THE PEACH.—I do not see why the scientific names of our fruits should
not sometimes be used in our horticultural journals. Students of botany
and entomology in their journals are very particular to speak of the
different species by their scientific names, and it seems to me that if
we were occasionally to do the same in practical horticulture it might
advance a scientific knowledge among growers of fruit. Had I headed this
paragraph _Amygdalus Persica_, or _Persica Vulgaris_, I wonder how many
would have at once known that the peach was referred to.
In point of hardiness there appears quite a difference among the
varieties of the peach. The late unusually mild Winter very much
developed the fruit buds, and the cold of March 24th, when the
thermometer registered 11° above zero, tried them severely. The most
valuable variety seems also to be one of the most tender, viz, the Early
Crawford; it has suffered much, at least three-fourths of the fruit buds
being frozen. The Early Purple, a peach almost unsaleable in seasons of
great abundance, is proving itself valuable for its hardiness, its fruit
buds being perfectly intact; nor is this the first time this variety has
escaped when the Crawford has succumbed to a Canadian Winter. Next in
hardiness comes the Early Beatrice, and after it, perhaps, the Hale’s
Early. The old Mixon is quite as tender as the Crawford, and indeed I
think more so.
PEACH CRATES.—The bushel crate usually accepted in Grimsby has the ends
8×14 inches, and the sides 24 inches long; while the three-peck crate is
of course 6 inches wide, instead of 8 inches, or just ¾ of the bushel
size. Complete uniformity in measure of all fruit packages is very much
to be desired. Certainly packages holding short measure never brought
permanent profit to the shipper using them, while more frequently they
bring him well merited disgrace.
[Illustration: ladder drawing]
LADDERS FOR PEACH PICKING.—Of course nothing is so useful in a peach
orchard as a good supply of step-ladders, but where these are counted
too expensive, a very simple contrivance may prove very serviceable
among large trees. It consists of one stout pole morticed into a base
made of scantlin, and having rounds for climbing, as is shown in the
engraving. A rainy day in Spring-time would suffice for making several
of these, and they will prove very light and serviceable when the busy
season of picking comes on. They can be used in trees where a two barred
ladder would be useless, for the end of the pole will rest in any crotch
with perfect safety.
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