The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-22
AccIimation of Peaches.

Probably there is no more conspic-
| ious instance of the variability and
adaptability of fruit under new con-
ditions than is afforded by the Chinese
| strains of peaches as acclimated in
Florida, says the Agriculturalist. Take
first the Honey the parent of fifteen
or twenty seedlings, which exhibit a
steady progressive departure from the
original and corresponding approach
toward the type to which we are ac-
! customed in this country, the Persian,
now so acclimated that it might be
! called American. The Honey is me-
dunn to small, longish, oval, compress
ed, with deep suture in one side, ter
| minating in a peculiar sharp recurVed
point like a bill hook. Flesh very
| sweet and rich. too sweet for most
| northern palates.
Some of its prominent seedlings,
named somewhat in the order of their
origination. are Climax, Early Cream,
| Imperial, Sangmel, Colon, Taber, OWE
do and Jewel. In all these there is dis
| played a change from the parent in
| shape and size. And this has not been
so uniform in size as in flavor There
is exhibited constant tendency in
these seedlings to depart from the oval
towards the round shape, a closing up
| OF the suture, and a shortening of the
bill hook point, until now these eccen-
tNc distinguishing features are nearly
| lost or bred out. The most notable
change has been from an excessive
! sweetness to one less pronounced, to a
! subacid, and finally, in the Oveido and
| the Jewel, the latest seedlings, to a
| sprightly acid which renders these va
| rieties as acceptable to the American
| as the peaches of the northern states.
The transformation is complete; it is
wonderful considering that it all has
! been accomplished in twenty years or
less. Yet probably nowhere else in the
Union have peaches been more intel
ligently studied and developed than in
| Florida.
The .Peento is more eccentric in form
than the Honey; a fiat peach, some
thing like a tomato in shape, even the
stone being depressed at the ends 1t
| has originated more seedlings than the
Honey and their history has been more
remarkable. They conform very nearly
| to the shape of the American type.
being round or very nearly round, with
elongated pits; but there has not been
such a departure from flavor as with
the Honey seedlings. The Peento new
Ell was diSagreebaly sweet. 1t has a
tendency, when not well cultivated to
develop a slight noyau or almond-like
| bitterness; but this has mostly disap-
| peared in the seedlings. The Peento is
a semi-cling, but it's two earliest and
best descendants, the Angel and the
Waldo, are free stones and of a
sprightly subacid, leaving nothing to
be desired in flavor.
There has also been a great depar-
ture in the season of blooming and rip
ening. The tropical Peento, even af-
ter being in this climate for thirty
years, is still lost and wild, blooming
In November and in any extra warm
spell all through the winter, a fact
which renders it an uncertain bearer.
But its latest seedlings seem to have
learned to avoid the frosts somewhat.
The Angel blooms fully a month later
than its parent, and the Waldo still
later, yet, strange to say, the Waldo
ripens earlier than it's parent.
We need hardly add that, to the
careful horticulturist, Florida can
hardly be excelled in the numbers and
excellence of it's peaches, of which the
catalogues present about seventy va
rieties, all of which are adapted to
peninsular Florida, being of purely ma
tive or Oriental origin.
Pruning Orange Trees.
The Florida Agriculturist says: We
strongly advocate low pruning of
orange trees for the following cogent
reasons: The fruit bearing surface is
greatly increased. The tree is made
more stocky and is thus better able to
stand the autumnal gales. The bark
of the trunk is shaded, an important
consideration in semi tropical coun-
tries. The soil Immediately about the
trunk is shaded and is kept more moist
and loose, so that nitrification takes
place more readily and the tree is bet
ter nourished. The gathering of the
fruit is greatly facilitated and render
ed less expensive. 1t has been estimat-
ed by grower of ample experience
with tall seedlings and low-crowned
budded trees, that it costs four times
as much box for box to pick fruit
growing above the elevation of ten feet
as 1t does below it,; Orange trees sew
en- years old and Tangerines twelve
years old in grove we once visited
in Eastern Orange county could be
stripped of their fruit without a ladder,
only step ladder that one could carry
in one hand being required in topping
out part of the trees. And there were
seven and eight boxes on most of the
trees, Lastly, the low tree can be pro-
tected with tent or shed for one-hal
of one third of the cost of the tall
one. This in an indefinite statement,
and we feel confident in asserting that
the protection of a tree twenty feet
high will cost four times as much as
one ten feet high
a Californian, in the Pacific Rural
Press, gives a bit of his experience
with low-headed trees. neighbor
with trees of the same age as his
trimmed them high. The first year
the low-headed tree had a little fruit,
but the others had none The next
year the low-headed tree had a half
box apiece. the high tree, a dozen or
two oranges each.
A long naked trunk. five or six feet,
without any branches, carries it's top
in the same relative condition as a
persons extremities. remote from the
heart. The circulation there is less ac-
tive, the nutrition less complete.
The best way to manage pruning is
by pinchng with the thumb nail. New
er let the young growth get over
foot long. This is n great deal easier
and great deal more conserving of
the vitality of the trees than to allow
them TO expend their strength in pro-
ducing long limbs. then cut them off
and throw them away. More than
that, II is far simpler TO use the thumb
nail once a week than A two- horse natr