Angnst 7, 1800. ] 



JOURNAL OE HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



101 



tho third generation from tho Neotarinn, as above mentioned, 

 proved to bo a large palo-coloured variety, ripening in tho 

 middle of September. 



Roth theso kinds of Peaches retain tho flavour of tho race, 

 being remarkably piquant aud agreeable when well ripened. 

 From the experience thus gained, I feel convinced that to 

 the Whito Nectarine we owe those pale-skinned Peaches, tho 

 Noblesse, tho Malta, aud the White Magdalene, all remarkable 

 for their brisk flavour, and equally so for retaining in the trees 

 the peculiar character of tho White Nectarine, producing largo 

 pale flowers irregular in their shape. 



My next essay, to " breed in and in," so as to establish a race 

 of Peaches, was with that largo handsome but, in England, 

 worthless clingstone Peach, the Pavio do Postpone. The first 

 generation gave me ouo Peach, producing largo flowers like its 

 parent, but with a melting rich flesh perfectly its converse. 

 This was named Princess of Wales. Another seedling of this 

 generation proved to be a small-flowered sort, its fruit of 

 medium size, skin pale yellow, and flesh so sweet (without tho 

 usual Ritter Almond flavour of most Peaches), as to be too lus- 

 cious. Hero was at once a wide departure from the type in 

 all respects, except the size of the flowers in Princess of Wales. 

 Not at all "put out" by the vagaries of the first generation, 

 and still hoping to raise a Peach as largo as the Tavie do Pom- 

 pone, with tender flesh, and, like that, a good keeper, so that 

 in a well-managed fruit-room good Peaches might be preserved 

 till November, I selected somo fine fruit of the Princess of 

 Wales, sowed the stones, and waited patiently. One of the 

 first of this third generation produced, in September, 18G5, such 

 late Peaches as never before gladdened my eyes. One fruit 

 measured 12 inches in circumference, its flesh melting, but 

 firm and rich. This I felt to be a great triumph, and as he was 

 then happily with us, I named it Lord Palmerston. 



That well-known Nectarine, the Pitmaston Orange, next 

 attracted my attention. Mr. Williams, of Pitmaston, always 

 stated that this was raised from the Elruge Nectarine, a variety 

 so diametrically opposite in flowers and fruit, that I felt a 

 strong wish to try and reproduce its parent, by going through 

 two or three generations of seedlings. The first generation 

 consisted of somo twelve or eighteen seedlings from the Pit- 

 maston Nectarine, the parent tree growing in a pot in my 

 orchard-house. I ought, perhaps, to have said that all my 

 seedlings have been raised from fruit taken from my orchard- 

 house trees, upwards of one hundred varieties growing in a 

 housS 100 feet long and 24 feet wide. All the trees of this 

 generation, except one, gave orange Nectarines, like their 

 parent ; the trees also produced those large brilliant flowers 

 peculiar to this sort. All, except one, I have said, and this to 

 mo was a remarkable exception, it was a large crimson Peach, 

 tho tree producing small deep red flowers instead of those 

 large brilliant ones borne by its brethren. I felt doubts, and 

 concluded that a Peach stone must have been by accident 

 planted with the Nectarine stones. To try and solve my doubts, 

 I at once determined to take particular notice of this Peach, to 

 sow its stones, and to watch carefully what they would bring. 

 Out of about twenty trees raised from them, the greater part 

 bore Peaches like their parent, the trees also producing small 

 flowers ; but, to my great satisfaction, two of them bore orange 

 Nectarines like their grand-parent, and the trees have the same 

 large flowers ; but the most remarkable fact in this experiment 

 was, that two trees bore white-fleshed Nectarines, a little red 

 at the stone, like the Elruge Nectarine, their great grand-parent, 

 and the trees, like that variety, gave small flowers. Now, here 

 was a strange and most interesting event in pomology. A 

 white-fleshed Nectarine, the Elruge, with Mr. Williams, had 

 produced a seedling with orange-coloured flesh (the Pitmaston), 

 that had in its turn produced here a large white-fleshed Peach, 

 and stones from that Peach have produced trees with the 

 characters of four generations — viz., the Elruge Nectarine, 

 the Pitmaston Orange Nectarine, the Peach (a child of [the 

 latter), and again the Pitmaston Orange Nectarine. 



The Psalmist might well exclaim, " How wonderful are Thy 

 works !" The horticulturist who thinks and works — they are 

 too often far apart, that thinking and working — must feel those 

 few words always uppermost, always rising. I must not leave 

 that fertile source of interest, the Pitmaston Orange Nectarine, 

 without adverting to one more curious fact. I have said that 

 the greater portion of my first generation of seedlings from it 

 were like the parent ; there was one, however, which ripened 

 ten days later, and had transparent flesh, bo that it was named 

 the Pine Apple Nectarine. I' was interested in this sort, feeling 

 that it was inclined to leave the characters of the type. I, there- 



fore, raised a number of seedlings from it : they are young, 

 being only four years old. Yet, one among them bore some 

 fruit last year (1865), of a most remarkable character — a Peach 

 of the largest size, with its skin green and beautifully marbled 

 with red ; its flesh of a pale lemon colour, melting, and much 

 like a Nectarine in flavour. This peculiar Peach ripened Sep- 

 tember 8oth, 18G5, and was at once dedicated to Lady Pal- 

 merston. 



