384 Peach-Growing 



peaches into the five groups or races which have since been 

 the accepted basis of classification. These races are : (1) 

 Peen-to; (2) South China; (3) Spanish; (4) North China; 

 and (5) Persian. 



The basis of this classification or grouping is, therefore, 

 primarily regional, each race tracing to certain regions for its 

 origin. While it may be a more or less artificial system and 

 one which may eventually be superseded by some other, it 

 has served a most useful purpose both for practical reasons 

 and in the systematic work that has been done thus far with 

 this fruit. Though there have been several slight modifica- 

 tions of it, especially as to the names of the races, the system 

 of classification now recognized and used remains essentially 

 the "Onderdonk system." 



The significance of the different races, as indicated by 

 Onderdonk, is as follows : 



Peen-to race. 



This race traces its origin to an importation of seed from 

 Australia made in 1869 by the late P. J. Berckmans of 

 Augusta, Georgia. From this collection of seed there came 

 a peach which was distinct in its characteristics from all 

 others. This became the Peen-to variety, from which the 

 race takes its name, and which has given rise to a well-defined 

 though small group of peaches which are essentially sub- 

 tropical in their range of adaptability. There are between 

 twenty and thirty varieties in this group that have been 

 known more or less to the trade, all of which according to 

 Hume ^ have originated in Florida. It is in Florida that 

 these varieties are of special value, though they may be grown 

 in other parts of the Gulf Coast region. They cannot be 

 1 Fla. Expt. Sta. BuU. 62, "The Peen-to Peach Group." 



