464 sturtevant's notes on edible plants 



without them . . . not inferior to any peach you have in England, except the 

 Newington." Beverly* mentions the peach as growing abundantly in Virginia in 1720. 

 Golden* mentions the peach trees killed by frost in New York in 1737. At Easton, 

 Maryland,' Peach Blossom Plantation was established about 1735. 



So abundantly distributed had peaches become in the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 that Bartram * looked upon them as an original American fruit and as growing wild in the 

 greater par of America. Du Pratz,' 1758, says: "The natives had doubtless got the 

 peach trees and fig trees from the English colony of Carolina, before the French established 

 themselves in Louisiana. The peaches are of the kind we call Alberges, are of the size 

 of the fist, adhere to the stone and are very juicy." In 1799, the peach trees of the Mogui 

 Indians of New Mexico and Sonora yielded abimdantly.* In 1649, Norwood,' in his 

 Voyage to Virginia, found peach trees in fruit at Fayal. The peach is also abimdantly 

 distributed in South America. Darwin * writes that the islands near the mouth of the 

 Parana are thickly clothed with peach and orange trees, springing from seeds carried 

 there by the waters of the river. 



The nectarine is a peach having a smooth skin. Darwin ' gives a number of instances 

 where peach trees have produced nectarines and even nectarines and peaches on the same 

 tree. A still more curious case is also given where a nectarine tree produced a fruit half 

 peach, half nectarine and subsequently perfect peaches. Nectarines usually reproduce 

 themselves from seed and always possess their own peculiar flavor and are smooth and 

 small. The varieties run in parallel lines with the peach. The nectarine was unknown 

 at the commencement of the Christian era.'" The first mention is by Cieza de Leon, who, 

 in 1532-50, described the Caymito of Peru as " large as a nectarine." The nectarine is 

 now found in gardens in Europe and America in nimierous varieties. It is mentioned 

 by Beverley '' as growing abundantly in Virginia in 1720. Downing '^ describes 19 varieties 

 and mentions others. According to Brandis, the nectarine is found in gardens in northern 

 India, where it is called shuftaloo and moondla aroo, smooth peach, probably introduced 

 from Kabul. 



P. prostrata Labill. 



Mediterranean regions and the Orient. The fruit is eaten." 



' U. S. Fat. Off. Rpt. 284. 1853. 



Ibid. 



Ibid. 



* Kalm, P. Trav. No. Amer. i:gg. 1772. 



Du Pratz Hist. La. 1758, from Agr. Mo. 361. 1867. 



Pacific R. R. Rpt. 3: 122. 1856. 



'Norwood Voy. Va. 5. Force Coll. Tracts 3 : 1844. 



Darwin, C. Voy. H. M. S. Beagle 120. 1884. 



Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Dom. 1:360. 1893. 

 "Darwin, C. Ans. Pis. Dom. 1:363. 1893. 

 " Beverley U. S. Pal. Off. Rpt. 284. 1853. 

 " Downing, A. J. Fr. Fr. Trees Amer. 645. 1857. 

 "Brandis, D. Forest Fl. 19^. 1874. 



