258 



REMARKS ON TWO KINDS OF PEACHES. 



has acquitted himself, beginning; with what 

 he denominates the " White Rareripe." 



The ttiie White Kareripe, or Morris 

 White of your work on Fruits, originated in 

 the nuraery of my grandfather, the first 

 William Prince, and has been cultivated in 

 almost every collection for above eighty 

 years, and particularly so in this vicinity. 

 It is very accurately described in your work, 

 as well as in the Treatise on Fruits written 

 by myself, in 1831, and by other writers. 

 It is one of the few varieties that are ichite 

 at the sto7ie, and the glands are reniform. 



The (so called) White Rareripe of Mr. 

 Parsons is red at the sto7ie, and has globose 

 glands. To solve, however, the confusion 

 he has thus made, you will need only to 

 turn to our old friend Duhamel, and you 

 will find that the ancient " Nivette " of that 

 author, which has held its title unchange- 

 ably for above one hundred and twenty 

 years, has been doomed at last to receive a 

 new title from Mr. Parsons. 



There is not, perhaps, in the whole list 

 of peaches one which has been so univer- 

 sally known as the "Nivette." It was de- 

 scribed by Langley in 1729, by Miller 

 more than a century ago, by Duhamel, and 

 by every important French and English 

 author from his time down to the present. 



It is found in the Catalogues of the Lon- 

 don Horticultural Society, and described by 

 Lindley in the Horticultural Transactions, 

 and in Lindley's Guide to the Orchard and 

 Kitchen Garden, &c. 



To come to our own shores, it is described 

 in the Treatise on Fruits published by me 

 in 1831, in Kenrick's Orchardist, and in 

 your Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. 



The descriptions in the works referred to, 

 are so full and explicit, that a child could 

 scarcely mistake the fruit, and no such 

 blunder could possibly arise where there ex- 

 isted any actual knowledge of fruits. 



We now come to the " Green Catharine," 

 and I regret to find that even here, Mr. Par- 

 sons has been equally unfortunate. For 

 two years past, Messrs. Parsons & Co., and 

 a gentleman who obtained his trees from 

 them, have exhibited the spurious variety 

 now described, which has been pronounced 

 erroneous by the best authority. And whe- 

 ther there is any sinister motive in regard 

 to this fruit, which they have been selling 

 trees of for years, I will not pretend to say; 

 but it does seem rather singular, that they 

 should, at this late day, endeavor to give 

 the impress of accuracy to a spurious va- 

 riety, and to stamp with inaccuracy a varie- 

 ty cultivated by my father under thi^ame 

 before either of them was born, and which 

 has been disseminated and well known 

 throughout the Union for more than fifty 

 years. 



The genuine Green Catharine was first 

 brought to notice by my grandfather, and I 

 have now before me a catalogue of my late 

 father, dated over fifty years ago, in which 

 its qualities are stated. I remember to have 

 heard him say, that he believed it to be of 

 European origin, and this will explain why 

 it has never been designated in his cata- 

 logues as an American variety. In the year 

 1820, it was sent by him to the London 

 Horticultural Society, with a very large 

 collection of other varieties. There it still 

 exists, and its accuracy has never been 

 questioned. Judge Strong of this town, 

 one of the most intelligent amateur pomo- 

 logists in the Union, states that many years 

 ago my father gave him some scions for bud- 

 ding, Avith the remark that they were the 

 genuine Green Catharine. He has had 

 bearing trees up to the present time, and 

 their fruit is identical with those in my nur- 

 series. Any amount of similar proof could 

 be deduced, and personally I know this va- 

 riety to be genuine, for at earliest childhood^ 



