CnAP. X. PEACH AND NECTARINE. 359 



of the almond, the stone differs greatly in the degree to which 

 it is compressed, in size, shape, strength, and in the depth of the 

 furrows, as may be seen in the accompanying di-awing (Nos. 4 

 to 8) of such kinds as I have been able to collect. With peach- 

 stones also (Nos. 1 to 3) the degree of compression and elongation is 

 seen to vary ; so that the stone of the Chinese Honey-peach (fig. 3) 

 is much more elongated and compressed than that of the (No. 8) 

 Smyrna almond. Mr. Elvers, of Sawbridgeworth, to whom I am 

 indebted for some of the specimens above figured, and who has had 

 such great horticultiu'al experience, has called my attention to 

 several varieties which connect the almond and the peach. In 

 France there is a variety called the Peach-Almond, which Mr. 

 Elvers formerly cultivated, and which is correctly described in a 

 French catalogue as being oval and swollen, with the aspect of a 

 peach, including a hard stone surrounded by a fleshy covering, 

 which is sometimes eatable.^' A remarkable statement by M. 

 Luizet has recently appeared in the ' Eevue Horticole,'-' namely, 

 that a Peach-almond, grafted on a peach, bore, during 1863 and 

 1864, almonds alone, but in 1865 bore six peaches and no almonds. 

 M. Carriere, in commenting on this fact, cites the case of a double- 

 flowered almond which, after producing during several years almonds, 

 suddenly bore for two years in succession spherical fleshy peach- 

 like fruits, but in 1865 reverted to its former state and produced 

 large almonds. 



Again, as I hear from Mr. Elvers, the double-flowering Chinese 

 peaches resemble almonds in their manner of growth and in their 

 flowers ; the fruit is much elongated and flattened, with the flesh 

 both bitter and sweet, but not uneatable, and it is said to be of 

 better quality in China. From this stage one small step leads us 

 to such inferior ]jeaches as are occasionally raised from seed. For 

 instance, Mr. Elvers sowed a number of peach-stones imported from 

 the United States, where they are collected for raising stocks, and 

 some of the trees raised by him produced peaches which were very 

 like almonds in appearance, being small and hard, with the pulp 

 not softening till very late in the ai;tumu. Yan Mons '^'* also states 

 that he once raised from a peach-stone a peach having the aspect 

 of a wild tree, with fruit like that of the almond. From inferior 

 peaches, such as these just described, we may pass by small transi- 

 tions, through clingstones of poor quality, to our best and most 

 melting kinds. From this gi-adation, from the cases of sudden varia- 

 tion above recorded, and from the fact that the peach has not been 

 found wild, it seems to me by far the most pr )bable view, that 



*^ Whether this is the samevarTety produces during successive years very 



as one lately mentioned (' Gard. different kinds of fruit. 



Chron.' 1865, p. tl54) by M. Carrifere " Quoted in 'Gard. Chron.' 1866 



under the nance of persica intermedia, p. 800. 



1 know not ; this variety is said to be ^' Quoted in ' Journal de la Soo 



intermediate in nearly all its charac- Imp. d'Horticulture," 1855, p. 23S. 

 ters between the almond and peach ; it 



