CLASSIFICATION 



205 



these depends on the downiness or smoothness of the skin ; 

 the former being true Peaches, the latter our Nectarines, 

 known in France only as Peches lisses, or smooth-skinned 

 Peaches. Each of these are divisible, from their internal 

 structure, into the Pavies or Clingstones, and the melting 

 kinds ; the former having firm flesh adhering so closely to 

 the stone as to be perfectly inseparable from it ; the latter 

 having soft dissolving flesh separating readily from the stone, 

 and leaving a few detached pieces of the flesh only behind. 

 As the mature fruit in vegetable economy appears to be the 

 last stage of nature in her progress towards reproduction, I 

 have adopted it as the most natural on which to found my 

 subdivisions and sections. 



Accordingly, the classes of Peaches and Nectarines may, 

 by the examination of the leaves, be ascertained in the first 

 year the plant has been raised ; the divisions, from the 

 flowers, in the spring following ; and the subdivisions and 

 sections, founding the former on the character of the skins, 

 the latter on the qualities of the flesh, in the succeeding sum- 

 mer or autumn ; and whether the number to be submitted 

 to examination be great or small, the arrangement may be 

 effected with equal facility and precision. 



A SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF PEACHES AND NECTARINES. 



