110 NAT. ORDER. AMYDALACE.E. 



known to contain the prussic acid, which operates unfavorably on 

 many constitutions. The tree has been cultivated from time imme- 

 morial in many parts of Asia : when it was introduced into Greece 

 is uncertain : the Romans seem to have brought it direct from Persia 

 during the reign of the emperor Claudius. It is first mentioned by 

 Columella, and afterwards described by Pliny. 



Use. The Peach is a dessert fruit of the first order, and makes 

 a delicious preserve. In Maryland, Virginia, and many parts of New 

 Jersey, a brandy is made from the fruit ; the best Peaches are care- 

 fully picked in baskets and sent to market, and the inferior ones 

 either used for the manufacturing this liquor, or fed to the pigs. The 

 leaves steeped in gin or whiskey communicate a flavor resembling 

 that of noyeau. 



Criterion of a Good Peach. — It may be observed, that a good Peach 

 possesses these qualities — the flesh is firm, the skin is thin, of a deep 

 or bright-red color next the sun, and yellowish green next the wall ; 

 the pulp is of a yellowish color, full of high flavored juice, the fleshy 

 part thick, and the stone small. 



Varieties. — Linnseus divides his Amygdalas Persica into two varie- 

 ties : that with downy fruit, or the Peach, and that with smooth 

 fruit, or the nectarine ; but in the present work the Peach and 7iecta- 

 rine will be established into a genus called Persica, and the Peach 

 and nectarine n ade distinct species. There are, however, various 

 instances on record of both fruits growing on one tree, and even on 

 the same branch ; and cases have occurred of a single fruit partaking 

 of the nature of both. The French consider them as one fruit, ar- 

 ranging them in four divisions : the peches, or free-stone Peaches, 

 the flesh of whose fruit separates readily from the stone and the 

 skin ; the peches lisse, or freestone nectarines ; the pavies, or cling- 

 stone Peaches, whose flesh is hard and firm, and adheres both to the 

 stone and the skin ; and the hrugnons, or ding-stone nectarines. — 

 Many horticulturists consider the Peach and almond as one species ; 

 but we shall follow the established nomenclature, and treat them as 



