THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 21 



letters from Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction correspondents of the 

 United States Department in China who had been asked to report on the 

 size and color of peach-blossoms in the parts of China in which they lived. 

 The information thus obtained is most interesting but space forbids con- 

 sidering it further at present than to say that it indubitably establishes 

 the fact that peaches with the four kinds of blossoms are found in China. 

 This further encourages the belief, just set forth, that the essential char- 

 acters of peaches are old, of great fixity and originated in China at a time 

 in the past on which it would be idle to conjecture. 



It is interesting to note that there are peaches in China with at least 

 two characters not found in any American varieties. Two varieties are 

 mentioned as having " white stones." There is no peach in America with 

 stones that could be described as white though several early white-fleshed 

 peaches have light-colored stones. This character is unimportant and 

 seems, from the brief descriptions of the varieties having such stones, not 

 to be correlated with other especially desirable characters, yet such a peach 

 would, at least, add an interesting novelty to the flora of this fruit. The 

 other character, that of late keeping, appears to have more value. A 

 peach that would " keep for several months " or one ripening in September 

 ■' that can be kept, when wrapped in tissue paper, until Februar}^" is 

 highly desirable. No doubt through the efforts of the workers in the 

 United States Department of Agriculture we shall sooner or later be grow- 

 ing these peaches in America. 



As the probable home of the peach, we have given China so much 

 space in this discussion of the peach in Asia that we can now but briefly 

 summarize what is known of this fruit in other Asiatic countries. 



The peach in Japan. — From Fruit Culture in Japan ' it is patent that 

 the peach is one of the leading fruits of the country. In number of varieties 

 of the several fruits grown in Japan the peach is exceeded only by the 

 persimmon — ninety-five peaches and two nectarines being listed, all 

 having Japanese names. The following account gives some idea of the 

 peach-industry as carried on in Japan: 



" There are a number of varieties of our native peaches and nectarines. 

 From the extreme south of Formosa to Hokkaido, local forms are cultivated 

 side by side with Western and Chinese varieties, which are all much 

 superior to ours in all respects. During the past twenty years, the grow- 

 ing of introduced peaches has replaced the native one with striking rapidity. 



• Ikeda, T. The Fruit Culture in Japan 32, 33. 1907. 



