PREFACE Vll 



picture of the fruit — we try to present such a pen-picture. With a few 

 exceptions the descriptions of major varieties have been made from peaches 

 growing on the Station grounds, though in many cases rfruits from several 

 localities have been compared with those grown at home. 



The fruits, it must be said at once, have been described with other 

 ends in view than identification. Chief of these is the effort to set forth 

 the elementary characters, or unit-characters, of the peach. It is now cer- 

 tain that the characters of plants are independent entities thrown into 

 various relationships with each other in individual plants. On this con- 

 ception of unit-characters the improvement of plants is founded. An 

 important part of the work in describing fruits has been to discover what 

 seem to be unit-characters in peaches, thereby aiding in building a foun- 

 dation in breeding peaches. To improve the peach we must combine the 

 characters of species and varieties ; we must know what these are before we 

 can rearrange them in an improved peach. 



In the marked attention paid to the improvement of plants, following 

 the work of Mendel and others, the peach is bound to receive consideration. 

 Never was information more needed in regard to the processes that have 

 brought peaches from their primitive condition to their present perfection. 

 We have done our utmost to give all that cotild be learned of the origin and 

 history of varieties with the hope that such knowledge may be helpful to 

 those who are trying to improve the peach. 



We wish again to call attention to the great value of definite knowledge 

 regarding the soils, climates and other environmental conditions under 

 which species and varieties of fruits thrive. It is obvious to all thinking 

 pomologists and biologists that, when the ecological conditions under 

 which the several fruits and their many varieties are grown can be 

 accurately specified, valuable generalizations can be made regarding life- 

 zones and plant-distribution. In The Peaches of New York, as in the 

 preceding books, we state as accurately as possible the regions in which, 

 and the conditions under which, species and varieties of the peach are 

 successfully grown. 



So few species have been considered in The Peaches of New York that 

 we have had no need to refer to codes of botanical nomenclature. In the 

 use of horticultural names, lacking a better code, we have kept before us 

 the revised rules of the American Pomological Society though in many 

 cases we have not seen fit to follow these rules as the changes required by 

 their strict observance would augment rather than diminish confusion. 



