256 FRUIT-GROWING 



Superstition often antedates history. The 

 Chinese have many superstitions connected 

 with the peach and they are woven through 

 many of their legends. In a bulletin issued by 

 the Bureau of Plant Introduction is published 

 the following interesting myth that is well 

 worth preserving. " — A fisherman got lost one 

 day and penetrating up a river finds himself in 

 a creek bordered with many peach trees full 

 of bloom, at the end of which he comes upon 

 a small mountain in which is a cave which he 

 traverses and enters on a new country where 

 there is every sign of prosperity, every one 

 is courteous to each other, kindliness and 

 contentment prevail, but they wear a garb of 

 the times of the First Emperor some five 

 centuries previous and have been lost to the 

 rest of the country ever since. The fisherman 

 returns after a sojourn with them, and tells 

 his fellow villagers of this wonderful country 

 and stirs up so much interest that finally the 

 governor of the province joins in the search 

 for this wonderful country, but it is all to no 

 avail and at last the fisherman realizes that 

 he will never more see the peach blossom days 

 of his youth with its rosy dreams and ideals 

 that come but once in a lifetime." 



The best authorities now agree that the 

 peach originally grew wild in what is now the 

 Chinese Empire. From China it was taken to 



