THE PEACii. 589 



very mucli the same place in the ancient Chinese writings, that 

 the tree of knowledge of the old Scriptnres, and the o-olden 

 Hesperides apples of the heathens, do in the early history of the 

 western nations. The traditions of a peach tree, the fruit of 

 which when eaten conferred immortality, and which bore onl}'- 

 once in a thousand years — and of another peach tree of know^- 

 ledge, which existed in the most remote period on a mountain 

 guarded by a hundred demons, the frnit of which produced 

 death — are said to be distinctly preserved in some of the early 

 Chinese wTitings. Whatever may have been the nature of these 

 extraordinary trees, it is certain that, as Lord Bacon says, " not 

 a slip or sucker has been left behind." We must therefore con- 

 tent ourselves with the delight which a fine peach of modern 

 times affords to the palate and the eye. 



We believe there is at the present time no country in the 

 world where the peach is grown in such great quantities as in 

 the United States.* North of a line drawn from the Mohawk 

 river to Boston, comprising most of the Eastern States, they do 

 not indeed flourish well, requiring some artificial aid to produce 

 regular crops ; but in all the Middle, Southern, and Western 

 States, they grow and produce the heaviest crops in every garden 

 and orchard. Thousands of acres in New^ Jersey, Delaware and 

 Maryland, are devoted to this crop for the supply of the markets 

 of New York and Philadelphia ; and we have seen, in seasons of 

 great abundance, whole sloop loads of fruit of second quality, or 

 slightly decayed, thrown into the North river in a single morn- 

 ing. The market price usually varies from fifty cents to four 

 dollars per bushel, according to the abundance of the crop, and 

 to the earliness or lateness of the season at which they are 

 offered ; one hundred and fifty cents being considered a good 

 retail price. Many growlers in New Jersey have orchards of 

 from 10,000 to 20,000 trees of different ages, and send to market 

 in good seasons as many bushels of fruit from the bearing trees. 

 When the crop is not universally abundant, the profits are very 

 large ; if the contrary, they are often very little. But, as in some 

 districts, especially in New Jersey, peaches are frequently grown 

 on land too light to produce good crops of many other kinds, the 

 investment is a good one in almost all cases. Undoubtedly, 

 how^ever, the great peach-growing district of the United States 

 will one day be the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi. With 

 an equally favourable climate, that portion of the country pos- 

 sesses a much finer soil, and the flavour of its peaches is unusual- 

 ly rich and delicious. 



The very great facility with which the "peach grows in this 



* It will amuse our readers to read in Mcintosh's work, " The Orchard," 

 that " the Americans usually eat the chngstones, while they reserve the 

 freestone^i for feeding the pigs ! " 



