The Country Gcntloiiaiis IlTagaaiiic 



565 



IS THE ALMOND IDENTICAL WITH THE PEACH? 



AT the recent meeting of the British Association, 

 Professor Koch read a paper " On the Specific 

 Identity of tlie Ahnond and the Peach." The author 

 stated that he had travelled over the mountains 

 of the Caucasus, Armenia, some parts of Persia 

 and Asia Minor, during four years, for the purpose 

 of studying the origin of our fruit trees. Although 

 he could not assert that he had found them perfectly 

 wild or run wild, he nevertheless had collected 

 much interesting material. He believes that our 

 pears and apples, cherries, most prunes, also peaches 

 and apricots, are not natives of Europe. Only certain 

 bad varieties of prunes have their origin from the 

 Prunus insititia, the tree which grows in a wild condi- 

 tion in the woods of Europe. After discussing the wild 

 stock of our cherries and pears, Dr Koch stated that 

 apricots do not grow wild in Oriental countries, but 

 may, perhaps, come from China and Japan, as also the 

 peaches. In the east of Persia, however, a peach- 

 shrub grows, which is intermediate between the 

 almond and the peach trees. For some time naturalists 



and gardeners have asserted that there is no difference 

 between almond and peach trees ; that the latter is 

 merely a variety in which the dry peel of the almond 

 has become fleshy, and where at the same time the 

 stone has acquired a rough surface. Botanists say also 

 that the petioles of the almond tree have at the superior 

 end small glands, which are absent in the peach. But 

 the nectarine, which is but a smoothed peach, exhibits 

 these same glands. The flowers are not readily dis- 

 tinguishable of peach and almond. On the shores of 

 the Rhine a double-flowered variety grows, as to which 

 it is not certainly known whether it is peach or almond. 

 In England and France, also, there is a plant which is 

 well-known as the peach-almond, and which is a con- 

 stant variety. This plant occasionally produces a 

 branch bearing good peaches, but, as a rule, its fruit 

 is intermediate in character. 



The property of atavism seems to prove the deriva- 

 tion of the peach from the almond ; for occasionally 

 a sound peach-tree will produce a branch bearing 

 almond-like fruit. 



ADULTER A TION OF SEEDS. 



THE following Interim Report to the Council of 

 the Royal Horticultural Society, by the Sub- 

 committee appointed to inquire into the Adulteration 

 of Seeds, contains some valuable information : — 



1. In accordance with your instructions, your com- 

 mittee have taken steps to ascertain whether there is 

 any just foundation for the representations which have 

 been made to the Council regarding the unsatisfactory 

 state of the seed trade and the bad quality of much of 

 the seed sold to the public. 



2. It was represented to the Council that, as the 

 business of seedsmen is at present conducted, the pur- 

 chaser of seeds frequently receives neither the kind 

 nor the quality of the seeds he pays for, and that 

 against this he has no remedy except a doubtful and 

 expensive lawsuit after the mischief has been done. 



3. It was also urged that, unlike most other kinds 

 of adulteration or deception in the quality of goods, 

 the injury done in the case of seeds does not terminate 

 with the use of the article purchased, but entails, in 

 addition, the loss of the rent of the ground on which 

 the seed may be sown, and of the labour expended 

 upon it in preparing the soil and tending the crop — 

 not to speak of the disappointment of the reasonable 

 expectations of the cultivator. 



4. Having no n\eans of compelling parties to give 

 evidence, your committee's investigation into the 

 alleged adulteration, mixing, or deterioration of seeds 

 has necessarily been confined to making inquiries of 

 those who have the means of knowledge, and on 

 whose statements they could rely. 



5. From information so acquired, they believe that 

 the public suffers more or less from the neglect and 

 malpractices of dealers in seeds in at least the following 

 ways : — 



a. Generally by seeds being kept too long and being 

 sold after they have lost their vitality. 



This is the most injurious of all the causes of depre- 

 ciation ; for it applies equally to the honest and dis- 

 honest trader. In adulteration the evil must be done 

 with intent to defraud. Here there may be no inten- 

 tion to defraud, but mere neglect or want of judg- 

 ment maybe as injurious to the purchaser as if there were. 



b. By the addition of bad seed to good, and mixing 

 old and new. 



c. By the addition of seed whose vitality has been 

 killed. 



This is done in the case of varieties of peculiar excel- 

 lence, when the supply is insufficient to meet the de- 

 mand. Killed seed of a cheap kind, similar in appear- 



