THE PEACH. 91 



in an English horticultural work, which Mr. Downing 

 quotes that his compatriots may share his amusement at 

 learning from this author that "the Americans usually 

 eat the cling-stones, while they reserve the free-stones for 

 feeding the pigs ; " while, in fact, not to mention lesser 

 magnates, the noble late red " Bare-ripe," one of the very 

 finest of all American peaches, belongs to this very tribe 

 of " free-stones " thus summarily consigned to the wash- 

 trough. 



The colour of the peach varies from dark reddish violet, 

 through many shades of crimson, green, or yellow, to the 

 Snow Peach, a variety of American origin, and which is 

 all over of a clear beautiful white. It is more usual, 

 however, for "the side that 's next to the sun" to wear a 

 ruddier tint than the more shaded cheek. In form there 

 is no very great diversity, though some peaches (in par- 

 ticular Persica mammillata) have very decided lemon-like 

 nipples at one end, some show slight remains of the style 

 at their extremity, and others have the furrow extending 

 all round their circumference. The most curious depar- 

 ture which is seen from the normal figure is that displayed 

 by the Flat Peach of China, which rather resembles a dried 

 Normandy pippin in shape, the centre being so compressed 

 as to leave nothing there but the stone covered on each 

 side by the skin, the fleshy part surrounding it like a 

 ring. It has been grown in England and proved of very 

 good flavour ; the tree, too, having the advantage of our 

 kinds in being almost an evergreen, and continuing to 

 grow throughout mild winters. 



The Double-blossomed Peach, which Parkinson, in 1629, 

 says " hath not been seen or known long before the writing 

 hereof," occasionally seen here, is very common in Ame- 

 rica, and is one of the most beautiful flowering trees grown 

 in either country. The blossoms, which are three times 

 the size of those of the ordinary peach, and which grow 

 very thickly upon the branches, are of a lovely rose colour, 

 and nearly double, like a ranunculus. They are succeeded 

 by a small fruit, which is not of much value. 



The most important variety of the peach, however, is 

 that known by the name of the Nectarine (Persica loevis), 



