268 FLORIDA FRUITS PEACHES AND PLUMS. 



We have seen how the peach when first brought to Rome 

 bore unwholesome fruit, yet in a few years thereafter we 

 find it so vastly improved, by proper care and cultivation, 

 as to be highly valued by the Roman patricians, and re- 

 garded by them as one of their choicest luxuries, and as 

 such Italians still consider it. 



From Italy the peach was carried to England about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century, and it is still cultivated 

 there as an exotic, as it must ever be, for the cool, moist 

 climate prohibits its general culture, and its fruit can only 

 be perfected when trained against sheltering walls or under 

 glass. Hence, in England, the peach is rarely seen except 

 on the tables of the wealthy. Even in France, whose cli- 

 mate is milder than that of England, it can only be occa- 

 sionally perfected in the extreme South without protec- 

 tion, and hence its cultivation is confined to gardens, and 

 the fruit, as in England, " tickles the palate" only of the 

 rich. 



To the honor of the United States, be it said, that it is 

 the only country in the world where, either in ancient or 

 modern times, the peach has been cultivated in such quan- 

 tities as to be placed in the open market, and brought 

 within the reach of all. Here it is not only the wealthy, 

 as on the continent, but the poor, as well, who may feast, 

 at slight expense, on the most wholesome and delicious of 

 all fruits, and every year its cultivation is becoming more 

 and more extended, and its profusion in the markets greater 

 and greater. 



Next to the United States, China raises more peaches 

 than any other one nation, but even there it is only the 

 rich who profit by them. The Chinese as a nation are 

 great gardeners, and originate much that is curious as well 

 as useful in this as well as in other arts. 



Years ago, while still the Chinese were shutting them- 



