270 



THE PEACH. 



English) is the most natural and well understood ; next, the distinc- 

 tion by means of what are termed glands on the leaves, as also the 

 indentations or irregular edge of the leaf termed creneate, serrated, 

 and coarsely serrated ; and last the distinction by means of the flow- 

 ers, as large or small. This last is open only to examination a short 

 period, and therefore is not used except by the careful amateur po- 

 mologist, or correct nurseryman. 



The accompanying figures are illustrative : 



Figure 1, the ser 

 rated without glands; 

 figure 2,coarsely ser- 

 rated, and with glo- 

 bose glands; figure 

 3, creneate and with 

 reniform or kidney 

 shaped glands. "The 

 form of the glands," 

 observes Lindley, 

 " as well as their po- 

 sition, is perfectly 

 distinct ; they are 



_Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. "3. fully developed in 



the month of May, and continue to the last permanent in their char- 

 acter, and are not aifected by cultivation. The globose glands are 

 situated, one, two, or more, on the foot stalks, and one, two, or 

 more, on the tips or points of the serratures of the leaves. The reniform 

 glands grow also on the footstalks of the leaves, but those on the leaves 

 are placed within the serratures, connecting, as it were, the upper 

 and lower teeth of the serratures together ; their leaves, when taken 

 from a branch of vigorous growth, have more glands than the leaves 

 of the globose varieties. It will, however, sometimes happen, that 

 glands are not discernable on some of the leaves, especially on those 

 produced from weak branches ; in this case, other branches must be 

 sought for which do produce them." Lindley, as well as most wri- 

 ters since, have rendered these classes, with sub-classes or divisions, 

 founded mainly on the structure of the leaves, but we have prefer- 

 red, in this fruit as well as others, to embody the distinction in the 

 text descriptive of a variety, and confine ourself to the practical 

 every day wanted division of " best," " very good," and " good." 

 The word "Melocoton" only meaning "peach," we have dropped, and 

 only use it in connection with the synonyms. 



Uses. The various uses made of the peach are so well known as 

 not to require a word, yet the profit to be obtained from drying or 

 preserving fresh, the fruit, when distant from market, induces us to 



