CHAPTER XIII 



PEACH VAEIETIES 

 "The ripest peach is highest on the tree." — RlLEY. 



The word ' 'peach" has almost from the 

 beginning been the cause of confusion. It is 

 connected in some remote etymological way 

 with "Persia" and for a long time that 

 country was supposed to have been the native 

 home of the peach. Early Greek writers 

 spoke of peaches as "Persian apples." On 

 the other hand, the Indians of our Southwest 

 learned to know peaches first of all the intro- 

 duced fruit and they developed a root word 

 meaning peach. Later they referred to 

 plums as little peaches and to apples as big 

 peaches. For centuries Persia was credited 

 with being the native home of this delectable 

 fruit and it has only been in the last few years 

 that any satisfactory theory to the contrary has 

 been advanced. 



It is no doubt true that the Persians culti- 

 vated the fruit at a very early date but then, 

 they had a way of annexing anything good 

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