THE PEAOH. 83 



it seem that it could have been very plentiful in Borne, 

 considering the price obtained for it, for, being a special 

 favorite with invalids, and having the reputation of being 

 a particularly harmless fruit, it was sold sometimes at the 

 rate of 30 sesterces (about 5s.) apiece, a price beyond that 

 of any other fruit, although, too, it was of so perishable 

 a nature that when once plucked it could never be kept 

 longer than a couple of days, so that by that time, as the 

 writer remarks, " sold it must be, fetch what it may." 

 Soyer assigns a yet higher price, and says that the ancient 

 Eomans sometimes gave as much for their peaches as 

 11 13s. 4id. a dozen, or 18s. 9d. each ! 



There is no authentic record of the introduction of the 

 peach into England, though it was probably brought 

 from Italy in 1524, together with the apricot, by Wolf, 

 the gardener to Henry VIII., for it is mentioned in the 

 lists of fruits growing in this country, as enumerated by 

 Tusser, in 1557. Grerard, who mentions several varieties, 

 recommends the leaves boiled in milk to destroy worms 

 in children a prescription which is still considered to be 

 efficacious, though it needs to be followed with great care, 

 since an overdose may have the effect of destroying not 

 only the worms but the children as well ; an effect which 

 has also occasionally resulted from the use of a syrup 

 made from the flowers as a purgative, though it is said 

 that this has only occurred when the flowers had been 

 imprudently gathered from trees grafted upon almond 

 stocks, the blossoms in this case partaking of the nature 

 of the stock, and their virtues being accordingly changed. 

 A safer use for the leaves is to infuse them in white 

 brandy, which thus, when sweetened with sugar candy, 

 makes a fine cordial similar in flavour to noyeau. They 

 also serve to distinguish the different varieties of the 

 plant, and the history of the discovery of their being 

 available for this purpose affords great encouragement to 

 the general cultivation of habits of observation. It ap- 

 pears that some means of ascertaining what kind of peach 

 would be produced without waiting for its actual appear- 

 ance had- long been desired, when M. Desprez, a judge at 

 Alen9on, came to Paris in 1810 as deputy to the legisla- 



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