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Vol LIX. No. 2650. NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 10, 1900. 
"SOME THINGS WORTH SEEING." 
THE LARGEST PEACH TREES KNOWN. 
Two Giants from Maryland. 
Maryland has been famous for the quality of her 
peaches since the marketing of her first crop nearly 
three-quarters of a century ago, but little has been 
said about her orchards or indiviiual trees. Fig. 284 
pictures Maryland’s largest peach tree, “the pride of 
the Eastern Shore.” This veritable giant, at a dis¬ 
tance, looks more like a forest tree than a peach. 
There is some doubt about the variety, but it is prob¬ 
ably of a Crawford type. It is located on Eastern 
Neck Island, in Kent County, at the 
mouth of the Chester River, along the 
Chesapeake Bay, on the farm of Allan 
A. Harris, of Chestertown, Md. I took 
the photograph from which the picture 
is reproduced, in the Spring of 1899, af¬ 
ter the severe freeze, when the tree was 
in its twenty-sixth year. It has never 
missed a crop of peaches, and frequent¬ 
ly bears so heavily that the branches 
are broken on account of the brittleness 
of the wood. It has passed through 
many severe storms, and on one occa¬ 
sion had a large limb broken off, splint¬ 
ering one side of the trunk to the 
ground, as shown by the fissure in the 
picture. It has almost healed up, but 
has reduced the size of the trunk some¬ 
what. It is still healthy and vigorous, 
and good for many years to come. 
The trunk of this “monarch of the 
orchard” is 78 inches around at the 
ground; or in other words, about 26 
inches through; this would be about the 
size of a coal-oil barrel. One of its 
limbs is nearly a foot in diameter. Mr. 
Harris, who is standing by the tree, has 
measured it carefully, and given us the 
following figures: Trunk at base, six 
feet six inches around; one foot from 
ground, four feet 10 inches; two feet 
from ground, four feet four inches; 2 y 2 
feet from ground, four feet three inches. 
Crotch, four feet eight inches; first limb, 
two teet eight inches around; second 
limb, two feet four inches around; third 
limb, two feet one inch around; fourth 
limb, two feet five inches around. There 
is one secondary limb on this tree as 
large as most 10 and 12-year-old peach 
trees. These figures were verified by the 
writer, who measured the tree with a 
steel tape. The tree stands in a yard 
midway between the house and barn, 
and has never been cultivated so far as 
I can learn. The ground is void of grass 
and packed quite hard. The soil is a 
sandy loam of good quality. There are 
also several other peach trees in what 
remains of an old orchard back of the 
barn, whose diameters approach two feet. 
With the above facts before us, and after making 
many inquiries about large peach trees still standing 
in other parts of the country, I believe we can safe¬ 
ly say this is the largest bearing peach tree in the 
United States, if not in the world. At any rate, Mary¬ 
land will claim the championship, until positive proof 
verified by photograph and figures is produced from 
some other State. 
Fig. 285 shows another giant of lesser dimensions. 
This tree is also in Kent County, near Pomona, on 
the farm of W. C. Townsend. It is a monster. It has 
a limb expanse of 45 feet. The limbs are large, as 
can be seen from the illustration, the trunk measuring 
64 inches at the largest part near the branches. The 
primary limbs, as will be seen, are larger than the 
average eight or 10-year-old tree. It is of a Smock 
type and a sure bearer. It stands on a gentle slope 
in a lot near the house. There are several trees in 
this orchard varying from 48 to 50 inches around 
them. The photograph was taken by the writer 
March 24, 1899, after the freeze, and the tree was full 
of live buds at that time. [Prof.] w. g. Johnson. 
State Entomologist, Md. Agr. College. 
R. N.-Y.—Prof. Johnson is to write us a series of 
articles picturing and describing some of the remark¬ 
able things to be seen among the fruit orchards of 
Maryland. We have mentioned some of the reasons 
why it seems to us that the upper Allegheny Moun¬ 
tains are destined to become the home of the com¬ 
mercial peach. Prof. Johnson will show us some of 
the orchards and methods peculiar to that hilly coun¬ 
try, where the land is not only set on edge but rubbed 
and twisted out of shape. If anyone can tell of larg¬ 
er peach trees than those here pictured we hope he 
will do so. What can California show? That is the 
country of big things, in fruits, flowers and farming. 
Can the Golden State beat these peach trees? In 
flavor at least California must give front rank to the 
Maryland peach, which remains our highest standard. 
DO BEES INJURE FRUIT? 
A REVIEW OF SOME CAREFUL EXPERIMENTS. 
A Strong Case for the Bees. 
Since we mentioned the lawsuit between two brothers 
in Orange County, N. Y., over bees and peaches, several 
readers have written accounts of their experience with 
bees. Some of them insist that bees have stung or in¬ 
jured sound peaches, plums and grapes. This matter is 
coming up in the courts, but we give here a review by 
Prof. Slingerland of some experiments conducted by the 
Agricultural Department at Aurora, Ill.: 
A house was built 16 feet long by 10 feet wide, and 
eight feet high at the corners, having the sides part¬ 
ly covered with wire-cloth, and large 
screen doors in each end. The house 
was entirely bee-proof, and was made 
so that the temperature and light in the 
house were substantially the same as 
outside. Along the sides of the house 
were built shelves, upon which fruit 
was placed, so that the rays of the sun 
might strike the different varieties in 
different stages of ripeness from green 
to dead ripe. Plates of ripe peaches, 
plums, pears, grapes, etc., were placed on 
the shelves; clusters of different kinds 
of grapes, green and ripe, sound and 
imperfect, and such as had been stung 
by insects, were suspended from the 
rafters and cross-ties of the house. Sep¬ 
tember 1 three colonies of bees were re¬ 
moved from their hives, carefully and 
quickly, so that they would carry very 
little honey with them when transferred 
from one hive to another. Two of the 
colonies were hybrid bees and one Ital¬ 
ian. These colonies were hived on 
empty combs, and placed in the house 
with the fruit. A wood stove was put 
in the house, and for a number of hours 
each day a high temperature was main¬ 
tained. The physical conditions which 
would ordinarily prevail in nature dur¬ 
ing a protracted and severe drought 
were artificially produced and steadily 
maintained. The bees were brought to 
the stages of hunger, thirst and starva¬ 
tion by these artificial conditions. 
Every inducement and opportunity 
was afforded the bees to satisfy their 
hunger and thirst by attacking the fruit 
exposed. They daily visited the fruit 
in great numbers, and labored diligent¬ 
ly to improve the only remaining source 
of subsistence. They inspected and took 
what advantage they could of every 
opening at the stem or crack in the skin, 
or puncture made by insects which de¬ 
posit their eggs in the skin of grapes. 
They regarded the skin of peaches, 
pears, plums and other fruits having a 
thick covering simply as subjects for 
inquiry and investigation, and not ob¬ 
jects for attack. If the skin was broken 
or removed they would, in case of need, lap and suck 
the juices exposed. The same was also true of the 
grapes if the skin was broken by violence or burst 
on account of the fruit becoming overripe; the bees 
lapped and sucked the juices from the exposed parts 
of the grapes and stored it in the cells for food. They 
made no attempt to grasp the skin of grapes with 
their mandibles or with their claws. If the grapes 
were cut open or burst from overripeness, the bees 
would lap and suck the juice from the exposed seg¬ 
ments of the grape until they came to the film sep¬ 
arating the exposed and broken segments from the 
unbroken segments. Through and beyond the film 
THE PRIDE OF THE EASTERN SHORE. Fig. 284. 
PEACH TREE WITH A SPREAD OF 45 FEET. Fig. 285. 
