PEABODY PEACH. 



155 



Consolation (1847) ; Christianity the Religion of Na- 

 ture (1864) ; Rrm in iscences of European Travel (1868) ; 

 Moral Philosophy (1873); Christianity and Science 

 (1874) ; Christ/mi Belief and Lift :(1875); Conversation 

 (1882) ; Baccalaureate Sermons ( 188.1). He published 

 also translations of Cicero's philosophical treatises and 

 a volume of Reminiscences (1888). 



PEABODY, ELIZABETH PALMER, whose life has 

 been devoted to the cause of education, was born at 

 Billerica, Mass., May 17, 1812. Her father was a 

 physician, and her sister was married to Nathaniel 

 Hawthorne (for whom see ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITAN- 

 NICA). Miss Peabody spent her early life in Salem, 

 but has resided chiefly in Boston. She assisted Mr. 

 Bronson Alcott in his school, of which she has pre- 

 served an account in Records of a School (1833), a 

 book revived in recent years. She was drawn also into 

 the transcendental movement, and contributed to the 

 Dial. Besides preparing various text-books she edited 

 ^Esthetic Papers (1849), and published Crimes of the 

 House of Austria (1852), Lectures on the Nursery and 

 Kindergarten (1874), and Reminiscences of W. E. 

 Channtng (1880). She was associated with Mrs. 

 Horace Slann in writing Moral Culture of Infancy 

 (1863), and translated into English De Gerando's 

 Self -Education (1860). She has been one of the most 

 vigorous advocates of the kindergarten system, and 

 for several years she conducted a magazine in its be- 

 half. 



PEABODY, WILLIAM BOURN OLIVER (1 799-1847), 

 an American clergyman and author, was born at Ex- 

 eter, N. H., July 9, 1799. He graduated at Harvard 

 College in 1816, studied theology under Rev. Dr. Henry 

 Ware, and was ordained, in 1820, pastor of the Uni- 

 tarian Church at Springfield, Mass. He prepared for 

 Sparks' American Biography the Lives of Alexander 

 \\ ilson, Cotton Mather, David Brainerd, and James 

 Oglethorpe. Having a fondness for natural history he 

 frequently lectured on such subjects, and prepared for 

 the State of Massachusetts a Report on the Birds of 

 the Commonwealth (1839). He died at Springfield, 

 M:iy 28, 1847. 



His twin-brother, OLIVER WILLIAM BOURN PEA- 

 BODY, after graduating at Harvard, became a lawyer 

 at Exeter, but removed to Boston in 1830, and was 

 for several years an editor of the Daily Advertiser. 

 After spending a year at Jefferson College, La., as 

 professor of English literature, he became a Unitarian 

 preacher in 1845. He undertook to publish his 

 brother's literary remains, but before completing the 

 task died at Burlington, Vt, July 5, 1848. He wrote 

 for Sparks' American Biography the Lives of Gens. 

 Putnam and Sullivan. His son, EVERETT PEABODY 

 (1831-1862), who was killed at the battle of Shiloh, 

 edited the works of both his father and uncle. 



PEACH. The widely cultivated tree yielding this 

 favorite fruit is a member of the 

 X?L' XV ' If ; Rosacece, or rose family. It was for- 

 Am Rep') "lerly called Persica vulgaru, but 

 through its close affinities to the al- 

 mond- it afterwards received the name of Amygdalus 

 l'i-r.-.ii;i. More recently the peach, almond, apricot, 

 plum, and cherry have been classed into one genus 

 known as /*.. It is now believed, indeed, that 

 the peach, almond, and nectarine are identical in 

 origin, the almond being the original form, the peach 

 an improved or fleshy almond, and the nectarine a per- 

 sistent sport of the peach. It was long believed that 

 the peach originated in Persia, but De Candolle is of 

 the opinion that it probably first appeared in China, 

 and gradually migrated westward. 



The peach is a tree of medium size, usually not 

 over fifteen or twenty feet in height and rarely reach- 

 ing thirty. It is regarded as short-lived, yet under 

 proper conditions has been known to live for more 

 than a century. It has a spreading head, with deep 

 green leaves, long, narrowly lanceolate, and serrate. 

 The flowers appear before the leaves and are of the 



general structure of this section of the rose family. 

 The calyx has a short, bell-shaped tube, with five 

 spreading petals, usually of a rosy hue, the stamens 

 numerous, pistil solitary, ovary containing two ovules, 

 only one ot which usually develops. The fruit is a 

 drupe, or stone fruit, the outer portion becoming 

 fleshy and when ripe very soft and succulent. The 

 stone is a hard, nut-like body. The peaches are di- 

 vided into two sections, known as clingstones and free- 

 stones, in the first of which the flesh clings firmly to 

 the stone, while in the second it readily separates and 

 leaves the stone clean and dry. 



The peach is readily injured by frosts and cannot be 

 cultivated with profit in high latitudes. In middle and 

 northern Europe it is raised against walls and in hot- 

 houses, but is produced as a standard tree only in the 

 south. In the United States it cannot be raised 

 profitably _much beyond 40 north latitude. It was in- 

 troduced into North America by the early European 

 settlers, probably about 1700, and is now very exten- 

 sively cultivated. This country, indeed, is the only one 

 in which it is within the reach of the poorer classes, it 

 being in Europe a luxury of the rich. 



The peach reaches its highest perfection in the Mid- 

 dle States, its flavor not being so delicate when raised 

 farther north, while in the South it is apt to grow 

 greatly to foliage and wood, though with care fine 

 large fruit may be produced. The peach area of the 

 Middle States includes portions of New Jersey, Dela- 

 ware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, though Delaware 



Peach-Gathering in Delaware. 



and the Chesapeake counties of Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia are the most important sections of this region. 

 Peaches are here produced in great abundance and of 

 unsurpassed quality. The 1888 crop is estimated 

 variously at from 6,000,000 to 10,000,000 baskets, an 

 unprecedented yield. Formerly the large crops of this 

 region were in considerable part wastea for want of a 

 market, but an extension of the area of distribution 

 and a great development of the processes of drying 

 and canning have overcome this difficulty, and the 

 largest crops can now be profitably disposed of. 



Farther south in the Atlantic States the peach is 

 raised only sufficiently to supply local needs, but the 

 State of Georgia has a very large area devoted to 

 peach orchards and produces some very fine fruit 

 The peach here ripens early and is safe from danger 

 of frost. Some of the orchards contain 70,000 trees. 

 Florida has also made peach-raising one of her in- 

 dustries. In the States of the Mississippi Valley the 

 peach is largely cultivated. Texas is the first in the 

 market, having ripe peaches by the first of June. 

 Ohio, Illinois, and ^Missouri produce largely, while the 

 lake shore of Michigan yields peaches abundantly, the 

 temperature being modified by the presence of large 

 bodies of water. In California immense crops of 

 peaches are raised, and the cultivation is steadily in- 

 creasing. The fruit there is said to be of excellent 

 quality. 



Many varieties of the peach are cultivated, and the 

 season in the Middle States continues from late July to 

 early October. It grows well in sandy, rather poor 



