1882.] 
PEACH ALEXANDER. 
137 
merely broken, not sifted, one-fourth, and some 
old lime rubbish broken into small pieces ; and 
I generally get a little bone dust, and use judg¬ 
ment as to what sand I add; sometimes if I 
have the lime rubbish I don’t use any sand. 
As to liquid manure, while the plants have a 
rich soil to feed upon, they most certainly do 
not require any other stimulant before the 
buds appear, but I give mine an occasional 
dose of sulphate of ammonia, or soot water, 
not for the growth of the plant, but the for¬ 
mer keeps the soil moister in hot weather (as 
you probably know ammonia causes damp¬ 
ness), and thus keeps the plants from flagging 
to some extent. 
Now by the time the buds are well formed 
the pots are full of roots, and have consumed 
much of the goodness of the soil, so that the 
buds, not the plants, require a stimulant to 
swell them. I never give liquid manure to the 
plants while forming their buds or else blind¬ 
ness would be the result. I don't disbud until 
1 can do so conveniently. I think it bad practice 
when you have, say Jive tender buds, to suddenly 
leave the centre one to the tender mercy of winds, 
frost, and vermin. I wait till they separate and 
the bud is hardier. In damp weather while the 
flowers are expanding they should have 
warmth with ventilation. —Old Groover. 
P.S.—My friend “ Old Grower ” was so 
kind as to give me the above directions some 
years ago, and I hope they may be serviceable 
to some of the young readers of the Florist, 
who are ambitious to obtain well-bloomed 
Chrysanthemums. For a selection of good 
kinds there is no better guide than the list 
given in a recent number of the Florist by 
Mr. Samuel Barlow.—F. W. B. 
PEACH ALEXANDER. 
[Plate 570.] 
"E are indebted to Mr. T. F. Rivers, of 
Sawbridgeworth, for the specimens 
of this new American Peach wTiich 
are figured on the accompanying 
plate. It is probably the earliest variety at 
present in cultivation. As it is also decidedly 
earlier and appreciably larger than the earliest 
and best of the better known varieties, and is 
also of high quality, it is probable that a large 
share of popular favour is in store for it in 
the future. We have therefore thought it 
worthy of a place in our series of fruit por¬ 
traits. A woodcut figure of it, showing it to 
be a large-flowered sort, was published in the 
Gardeners' Chronicle (n. s., xvii., 705). Our 
figure and that of our contemporary were 
from the same source, and both represent a 
fruit measuring about three inches across. 
The fruit is, as will be seen, nearly round, 
with a well-marked suture, a deepish hollow at 
the base, and a nipple at the apex. The skin 
is a pale straw yellow, clouded with bright 
rosy crimson where exposed, and also dotted 
over with the same colour. The flesh is white 
to the stone, and is melting, juicy, and briskly 
flavoured. Mr. Rivers, writing in May last, 
speaks very highly of the variety. “ The 
Alexander Peach,” he says, “ is, I think, 
destined to a great future in forcing houses. 
It is some years since I received it from 
America, and I confess to having been very in¬ 
credulous w'hen I read the description given 
of it; but it has entirely justified the high 
character which accompanied the plants sent 
to me. I have not fruited it out of doors— 
an almost hopeless method of Peach growing— 
but under glass it is an admirable fruit. 
In a cold orchard-house it ripens a week 
before Early Beatrice, and is double the size. 
I have now (May 1) in a heated orchard-house 
fruits ripe and ripening, the trees having been 
put in about the end of January.” 
Other correspondents of the same journal 
speak in terms equally appreciative. S. N. 
from trees received early in the present year 
obtained in fifteen weeks (April 19) perfectly 
ripe and finely-flavoured fruit, and hopes to 
get them considerably earlier next year from 
the established trees. Mr. Smith, Rockville, 
Cosham, thinks it will prove a ‘ ‘ very valuable 
early variety”; he gathered ripe fruit from 
it on April 22 this year and May 2 last 
year, growing in an early house with Early 
Rivers, Early York, and other early sorts, and 
finds it “to ripen a month earlier than any 
of these,” the fruit moreover being of a good 
size and colour. Another gardener from the 
Isle of Wight, Mr. C. Meehan, of St. Clare, 
writes :—“ It may be of interest to those who 
may be contemplating planting it to know that 
last season I fruited it on the open wall, where 
