4 Peach-Growing 



and also in the low mountains of west-central Honan, grow- 

 ing in the same situations as other plants undoubtedly 

 native, sometimes fruiting as small bushes among the rocks. 

 Whether the peach is indigenous in these regions he considers 

 as very doubtful, inasmuch as China has been the scene of 

 human occupation for thousands of years, and it is difficult 

 to trace food plants to their exact origins there. 



INTRODUCTION INTO AMERICA 



The time of introduction of the peach into America, or 

 from whence or by whom it came, seems not to be a matter of 

 definite record. That it was within a few years after the 

 landing of the Pilgrim fathers appears certain and that the 

 first introduction was in the form of seeds from England is 

 a presumption that seems both natural and logical, although 

 it may also have had a Spanish introduction. 



A most interesting resume of the references in early liter- 

 ature to the beginnings of peach-growing in America has 

 been made by Smith,i from which the following paragraphs 

 are selected as showing the beginning and the dissemina- 

 tion of peach-growing among the early colonists : 



''It is uncertain when peach trees were first introduced 

 into this country, but it was prior to 1633. From two 

 entries in the records of the Governor and Company of the 

 Massachusetts Bay in New England,^ it is probable that they 

 were introduced into the New England region soon after the 

 year 1629. On page 24 of the first volume of these records 

 is an undated memorandum of things 'to prouide to send 



1 Smith, Erwin F., "Peach Yellows: A Preliminary Report," 

 Div. of Botany, Bull. 9, U. S. Dept. of Agr. (1888) pp. 10-17. 



2 Vol. I, 1628-1641. Edited by N. B. Shurtlefif, M. D., and 

 published by the Commonwealth, Boston, 1853. 