There is a very old kind of Nectarine, known to pomologists 

 as Fairchild's Early, a small yellow-fleshed sort, not larger than 

 an Orleans Plum. Now, although this sort has been La cul- 

 tivation for 150 years, yet no gardener seems ever to havo 

 thought of improving it by raising seedlings from it. As it is 

 tho earliest of all Nectarines, and as a good, very early Nec- 

 tarino is still lacking, I turned to it with much interest, and 

 hoped to improve it in size and earliness, so as to create a new 

 variety worthy of cultivation. My first generation consisted of 

 some ten or twelve young trees ; they all boro fruit in due 

 course ; and were all like the parent in leaves, flowers, and fruit. 

 The latter varied slightly in size, but on the whole they were 

 neither more nor less than reproductions of the parent. I con- 

 fess to some littlo disappointment, but, encouraged by the 

 facility of inducing young trees to come into bearing in a com- 

 paratively short period, by cultivating them in pots in my 

 orchard-house, I selected some fruit from the seedling trees, 

 sowed their stones, and again looked forward to tho result. In 

 18(15 I was, as far as regards curiosity, greatly rewarded, for no 

 two trees of this second generation produced fruit exactly alike. 

 Some gave orange-coloured Peaches, one or two remarkably 

 rich in flavour; some orange Nectarines, as large as the Pit- 

 maston, but quite different in flavour ; and, most strange of all, 

 some gave Peaches of medium size, with rosy cheeks and flesh 

 white and melting, like that of the Noblesse Peach. I failed in 

 my object in obtaining a very early kind of Nectariue, but at 

 once some stones were selected, and trees of the third generation 

 of Fairehild's Early Nectarine are now in. full growth. One 

 very remarkable fact attended this experiment : the trees, when 

 in blossom in 1SG5, were all like their grand-parent, so that I 

 was quite unprepared for the curious transformations I have 

 above described. The following singular changes have taken 

 place here. The Raman Nectarine, a variety which has been 

 under cultivation in England for 200 years, has produced from 

 seed a nice bright red melting Peach. George the Fourth 

 Peach, an American sort, in the first generation gave a late 

 green Nectarine. It is well known that American Peaches in 

 their own country, seldom or never produce Nectarines ; it is, 

 : doubtless, owing to the trees being confined in a house, and 

 standing very near together, that such remarkable changes have 

 ! taken place here. 



Among other curious gains that hare occurred — too many to 

 ! mention in detail — I may mention that a stone of Hunt's 

 I Tawny Nectarine has produced an early Peach, full-sized, and 

 j of the most delicious flavour, but without any yellow tinge in 

 its flesh. This has the true Nectarine flavour, which I may 

 add is very common to Peaches raised from Nectarines. The 

 Royal George and Shanghai Peaches have produced melting 

 Peaches, with deep yellow flesh. The Early York, from which 

 a great number of seedling trees were raised, reproduced itself 

 with but little variation, with one exception, which is a tree 

 with round glands, consequently not liable to mildew. Its 

 fruit is of the most exquisite flavour, and as early as its parent. 

 The Hardwicke Nectarine, which has large flowers, has pro- 

 duced from its seed a Peach of the most decided Nectarine 

 flavour ; moreover, the tree gives small flowers. 



I must, however, desist from giving a further record of other 

 strange transformations ; they have been too numerous for a 

 paper on the subject, occurring, as they have done, among up- 

 wards of 250 seedling Peaches and Nectarines. I feel, how- 

 ever, constrained to mention one more curious fact. I have 

 had some fine bearing trees of seedling Stanwick Nectarines, 

 differing but slightly from their parent, for this sort adheres 

 rigidly to its race for two or three generations ; they were 

 growing in a house in which were some trees of the Elruge 

 Nectarine. Some stones of the latter were sown, and, as nearly 

 as possible, the sort was reproduced, but they were Elruge Nec- 

 tarines with the Stanwick flavour. This is not a solitary in- 

 stance of a new kind of fruit imparting some of its qualities to 

 | fruits raised from seed, without artificial impregnation. The 

 I bees, always very busy in orchard-houses, fertilise numerous 

 , flowers ; hence the great variety in Peaches and Nectarines 

 . raised from the stones of trees growing in them. I must not 

 I omit to mention one more curious fact. The Ealgowan Nee- 



