Vol. LXXI. No. 4143. 
NEW YORK, MARCH 23, 1912. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR 
J. H. HALE ON PEACH VARIETIES. 
Soil, Season and Location. 
In answering the call for a few words as to peach 
varieties and their adaptability to various soil and 
climatic conditions, what I may say, while based on 
experience and observation of over 40 years of com¬ 
mercial peach growing, can no doubt be knocked 
into a cocked hat by some new convert to the “get 
rich quick” peach boom that still has its little boomlet 
on parade in one or more sections of our great fruit 
country. Or I myself may want to review and re¬ 
vise my opinions from time to time as the years roll 
around and I know more and talk less than I do 
now, for each year, with changing conditions and 
more experience, I am coming to see how little we 
Carolina, almost a new race or type of peaches that 
have since revolutionized peach growing in America. 
These have increased the acreage tenfold, extending 
planting into vast acres of new territory far beyond 
the old-time limits of peach possibilities, and almost 
entirely superseding tbe old-time varieties, so that at 
the present time east of the Rocky Mountains at 
least, Elberta, Belle, Champion, and Carman alone 
supply fully one-half of all peaches produced. In 
fact, I am not sure but the Elberta alone produces 
one-half of all the'peaches grown eat of the Rockies 
to-day, and at that 70 per cent of the remainder are 
of varieties unknown 25 years ago. These varieties 
being mostly of the newer North China type they 
are hardier in fruit bud, some of them, notably 
Champion, Waddell. Carman and Belle, withstanding 
are better adapted to heavy clay lands than are any 
of the others, and that all thrive best on sandy loam 
soils and yet may be grown with fair degree of 
success on any soil not saturated with water much 
of the time. Aside from the varieties of North 
China type before mentioned, some few Mountain 
Rose, Stump, Fox Seedling, and Chair’s Choice are 
grown in New England and New Jersey; Crawfords, 
Smock and Sal way in Western New York and Ohio, 
while more of the old Persian type of varieties are 
grown in Michigan than in any other peach section, 
probably because their western markets still insist 
on having yellow peaches, even if they are not so 
good as the white fleshed varieties, either fresh out 
of hand or for canning. There are many yellow 
peaches of the Persian strain, while the Elberta 
A TREE OF THE NEW “FRANK” PEACH—A SUCCESS IN TEXAS. Fig. 134. 
really know about peaches (or almost anything else 
for that matter). 
Forty years ago in my early peach planting days 
the most popular and reliable varieties were such as 
Troth’s Early, Large Early York, Mountain Rose, 
Reeves, Oldmixon, the Crawfords, Early and Late, 
Foster, Stump, Morris White and others of that 
class, all of the Persian type, and even as late as 
25 years ago Mountain Rose, Reeves, Oldmixon, 
Crawfords, Stump and Smock were among the lead¬ 
ing market varieties and made up the bulk of peach 
shipments from Eastern orchajds, though many other 
varieties of lesser value were also grown. 
About this time were originated the Elberta, Belle, 
Waddell, and Llieley in Georgia; the Champion in 
Illinois, a little later the Carman and Mamie Ross 
in Texas, and yet a little later Greensboro in North 
fully 10 degrees more of extreme freezing in Winter 
than our old-time varieties of Persian origin, and so 
make it possible to grow peaches at lower levels in 
the older peach belts, and extending plantings much 
farther north than was once thought possible. Of 
the 500,000 trees in the orchards of Connecticut, 
and the 100,000 or more in Rhode Island, Massa¬ 
chusetts and Southern New Hampshire, probably 
80 per cent of them are of this type and the same 
is nearly true of the newer peach orchard develop¬ 
ments in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and 
Ohio, while in Missouri, Arkansas and the whole 
South probably 95 per cent of the trees now planted 
belong to this class. 
As to their adaptability to different soils, my 
observation north and south rather leads me to be¬ 
lieve that Elberta and Hieley, and possibly Champion, 
is the only one of the North China type that is yet 
well known and of great market value. In the 
mountain regions of Western Maryland, and West 
Virginia, where yellow varieties later than Elberta 
are in great demand, Smock, Salway, Chair’s and 
others of that class are largely grown. 
Some varieties of peaches require much heavier 
feeding than others, notably Crosby, St. Johns, Foster, 
Greensboro, Hieley and Elberta, which need about 
double the feed of Carman, Champion, Belle or Fox 
on the same land. So, too, with fruit thinning, an 
Elberta tree that is well nourished can be so over¬ 
loaded that peaches touch one another, or are even 
in clusters of three or more, and yet large, fine 
peaches can be secured, while the same treatment 
accorded to a Waddell, Crosby or St. John would 
result in little peaches, no matter' how liberally the 
