The Peach. 87 



Eagle, the finest of the late sorts. The best nectarines 

 are Violet Hative, Byron, Humboldt, Lord Napier (very 

 early), Newton, Spenser, and Elruge. 



The peach is now established in all parts of the world 

 favourable to its existence. Captain Head told us long 

 ago of the beauty and productiveness of the peach-trees 

 in the neighbourhood of Mendoza, on the eastern side of 

 the Andes : the extent of the culture in North America, 

 incredible without, is declared by the figures published 

 under authority. Between the Delaware and the Chesa- 

 peake, and the Brandywine and Cape Charles, it is esti- 

 mated that there are growing at this moment no fewer 

 than five millions of trees, young and old, covering about 

 fifty thousand acres of land. In New Jersey orchards con- 

 taining ten to twenty thousand trees are not uncommon. 

 In the season special trains are chartered to carry the 

 produce to the great cities. In California, also, the annual 

 yield is becoming enormous. The tinned peaches, now 

 so well known in England, are received chiefly from 

 Cincinnati. Not that the whole of this vast yield corres- 

 ponds in quality with the English peach. Much of it 

 is useful only as the basis of "peach-brandy," and no 

 small proportion is thrown to the hogs. The beginning 

 of this great industry dates only from 1680, before which 

 year the peach had not crossed the North Atlantic. The 

 kernels, it should be added, with those of some of the 

 other stone-fruits, contribute to the flavour of ratafia, 

 maraschino, and other liqueurs, and pre-eminently to the 

 most pernicious of all, the too-famous noyau. 



