NET/ VARIETIES OF THE PEACH. £23 



communication, and I then inferred, from the rapid 

 change ob>ervable in the character of the leaves and general 

 growth, that they woiild bear fruit, as they subsequently 

 did, when three years old. 



Of the new varieties thus obtained three are very early; aji^ t^he frait 

 but 1 have not had an opportunity of comparing their time ^'i'^*^«*^^J" 

 of ripening with that of the earliest old varieties. For the 

 red nutmeg peach did not succeed at all in my garden, and 

 the blossoms of the early Anne were wholly destroyed by the 

 tinfavourablt; weather of the spring of I8O7 and the follow- 

 ing year. Two of the new varieties, however, ripened ten 

 days before the royal George peach, and three weeks be- 

 fore the red Roman nectarine, which grew on the same wal!, 

 A»nd adjoined the seedling trees ; and therefore I conceive 

 these not to be much later varieties than their male parent, 

 which they strongly resemble in colour, and in the form and 

 character of their leaves : but their fruit is much larger, 

 many havin;^ exceeded Vf inches in circumference. The 

 fruit of each of the new varieties is soft and melting, and 

 very readily quits the stone; and I thought the flavour of 

 one of them quite equal to that of any peach which my gar- 

 den produced. In their leaves and fruit, every tree forms a Each tt«® a 

 perfectly distinct variety, and even where the same stone ^^^'^"*^* ^"*' 

 contained two plants, they bear very little resemblance to 

 each other. 



In the present spring 1 exposed all the seedling plants Difcrwnt m. 

 without any covering, to ascertain the comparative degrees *^^'^*®** 

 of hardiness of their blossoms; and in this respect I found 

 them to differ very widely. The blossoms of two of the va- 

 rieties appear, however, to be very hardy, and promise an 

 abundant crop of fruit, though the season has been more 

 than usually unfavourable ; and 1 have had the pleasure to 

 observe, that the best peach is one of the most hardy. 



The success therefore of the first and of the only experi- Hope of cob- 



ment, of which I have fully seen the result, on this species of ajd"'^«h 



fruit, has fully answered, and indeed exceeded my hopes ; trees. 



and I f^ntertain little doubt that the peach-tree might, in 



successive generations, be so far hardened and naturalized to 



the climate of England and Ireland, as to succeed well as 



a standard in favourable situations. It is my wish to try ^'^P^"?*"'* 



•' - intended, 



the 



