32 



THE PEACH AND NECTARINE MYSTERY. 



plus commands a large price in our market, 

 and pays better than any other fruit. The 

 expense of paving is more than liquidated the 

 first year. Hard brick, flat stones, or even 

 cobble stones would do the job. Salt destroys 

 the weeds and grass. Leached wood ashes, 

 two or three inches thick, on which to lay the 

 paving, is important, as being a substance in 

 which no maggot would burrow, in dodging 

 the stone or brick. 



A friend recently informed me that he cut 

 down his nectarine trees, because the fruit 



uniformly fell off. INIany have given up try- 

 ing to raise the apricot for the same reason, 

 and the plum, too, is growing into disfavor 

 from the same cause. If this certain remedy 

 were known and applied, what a vast addition 

 to the comfort and pockets of our people 

 would result ! Very respectfully, 



L. A. Spalding. 



Lockport, N. Y; 6th 7no. Ut, 1850. 



I would mention that my pavements are 

 nine to ten feet wide, and run lengthwise of 

 the row. L. A. S. 



EVIDENCE ON THE PEACH AND NECTARINE MYSTERY. 



BY J. BINGHAM, HUDSON, N. Y. 



Wonders will never cease, until ignorance is 

 lost in knowledge, and knowledge lost, if it 

 can be, in intuition. 



In 1841, Mr. Charles Tompkins, of this 

 city, planted in the yard back of his ware- 

 room in Warren-street, a peach stone, from 

 which has grown a tree twenty feet high. It 

 has produced fruit regularly every season since 

 it began to bear, of the large delicious free- 

 stone kind. 



Some three years ago, " come peach time," 

 Mr, T. gave a peach of this tree, weighing 14 

 ounces, to his friend and neighbor, Mr. Bu- 

 chanan, a Scotchman. And the latter. 

 Scotchman-like, gave it to Mr. Duncan 

 Hood, a countryman of his, occupying some 

 nursery grounds in the vicinity. Mr. Hood, 

 gave it to his children to eat, taking care to 

 preserve the stone for planting. This stone 

 he opened, and found it a double one, con- 

 taining two kernels. He closed the stone and 

 planted it near his own dwelling. Here he 

 lives, "the monarch of all he surveys," with- 

 in his enclosure of four acres — an illustration 

 of what a single-handed man can do, exercis- 



ing talent with industry and frugality rarely 

 equalled, seldom surpassed. 



And now the interest of the tale com- 

 mences. 



Yesterday, I saw the product of that one 

 stone, in two trees, near ten feet high, twin- 

 like, standing side by side, but each bearing 

 different fruit from its companion, friend, neigh- 

 bor and relative — one bearing Nectarines and 

 the other Peaches ! 



Mr. Buchanan first made the discovery, I 

 believe, the same day ; for I found him there ; 

 having drawn Mr. Hood's attention to the 

 mystery, which yet remains unsolved. We 

 are in a quandary. Can you enlighten us ? 

 J. Bingham. 



Hudson, N. Y., Wth June, 1850. 



We are obliged to our correspondent for 

 giving another evidence of the identity of spe- 

 cies between the peach and the nectarine. He 

 has not, probably, seen the discussion on this 

 subject published in our first volume. The 

 nectarine is considered, by botanists, only a 

 variety of the peach, and not a distinct spe- 

 cies — hence, though nectarine stones usually 



