XV 

 BOTANICAL AND POMOLOGICAL STATUS 



THE peach is one of the newest of cultivated fruits, 

 much newer to garden culture than the apple and 

 the pear, at least so far as European civilization 

 is concerned. All the evidence goes to show that 

 the peach originated in China (although the old 

 opinion used to be that it came from Persia) ; and 

 Chinese civilization is so much older than that of 

 Europe that no one can tell how long it has lasted. 

 The peach and many of the allied fruits have been 

 grown and cultivated in a rough sort of way by the 

 Chinese people for centuries immemorial. The 

 peach eventually made its way to western Europe 

 by the Persian route, having been grown and highly 

 esteemed in India and Persia before it was carried 

 to Greece and Italy. In these latter countries, it 

 made its appearance shortly after the beginning of 

 the Christian era. The fact that it was received 

 directly from Persia is commemorated in the Latin 

 name (Prunus per sic a, or Amygdalus per sic a), and 

 gave rise to the original impression of a Persian 

 nativity. 



The species to which the peach belongs has been 

 variously referred to the genus Prunus, of which the 

 plum-is the type, and more doubtfully to other gen- 

 era. All of this has no interest whatever for the 

 practical grower of peaches and kas very little bo- 

 tanical significance. The question rests merely 

 upon the scientific definitions of these closely related 

 genera. 



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