10 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



sacred sutras of Buddha from India. It is said that this is an actual 

 historic occurrence, but this tale is evidently semi-religious and allegorical, 

 as well, combining in itself the characteristics of Bunyan's Pilgrim's 

 Progress, Hans Christian Andersen, and the Arabian Nights, if you can 

 imagine such a mixture, yet giving graphic pictures of Chinese life in 

 various phases that are as true as when the book was written. 



" One of the most charming legends of peach flower lore is that of 

 the ' Peach Blossom Fountain,' an allegory written by T'ao Yuan Ming 

 between A. D. 365-427, describing how a fisherman got lost one day and 

 penetrating up a river finds himself in a creek bordered with many peach 

 trees fuU of bloom, at the end of which he comes upon a small mountain 

 in which is a cave which he traverses and enters on a new country where 

 there is every sign of prosperity, every one is courteous to each other, 

 kindliness and contentment prevail, but they wear the garb of the times of 

 the First Emperor some five centuries previous and have been lost to the 

 rest of the country ever since. The fisherman returns after a sojourn 

 with them, and tells his fellow villagers of this wonderful cotintry and stirs 

 up so much interest that finally the governor of the province joins in the 

 search for this wonderful country, but it is all of no avail and at last the 

 fisherman realizes that he will never more see the peach blossom days of his 

 youth with its rosy dreams and ideals that come but once in a lifetime." 



Lastly, a significant fact suggesting the Chinese origin of the peach 

 is found in the behavior of this fruit in America. The peach is more at 

 home in North America than in any other part of the world unless it be 

 China. Now, that there is a pomological alliance between eastern Asia 

 and, eastern America is well known. The remarkable relationship between 

 the plants of the two regions was first set forth by Asa Gray and subsequent 

 writers have added much to what he told us. The explanation lies, as 

 all agree, in similarities in climate. Now, with this relationship of the 

 wild and cultivated floras of eastern America and China in mind, the rapid 

 acclimation and acclimatization of the peach in the United States are 

 readily understood if we accept China as the habitat of this fruit. On 

 the other hand, the natural plant-products of Persia find life anything 

 but easy in eastern America. 



There is but one further consideration before beginning the history 

 of the peach as a cultivated fruit. Thomas Andrew Knight and Charles 

 Darwin contended that the peach is a modified almond. This hypothesis 

 would scarcely deserve consideration were it not for the high authority 

 of the men who espoused it — the judgments of a Knight and a Darwin 

 cannot be overlooked. 



