The Florida agriculturist., 1889-01-02
Volume XVI. No. |. Whole No. -556
For THE FLORIDA AeR1cULruR1sT.
Peaches in Florida.

Peaches in Florida.
Outside of the citrus family there are
but few fruits that are now attracting
more general attention throughout the
State, or that are coming into popular
favor in Florida, faster than peaches, and
a few notes on this subject by one who
has given the matter several years of
somewhat extended practical experience
In his own orchards, may perhaps be in
teresting to some of your readers either
In, or out of the State.
We must remember when we come to
inquire into the apathy, or the more
pronounced entire lack of faith, that for
a long time existed on the subject of
peaches in many sections of Florida, that
the sboom" which lifted Florida into
prominence among her sister States, as a
fruit growing section, had largely for it's
basis the cultivation of the orange,
possessing advantages over most of
''ha other States in this respect, and that
oranges as the "open sesame" to a
etency, wealth., and even affluence,
often plainly deduced to any one
would plant grove, it is not to be
wondered at that peaches, along with
some other fruits, naturally fell into the
background, and occupied but a second
ary position if indeed, in many sections,
any position at all. But we must also
remember and to those who have given
the matte any attention, it is well
wn) tfet the varieties generally
fv8a in Sites north of us are not the
he for ctture in Florida and that
Ea ne secfSns of the State they are
t,iS htyIe or \ value. Some OF those
areties do Airly well in the north
qn sections OF State, but show amore
.39onounced lacAof adaptability as they
afe moved toWal the southern counties,
aud repeated e4eriments with those
varieties resultnen many instances, re
ns.ated failure haT ieyed Z 4til ofcompara-
tiyeIg lecenUtss tsssdte,t a e Co confne any degree of
enthusiasm on the subject ofpeaches to the
comparative few who have been constant
~ experimenting with other kinds than
tiose generally grown to the north of us.
The now well known Peen-to peach, in
troduced by Mr.. p. j. Berckmans from seed
obtained from Australia in 1869, has
within the paste years attracted much
attention and served to create increased
interest in peaches in this State, and it's
valued difference in adaptability as con-
trasted to the more northern varieties OF
Persian type, together with it's extreme
earliness, good quality, and the valuable
varieties that have been, are being, ,and will
continueto produced from it, make this
very valuable Among the prominent
varieties of these Peen-to seedlings, thus
far introduced are the Bidwell Early, Bid
well Late, Maggie, Barrs Early Daisy,
Yum Yum, Florida's Own, Waldo, June
Beauty and several others.
The Honey peach, which is also an early
variety, has proven valuable in many
sections of the State and several valuable
varieties have originated from it; among
these are the named varieties, Climax,
Horn S Hybrid, Pallas, Kites Honey and
Early Cream. OF these the first two varie-
ties are supposed to be crosses with our
native peaches, and in my opinion the
last two are crosses with the Peen-to.
Both the Honey and the Peen-to have
been generally accredited with Chinese
origin, but whatever their origin the pc
cnliaritiea Of each cf them a.cenficieTtlY
4(Ii.s ssl3t to warr-. l,s III G. IL fl1I iiicill