120 THE KANSAS NECTARINE. 



appears to be only a distinct, accidental variety of the peach, and this 

 rendered quite certain since there are several well-known examples on 

 record of both peaches and nectarines having been produced on the 

 same branch — thus showing a disposition to return to the natural 

 form. Nectarines, however, usually produce nectarines again on sow- 

 ing the seeds; but they also occasionally produce peaches. The 

 Boston nectarine originated from a peach-stone. The nectarine ap- 

 pears a little more shy of bearing in this country than the peach, but 

 this arises almost always from the destruction of the crop of fruit by 

 the curculio, the destroyer of all smooth-skinned stone fruit in sandy 

 soil. It is quite hardy here wherever the peach will thrive, though it 

 will not generally bear large and fine fruit unless the branches are 

 shortened in annually. With this easy system of pruning, good crops 

 are readily obtained wherever the curculio is not very prevalent. The 

 culture of the nectarine is in all re.spects precisely similar to that of 

 the peach, and its habits are also completely the same. 



Thomas's '"American Fruit Cnlturisf says: "The nectarine being 

 nothing more than the peach with a glossy skin, the same rules for 

 cultivation will apply equally to both, with the exception that, as its 

 smooth surface renders it eminently liable to the attack of the cur- 

 culio, special attention must be given to the destruction of this insect. 

 The nectarine is usually inferior, and has more of the noyau flavor 

 than the peach, and the shoots are of smoother and more compact 

 growth." Then follow descriptions of freestones, pale flesh, six va- 

 rieties ; freestones, deep yellow flesh, three varieties ; clingstones, pale 

 flesh, two varieties ; clingstones, yellow flesh, one variety. 



James Alexander Fulton, who wrote a standard work on "The 

 Peach," says: "There is abundant evidence that the nectarine is a 

 mere accidental production of the peach. The general characteristics 

 are identical, while the difference is but slight, and consists princi- 

 13ally in the presence or absence of the pubescence on the skin. The 

 nectarine, both in tree and fruit, is not so vigorous, hardy or durable 

 as the peach ; it is more easily affected by disease and the attacks of in- 

 sects ; sheds its fruit more easily, and oftener fails to produce a crop.'^ 



WHITE NECTARINES. 



Regaring the nectarine, a fruit that is not near so highly appreciated 

 in this country as it is in Europe, the Hanford (Cal.) Sentinel, two 

 or three weeks ago, said : After a successful run of about two solid 

 weeks" picking, cutting and drying white nectarines, A. W. Lane, 

 whose ranch is near Grangeville, reports that he has cleaned up and 

 sold his crop, and that the same has netted him $150 an acre. 



