PEACHES AND NECTARINES 183 



such pleasurable anticipations as these smooth- 

 skinned peaches. 



It is probable that a very large number of per- 

 sons under the same circumstances would be of 

 the same mind, for the aversion to the fuzz of the 

 peach is by no means an uncommon form of 

 phobia. 



It might be of interest to inquire just how this 

 curious antipathy to anything so soft and delicate 

 as the structure of the peach's skin was developed. 

 I know men of perfectly stable nerves who cannot 

 touch a peach without experiencing a disagree- 

 able sensation, and who cannot bite through the 

 fuzzy surface without shuddering. And as there 

 seem to be large numbers who experience more 

 or less the same sensation, it goes without saying 

 that there must be some hereditary basis for this 

 curious and apparently absurd prejudice. 



It is perhaps somewhat comparable to the fear 

 of the mouse so common with women, or the in- 

 stinctive dread of the snake that most of us feel. 



Just how the peculiar antipathy was developed, 

 would be a curious matter for speculation. Here 

 however, we are concerned with the fuzz of the 

 peach not in its direct relation to human psychol- 

 ogy, but in its bearing on the heredity of the 

 peach itself. To the plant developer this is a 

 matter of interest, because linked with it is the 



