FRUIT GARDEN. 253 



tory is, that the product of the species or variety 

 then introduced was believed to be poisonous, and 

 gave to the tree a very bad reputation, which yield- 

 ed, however, to experiments more carefully made, 

 and to the acknowledged fact that in Egypt, where 

 also it had become an object of culture, the fruit 

 was equally wholesome and delicious.* 



The early botanists divided this family into two 

 classes : the one giving a fruit with a downy skin, 

 which they called a peach ; the other a fruit with a 

 smooth skin, to which they gave the name of nec- 

 tarine. But as it was soon ascertained that the same 

 tree did occasionally produce both sorts at the same 

 time,! later writers have rejected the distinction, and 

 considering them as the same fruit, have arranged 

 them simply into the downy and the smooth with 

 a free-stone, and the downy and the smooth with 

 a cling-stone. 



The sub-varieties of both classes are numerous ; 

 and, as they afford much choice, the selection be- 

 tween them ought to be made with care, and under 

 two leading views : 1st, to secure a succession of 

 fruit throughout the season ; and, 2d, to do this by 

 employing the sorts which will best adapt them- 

 selves to the climate. In making up the following 

 list, we have, therefore, taken only those sub-varie- 

 ties which, under different modes of cultivation, have 

 succeeded in latitudes even higher than our own. 

 1st, the Early Purple (Pourpre hative of Du Ha- 

 mel) ; 2d, Grosse Mignone ; 3d, Belle Chevreuse ; 4th, 

 Royal Chariot ; 5th, Double Mountain ; 6th, Bellegarde 



* Knight conjectures, and with great probability, that this 

 first importation to Rome was the Swollen Almond, which is 

 known to contain much prussic acid. Olivier brought the Wild 

 Peach of Persia to Paris ; where, on cultivation, it gave fruit 

 much resembling the Avant Peche Blanche, or what the English 

 call the White Nutmeg. 



t See Salisbury's short account of nectarines and peaches 

 produced on the same branch, in vol. i., p. 103 of the Hort. 

 Trana. 



Y 



