XX 

 HISTORICAL SKETCH 



Scientific opinion now leans to the belief that the 

 peach is native to southern China. In former times 

 it was supposed to have originated in Persia. The 

 oldest names which we know signify this Persian 

 origin. But Persia was probably only a way-sta- 

 tion in the spread of the peach from China to Europe 

 and thence to North America. 



Although at the time of the first settlements in 

 America the peach was not nearly so well known 

 nor so highly regarded as it is today, plantings were 

 made on this continent at a very early date. It is 

 hardly worth while to review the records of these 

 early plantings here ; but the general trend of peach 

 culture, its rapid spread, and the unexpected man- 

 ner in which this fruit made itself at home in Amer- 

 ica can be judged from the following transcript 

 from a famous fruit book published in Philadel- 

 phia in 1803. This was the American edition of 

 Forsyth's "Culture and Management of Fruit 

 Trees," in which it was said: 



"Peaches are in some variety, and ripen to great 

 perfection in the middle and the southern states; 

 as with but a little attention they would in the more 

 northern states of America. It is a fruit that is so 

 natural to the country of these states, that they are ap- 

 plied as food to hogs, also in making brandy, and 

 for culinary purposes. They are in succession, one 

 sort coming after another, from July to November. 

 In some of the states, kilns are erected for drying 



