Hedrick, in a monograph on the peach in New York published in 1917, described 2,181 varieties, nearly all of which are or have been grown in some part of the United States. Probably 50o sorts are to be found in American orchards and nurseries at the present time. All of the many kinds grown on the American side of the Atlantic, with less than a half-dozen exceptions, have originated in the regions where grown to meet the needs of a very distinctive American peach industry.
The cultivation of this fruit in the New World differs markedly from the methods of growing in the Old World. Orchards are more extensive, culture less intensive; trees are always grown as stand ards, never trained on walls or in arbitrary shapes ; nearly all of the kinds are yellow-fleshed and free of stone, seldom with white flesh which often clings to the stone as in Europe. The suppression of diseases by spraying and orchard hygiene is much more neces sary in America than in Europe.
Two unusual diseases unknown in Europe take tremendous toll from American peach orchards. One of these diseases, peach yel lows, the more virulent, spread like a wave of fire through the peach orchards of America a half-century ago before methods of control were discovered. The disease is much less virulent now than when it first made its appearance and is controlled fairly well by removing all diseased trees. The cause of the disease is gener
ally supposed to be some lowly organism, as it is violently con tagious. "Little peach," which appeared a few decades later than peach yellows, is likewise contagious through some unknown or ganism, and just as "yellows" is named from yellow foliage, so "little peach" receives its name from small peaches which are inedible. Like the yellows it is controlled by cutting out diseased trees.
The following are the leading commercial varieties named in order of _ripening: Mikado,—yellow, round, medium size, semi-cling, good; Marigold, —yellow, medium size, semi-cling, five days later than Mikado ; Oriole,—yellow, medium size, firm, freestone, very good; Golden Jubilee,—yellow, oval, large, freestone, good; Rochester,—yellow, heavy pubescence, round, medium size, freestone, very good; Valiant, —yellow, blushed, round, large, firm, freestone, good; South Haven,— light yellow, round, large, soft, freestone, very good; Champion,— white, blushed, oval, medium size, semi-free, very good ; Belle,—white, blushed, round, medium size, large, firm, freestone, good; Early Craw ford,—yellow, blushed, round, medium size, compressed, freestone, ex cellent; J. H. Hale,—yellow, blushed, round, large, firm, freestone, good.
Elberta,—yellow, bright blush, oval, large, firm, freestone, good, leading commercial peach. (U. P. H.)