40 FACT NUMBER THREE. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE PEACH TREE. 



FACT NUMBER THREE. 



Section I. 

 DISEASES OF THE PEACH TREE. 



If the Plum, the fruit of the tree just under consideration, 

 is a rich and dainty morsal, the Peach, the produce of the 

 tree of which we now intend to speak, is altogether more so. 

 It is much larger, — much richer, — more healthful, and more 

 universally esteemed. As a table dish, it ranks foremost, 

 and as a preserve, it is said to be more delicate and nutritious 

 than the quince. 



The tree however which furnishes this delicious fruit, has, 

 in these latter days, become extremely frail and strangely 

 perishing ; and its fruit also has grown impoverished in point 

 of quality, and greatly narrowed down as to quantity ; — the 

 stock has fallen off, within the last forty years, probably 

 more than fifty per cent. 



Great labor has been given and expense incurred to get at. 

 the cause of the evils which light on the Peach Tree and its 

 fruit, and to bring both back to their pristine beauty and 

 perfection, but all labor, all enquiry, seems to have proved 

 utterly abortive, until efforts in that behalf have generally 

 been abandoned as altogether hopeless. 



