PEACE RIVER 



PEACH 



823 



guilty of a breach of the peace. If a law-ahiding 

 person is threatened with injury to himself, his 

 wife or child, or his property, he may seek pro- 

 tection and ' exhibit articles of the peace ' before a 

 court or magistrate. Justices are empowered, on 

 sworn information, to bind persons over to keep the 

 peace ; parties so bound and their sureties forfeit 

 the amount of their recognisances if they offend. 

 Under a statute of 34 Edward III. parties may be 

 bound over to be of good behaviour. For con- 

 servators and justices of the peace, see JUSTICE OF 

 THE PEACE. 



The PEACE SOCIETY was founded in 'London in 

 1816, chiefly, but not exclusively, by members of 

 the Society of Friends, and was a result of the deep 

 feeling everywhere aroused by the long continental 

 wars terminated by the peace of Paris in 1815. It 

 was from the first a religious body, adopting as the 

 basis of its operations the principle that ' war is 

 inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity and the 

 true interests of mankind.' It lias always been 

 unsectarian and international, and has endeavoured 

 to secure the co-operation of Christian men and 

 philanthropists in all countries. It advocates Arbi- 

 tration (q.v. ) as a substitute for war, the ultimate 

 establishment of a code of international law and a 

 court of nations, and the reduction, with a view to 

 the final abolition, of standing armies. This society 

 claims to be the centre of the peace movement, and 

 among its triumphs may be mentioned the solemn 

 recognition of the principle of arbitration in one of 

 the protocols of the treaty of Paris in 1856, secured 

 by a deputation to the plenipotentiaries of the 

 (ireat Powers. But the most signal token of its 

 influence and success is seen in the fact that since 

 its commencement there have been sixty actual 

 cases of successful arbitration, and a large number 

 of instances in which an arbitration clause has 

 been inserted in treaties. There are in America 

 forty peace societies, and many in Italy, France, 

 Sweden, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium. In 

 England other great associations have been formed 

 under the auspices of the Peace Society. The 

 Workmen's Peace Association, founded in 1870 by 

 members of the Reform League (now the Inter- 

 national Arbitration League), is a large organisa- 

 tion of the working-men of London, which has now 

 one hundred honorary agents in different towns. 

 The International Arbitration and Peace Associa- 

 tion for Great Britain and Ireland was founded in 

 1880, and a Universal Peace Congress was held in 

 Paris in June 1889. This proved so successful that 

 it was resolved that such a congress should be held 

 annually in the different great cities of the world 

 (London in 1890, Rome in 1891, &c.). 



Peace River, a large river of Canada, rises in 

 two branches in the Rocky Mountains, in British 

 Columbia, and flows north-east to the outlet of 

 Lake Athabasca, where it joins the Slave River 

 by live widely separate mouths. The delta thus 

 formed is, with that of the Athabasca River, the 

 most fertile part of the country. The river has a 

 length of about 1100 miles, but it is much encum- 

 liered with rapids. The Peace River was followed 

 by Sir A. Mackenzie (1755-1820) in his expedition 

 of 1792-93 (cf. his Voyages, 1801 ). 



Peach (Amygdalus Persica of botanists, but 

 now believed on later showing to be of Chinese 

 origin) belongs to the order of Rosacese, and is 

 of the drupaceous subdivision. This, the most 

 delicious fruit that ripens in the open air of 

 Britain, is nearly akin to the almond, resembling 

 it closely in wood, leaves, and blossom, but differ- 

 ing widely in the character of the fruit. In the 

 peach the stone is covered, not with a brittle busk, 

 but a fleshy substance, juicy, melting, and of 

 the finest flavour when matured and mellowed. 



Fig. 1. Peach. 



The peach-tree, like the almond, is of moderate 

 stature, more or less spreading, according to 

 variety, deciduous (though some are called ever- 

 green), and, when left to itself, deep-rooted. The 

 leaves ( which contain some prussic acid ) are lance- 

 olate, on short footstalks, differ much in size, have 

 their edges ser- 

 rate or crenate, 

 and have 

 glands near 

 the stalk, or 

 are glandless. 

 The serrate 

 leaves, as a 

 rule, are gland- 

 less ; the cre- 

 nate have 

 glands, and 

 the glands are 

 either globular 

 or reniform. 

 Gardeners 

 know it to be 

 the case, but 

 as yet know 

 not the cause 

 of it, that mil- 

 dew ( both of 

 fruit and leaf) 

 attacks the 

 varieties with 

 glandless 

 leaves, while the glandulose have immunity. And 

 for this reason Royal George (one of the finest of 

 peaches, but having boldly serrate leaves without 

 any glands) is seldom planted now against the open 

 wall where mildew has paid one visit. The many 

 varieties of the peach pass into divisions and sub- 

 divisions, according to the point regarded. There 

 is first the decisive difference in the clothing, flesh, 

 and flavour of the fruit, which has established the 

 broad distinction between peach and nectarine. 

 A very close observer is the man who can pro- 

 nounce in winter, unless the trees happen to be his 

 own, which of twain is nectarine, and which is 

 peach. In summer there is a certain difference, 

 perceptible, but not easily described, in the tint and 

 cast of foliage ; while the fruit on the other hand 

 leaves no doubt, even from its first appearance, as 

 to its proper title. Tales have been told on good 

 authority as to the co-existence of the bald and 

 the downy, the nectarine and peach, on the self- 

 same twig, and even of a fruit which was peach on 

 one side of the suture and nectarine on the other. 

 To deny what is outside one's own experience, 

 however large that experience may be, proves it 

 capable of increase; but to doubt the adverse 

 instance is permissible. The present writer has 

 grown hundreds of thousands of peaches, and some 

 myriads of nectarines, but has never seen either 

 become the other, though they often grow amicably 

 on the same branch after budding. Peaches and 

 nectarines, while distinguished as above, pass 

 alike into the other three divisions which have 

 been established concerning them to wit: (a) 

 those which have large and those which have small 

 blossoms; (6) those which have glandless leaves 

 and those whose leaves are glandular; (c) those 

 that have fruit which adheres to the stone and 

 those whose fruit parts freely. Neither of these 

 points affects the other two, and hence arise 

 cross-divisions. 



(a) As to size of bloom, it is hard to say why, 

 but all known peaches and nectarines have blossom 

 either very conspicuous or almost insignificant. 

 Other fruit trees have blossom larger or middle- 

 sized, or small, according to variety. Some 

 gardeners fancy that the smaller bloom suffers lc<i 



