2 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



that the only foreign feature it has retained is the name Persica. The family has 

 multiplied, diversified, dispersed, & established itself everywhere. It's not so much like a 

 colony but rather like a populous nation that's long taken hold in this climate. Cultivated 

 with more skill, care, and cost than are other fruit trees, it's now indisputably the one 

 that's most worthy of our care & concern. No other tree can challenge it for the 

 abundance, beauty, color, delicacy, sweetness, fragrance, freshness, & other qualities of 

 its fruit; it's wholesome & there's almost no harm from its misuse. 



If the natural size of a tree is judged by the size that it reaches on espalier when 

 it's in good soil & well cultivated, the peach tree could be regarded as one of the largest 

 fruit trees, since there are almost no others that spread as far as it does on a wall. But 

 peach trees that grow in vineyards around Paris only attain average size. In the Dauphine, 

 Angoumois, & in other provinces that are more temperate than Paris, they grow larger. 

 So the peach tree's size varies with climate, soil, & cultivation, but it's never close to that 

 of the pear or cherry tree, or even an almond tree. 



This tree isn't at all bushy though it puts out a lot of shoots, often more than it can 

 sustain. They're straight and they get stronger the more they're cut back, or if the peach 

 tree is younger or more vigorous. The bark is smooth; in some kinds it has a red color on 

 the side toward the sun; it's entirely green in others. 



The leaves (PL L Fig. 9.) are smooth, long, entire, alternate, more or less finely & 

 fairly deeply denticulate on the margins depending on the type. They terminate in a point 

 at both ends, much less sharply at the stalk than at the other end. They're attached to the 

 branch 



