with early 
peaches from Georgia and South Carolina. We have in 
the South, for home consumption, an almost constant 
succession of Peaches (mostly native seedlings) from the 
middle of June to the first of November— from four to 
five months— and, were there sufficient demand, could 
readily ship this fruit to the North during the greater 
part of that time. 
[concluded in NOVEMBER NUMBER,] 
Men long inured to vice, and habituated to folly, 
afford rare instances of reformatio;; • youth is the proper 
season. 
