300 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



municated to the Horticultural Society in 1815, by 

 Mr. John Braddick, of Thames Ditton : — 



" Some years ag'o, when travelling- through Mary- 

 land, Virginia, and the neighbouring provinces of 

 the United States of America, I had an opportunity 

 of observing the mode in which the peach-trees of 

 those provinces were cultivated, which was invariably 

 from the stone of the peach, the plant being never 

 budded, but ahva\s remaining in a state of nature. 

 In the middle and so\ithern provinces of the United 

 States, it is no uncommon circumstance for a planter 

 to possess a sufficient number of peach-trees to pro- 

 duce him, after fermenting and distilling the pulp, 

 from fifty to one hundred gallons of peach-brandy ; 

 the manufacturing of this liquor, and the feeding of 

 hogs, being the principal uses to which the peach is 

 applied in those countries. A peach-orchard usually 

 contains a thousand or more standard trees. The 

 tree being raised in the manner I have detailed, it is 

 easy to conceive that the fruit growing on them must 

 be an endless variety, scarcely two trees producing 

 exactly alike ; and although by far the greater number 

 of trees, in any of these orchards, will always be 

 found to produce fruit below mediocrity in point of 

 flavour, yet a judicious observer will never fail, among 

 so great a number, to pick out a few trees, the race 

 of which may be considered worthy of preserving." 



The peach is said to have been first cultivated in 

 England about the middle of the sixteenth century. 

 Gerard describes several varieties of peach as grow- 

 ing in his garden. Tusser mentions it among his 

 list of fruits in 1557. 



In the neighbourhood of Paris much attention is 

 paid to the cidture of peach-trees ; and the peaches 

 there are of excellent quality. The principal gardens 

 for the supply of the French capital are at Montreuil, 



