4 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



that no doubt be left as to the origin of the peach, thus freeing pomological 

 literature from the train of misunderstandings following the current opinion 

 that part of our peaches, at least, come from Persia. The terms " Persian 

 peaches " and the " Persian race of peaches " are misleading and should 

 be discarded. Data from botany and history furnish the chief proofs 

 that the fruit of this discussion is of Chinese origin. 



Botany and history are a hard team to drive but when the two do 

 travel together in determining the origin of a plant the matter, as a rule, 

 is settled. Does botany accord with history in placing the original peach 

 in China? Botanists and explorers from first to last agree that the peach 

 is, and long has been, wild in China but there is no agreement as to the 

 nature of its wildness. Some say it is indigenous and others that it may 

 be an escape from cultivation. The peach runs wild so quickly in countries 

 to which it is adapted that it is almost impossible to say, from the evidence 

 to be found, whether it is an original or only a naturalized inhabitant of 

 China. But it seems more nearly to approach a truly feral condition in 

 China than in any other country unless it be America and aU know that 

 in the New World it is an introduced plant. 



Of the botanists and explorers who report finding the peach wild in 

 China, Frank N. Meyer ^ of the ,United States Department of Agriculture 

 is most explicit. Meyer, in sending seeds of wild peaches from China, 

 accompanies them with the following remarks: 



"40001. Wild peaches having larger fruits than the ordinary wild 

 ones, said to come from near Tze Wu, to the south of Sianfu, but some 

 also probably collected from trees in gardens which were raised from wild 

 seeds. When seen wild this peach generally assumes a low bush form of 

 spreading habit ; when planted in gardens and attended to, it grows up into 

 a small tree, reaching a height of 12 to 20 feet, with a smooth trunk of dark 

 mahogany-brown color. The leaves are always much smaller and more 

 slender than in cultivated varieties, while their color is much darker green. 

 They seem to be somewhat less subject to various diseases than the culti- 

 vated sorts and they are most prolific bearers, although the fruit is of very 

 little value on account of its smallness and lack of flavor. In gardens 

 around Sianfu this wild peach is utilized as a stock for improved varieties. 

 It is also grown as an ornamental; said to be literally covered in spring with 

 multitudes of shell-pinli flowers." 



" 40002. WHd peaches, occurring in the foothills of the higher 

 mountains at Tsing Ling Kang, Shensi, at altitudes from 2000 to 5000 feet, 

 generally found at the edges of loess cliffs and on rocky slopes. There is 



• Meyer, Frank N. U. S. D. A. Plant Immigrants No. 107:862. 1915. 



