6 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



or ' shan tao ' but ' Mao fao,' meaning ' hairy peach.' In the vicinity 

 where they grow, no peaches are cultivated although half a day's journey 

 lower down, one meets with some poor looking trees in gardens. 



" The elevation I found them was almost exactly 4000 feet above sea. 

 I gathered some fruits, but they are not quite ripe; I am trying to ripen 

 them off, however, so that we may obtain at least a few ripe seeds. As a 

 stock, however, it has not the value the Davidiana peach has, not being as 

 vigorous and apparently being attacked by the same pests that infest 

 cultivated peaches. This ' find ' is of great interest, however, showing 

 that wild peaches exist much nearer the coast than we suspected, and that 

 the peach naturally is a native of semi-arid regions." 



The explorations made by Mr. Meyer cover, of course, but a small 

 part of the vast empire of China. Further search will, no doubt, show 

 many other localities in Central and Eastern Asia where the peach grows 

 naturally and has probably done so from time immemorial. 



As all who consult them know, ancient authors are often at fault in 

 matters of history in determining the origin of cultivated plants but they 

 are usually fairly accurate in stating the date of culture of a plant in a 

 country. In the case of the peach the date of culture can be established 

 as so much earlier in China than elsewhere that history alone all but proves 

 its previous existence there in the wild state. In short, the peach was a 

 cultivated fruit in China before there were other agricultural communities 

 from which it could come; for, be it remembered, in China, according to 

 De Candolle, our best authority, agricultural and horticultural arts 

 flourished long before they had even begun elsewhere, unless, possibly, 

 Egypt be excepted, and here the peach, where it may be grown at all, is 

 surely an introduced plant. 



A statement of the first known dates of peach-culture in various 

 countries is strong proof that its cultivation began in China. According 

 to De Candolle' the culture of the peach was " spoken of 2000 years before 

 its introduction into the Greco-Roman world, a thousand years before its 

 introduction into the lands of the Sanskrit-speaking race." As we have 

 said, the Bible and other Hebrew books do not mention the peach and there 

 is no Sanskrit name for it. Of the Greeks, Xenophon, 401 B. c, makes 

 no mention of the peach but Theophrastus, a little later, 322 b. c, speaks 

 of it as a fruit of Persia. Coming to the Romans, no mention is made of 

 the peach by Cato, 201 b. c, nor by Varro, 117-27 e. c.but Pliny, a. d. 



> De Candolle, Alphonse Or. Cull. Plants 228. 1885. 



