THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 299 



upwards of two hundred varieties inserted in the 

 Fruit Catalogue of the Horticultural Society. The 

 qualities of the peach appear to depend a good deal 

 upon the soil and climate in which it has for a con- 

 siderable time been cultivated; and the soil in which 

 the tree is immediately planted should neither be too 

 rich nor too poor, the former causing the trees to 

 make too much wood, and the latter making the fruit 

 hard and deficient in flavour. 



Of the history of the nectarine as little is known 

 as that of the peach ; neither is it ascertained 

 which of them was the variety first cultivated. De- 

 licious as the peach is, the nectarine, when of a good 

 sort, and properly cultivated, is superior to it ; and 

 though it wants the lusciousness of some of the 

 tropical fruits, perhaps few vegetable productions are 

 more grateful to the palate even of the epicure. 



In the warmer parts of Asia the peach is very 

 generally cultivated, and in many it grows abun- 

 dantly without culture. 



On some parts of the American continent also, 

 the peach grows readily and in great plenty. Capt. 

 Head, in his ' Rough Notes,' mentions the beauty 

 and productiveness of the peach-trees which are 

 scattered over the corn-fields in the neighbourhood 

 of Mendoza, on the east side of the Andes ; and the 

 same traveller notices dried peaches as an article of 

 food in the mountainous parts, to which they must, 

 of course, be carried from the plains. 



In many parts of the United States, peach-trees 

 grow in extensive plantations. They continue with- 

 out culture ; and the fruit is of little value, except in 

 the distillation of peach brandy, and the fattening of 

 hogs. The following account of the peach-orchards 

 in the United States, and of a variety of peach which 

 the describer obtained from that country, was com- 



