20 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



where it is grown; every year the Feitcheng peaches are sent as a present 

 to the Imperial court in Pekin." 



The evidence given encourages the beUef that in the native peaches 

 of China may be found all of the characters that distinguish cultivated 

 peaches wheresoever grown. The smooth-skinned peach, or nectarine, 

 from the evidence at my command, is not common in eastern China but in 

 Chinese and Russian Turkestan it is evidently one of the commonest fruits. 

 Neither does yellow flesh appear to be a common character of peaches of 

 eastern China but is now and again mentioned so that it may be put down 

 as existing in the peaches of the region. Bear in mind that the accounts 

 given are but random ones taken by persons not more interested in peaches 

 than in other agricultural products and covering, of course, but a very small 

 part of the vast region under the dominion of China. There is, no doubt, 

 much to be learned about the peaches of Asia in future explorations.^ 



In America, at least, certain characters of peaches, as flatness, smooth 

 skin, red flesh and prolonged beak are looked upon as comparatively new 

 in this fruit. At any rate, varieties having these relatively rare char- 

 acters are spoken of as sports and pomologists, as we shall see, not infre- 

 quently announce the date of birth of one or another of these characters. 

 Now, a careful examination of the evidence, scant though it is, will carry 

 conviction to all that none of the prominent characters of peaches have 

 originated within the period covered by history — all exist in China and 

 probably have so existed since time beyond record. 



The size and color of the blossoms are distinguishing characters of 

 races and varieties of cultivated peaches, less valuable in classification than 

 the fruit-characters we have been discussing only because they are less 

 numerous. Peach -blossoms fall into four very distinct kinds: Petals 

 large and pink; petals intermediate in size and pink or red; petals small 

 and red or reddish, and petals large and white. Through the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, I am in possession of copies of nine 



' M. Cibot, a French missionary, writing nearly a century and a half ago in his memoirs concerning 

 the Chinese (11:280-293. 1784), gives the following account of peaches with which he was familiar in 

 China at that time: — 



" Peaches are distinguished by size and color, the shape and earliness of their fruit. Tliere are some 

 whose flesh is white, some greenish, some a delicate yellow, some a yellow orange and some marble; some 

 are round, some oval, some lengthened to a point like a crow's beak. Peaches are heard of weighing two 

 pounds or even more. The largest ones I have seen were scarcely three and a half inches in length and 

 diameter; as to earliness, in the middle provinces there are peaches almost as soon as cherries. It is still 

 more astonishing that some varieties do not ripen here till October, and that there is a secret by which 

 they can be kept till January, just as fresh, just as beautiful, and just as delicious as if right off the tree." 



