NEW ▼ARIETIES OF THE PE4CH. £21 



The fallacy of this principle in one of its most popular ap- 

 plications, the hypothesis of the Voltaic battery,! shall con- 

 sider in a future letter. 



3, Princess Street^ Cavendish Sqvare, 

 February J5M, 1812. 



XVI. 



On some new Varieties of the Peach, By T. A. Knight, 

 Esq., F. R, S., ^c*. 



-i*-N the Transactions of the Horticultural Society of 1807, Experimeits 

 I have mentioned some experiments I had made with the ^®^ obtaining 

 hope of obtaining new and early varieties of the peachf, of^he^peachi 

 which might prove better calculated for our climate, than 

 those which have been imported from the Bouthern parts of 

 Europe : and as the character of some of the plants that I 

 have raised affords a fair prospect ofsuccesss, I have thought 

 the following account sufficiently interesting, to induce me 

 to send it to the Horticultural Society, 



In efforts to obtain new varieties of fruits of other genera, Mana«'eineni 

 I have had reason to conclude from the success of former of t^ ^^^ 

 experiments, that the trees, from' blossoms and seeds of^^^^g^Jj"^ 

 whicli it is proposed to propagate, should have grown at 

 least two years in mould of the best quality; that during 

 this period, they ought not to be suffered to exhaust 

 themselves, by bearing any considerable crop of fruit ; and 

 that the wood of the preceding year should be thoroughly 

 ripened, (by artificial heat when necessary) at an early pe- 

 riod in the autumn : and if early maturity in the fruit of 

 the new seedling plant is required, I think, that the fruit, 

 within which the seed grows, should be made to acquire 

 maturity within as short a period as is consistent with its 

 attaining its full size, and perfect flavour : those qualities 

 ought also to be sought in the parent fruits, which ar^ 

 desired in the offspring ; and the most perfect and vigorous 



♦ Trans, of the Hort. Soc. vol. I, p. 165. 

 t See Journal, vol. XVIII, p. 195, 



offspring 



