GROWING OF PEACHES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18762, 16 July 1924, Page 14

GROWING OF PEACHES.

INTERESTING EXPERIENCES.

THE FLAVOUR QUESTION-

VARIETIES COMPARED.

Mr. H. E. Glasson, Papakura, writes:— " With reference to a recent article on

peaches, is it a fact that the sorts now commercially grown are generally equal or superior to the cider sorts ? My impress sion is that if you want varieties for flavour, not for market, you are more likely to find them in an old, deserted orchard than in an up-to-date nursery. It may Dot be generally known that we can grow much better varieties than most of those mentioned in the article. Take Osprey Improved for instance. From my experience with one tree, growing in a good situation, I should say it is too soft and unattractive for market, and too poor in quality to be worth growing for home use, although it is a good cropper and grows in almost an ideal form. Chit of about 40 varieties I have grown it is the poorest in quality with one, or perhaps two, exceptions. A seedling from it produces much better fruit, juicy and melting, with a pretty good flavour, though smaller.

Osprey Improved is said to ripen from about the 20th to the end of March. Mine was generally from about 20th to end of February. I have a much better white fleshed seedling, ripe perhaps a little earlier, or about the same time as Sea Eagle: and two old seedling varieties, one a smaller pale yellow cling, and tbe other a greenish white free, that are far and away nicer than Golden Queen when cooked, as they have a rich peach flavourGolden Queen, thongh perhaps the easiest to grow and the most profitable, especially for canning, produces a rich, sugary syrup when cooked, but as for flavour, whether fresh or cooked, it is sweet and juicy, but that is all generally.

Suitable for Canning. I have grown at least a dozen kinds that taste better when cooked, though as they have not the same beautiful colonr or the thick syrup, they are not in so much demand for bottling. Among them are Chilow Cling, Lemon Free, both good bearers; Levy's Late, a large, very solid cling, ripening about the end of March, Muir, and Wager. Muir is one of the best known and most extensively grown for canning of the Californian yellow free stones. It is described as a perfect free by Wickson, and all other anthorities, though termed a cling by the New Zealand Varieties Conference two or three years or so back. Wager is almost identical with Muir, a few days earlier; somewhat better bearer, with me, rather better colour and flavour. The flavour is the best, although there is not as much of it as might be desired, being a delicious sort of apricot. With regard to Pacagon, I prefer Early Elberta, though a good many growers do not. It is apparently some days earlier than old Elberta, and seems to be a better bearer, haying all the good points of the parent, without its worst defects of coarse flesh, bitterness, and deficiency of flavour. It has a very good, though not the best, flavour, and plenty of it. However, it curls badly if not sprayed. Kia Ora, mentioned in the article referred to, is preferred to old Elberta by some growers, as being a better bearer in some situations, though perhaps.not quite so good a shipper. Besides that, old trees produce very fair dessert fruit, superior to that from Elberta at any age, though, I think, not equal to Early Elberta. Judging by one specimen, I think, J. H. Hale is a long way ahead of Kia Ora, and should completely supersede the latter, as it ripens about the same time. Young trees make vigorous and very sturdy growth. It should not, however, be described as immune from curL My original tree was quite free from the disease the first year, but thß second the leaves curled so badly that all the fruit except one dropped off.

The Curly leaf

I do not remember seeing more than one curly leaf on Wager, sprayed or unsprayed, though I have grown well on for a hundred trees. Some of the 6©edling varieties are totally immune, and several of the late sorts practically so. I have always found a thorough drenching with Bordeaux Mixture in August entirely satisfactory, even for the two varieties . that curl worst,.Lippiatt's Late Red and Nugget. These two are not favourites of mine. The former, though, firm, well' coloured, and high, flavoured, does not hang well, and as it cracks badly it consequently takes brown rot badly. Nugget is so small that even when the trees are full of fnrit they never carry any weight to speak of. Among sorts highly recommended for quality, which I nave found poor flavoured, are President Lyon, Phillip's Cling, and Klondyke, the last two being very shy bearers. Illinois, though firm and good looking, ha 3 also been of poor quality so far, and the same applies to Kalamazoo and Alton, the last of which closely resembles Wiggins. Promising kinds which I have not yet fully tested are:—Le Vainqueur, white, very fine quality, very nearly, perhaps quite, as early as Sneed, and likely to supersede it; Arp Beauty, a beautiful yellow free; good flavour, perhaps hardly so good as Triumph, and a tew days later, but much firmer and more attractive. Eureka, very prolific, rathe? better quality than Hale's Early, and ripe same time, but not so highly coloured. James Cling, large and solid yellow variety, hardy, apparently pretty well curl proof, and likely to be at least a moderate bearer: Most of the above are growing on a light friable clay soil, which works up to almost the fineness of roller flour, and though poor, seems specially adapted for peaches^