94 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



peaches just as distinct as those named have developed : as, for examples, 

 the Bokhara represents a hardy " Russian race; " Yellow Transvaal belongs 

 to the very peculiar " South African race; " in the rich alluvial lands of 

 Egypt, the " Egytian race " has developed; still another regional race is 

 found in the evergreen peach of the West Indies. We have no doubt 

 that distinct races of peaches may have originated or will arise in the 

 Canary Islands, Hawaii, New Zealand, Argentina, Chili and Mexico, to 

 mention only countries spoken of in the foregoing pages. The Onderdonk 

 classification can, of course, be extended to take in these new races, most of 

 which are now represented in America, but eventually such a classification 

 wotild become too cumbersome for use. It must not be overlooked that 

 the Onderdonk classification should be doubled to apply to the nectarine, 

 the other division of Prunus persica, which the present classification wholly 

 ignores. 



If the variations are stable, and all regions represented, the likenesses 

 and differences brought about by regional environment may well be used 

 by classifiers. But in the Onderdonk classification unstable variations 

 due to climate are too largely used; as, differences in the succession of life- 

 events, in the rest-period, in the capacity to endtire heat and drought, and 

 in minor modifications of organs, as color of foliage and shape of fruit. 

 All of these are variations that fluctuate with even slight changes in the 

 climate. We have said that this classification, though constantly referred 

 to by northern fruit-growers, is not satisfactory in New York. Professor 

 Price, too, found as he went northward that his classificatory scheme was 

 less dependable. He says: ' " Some of the distinctions made in this'classifi- 

 cation cannot be noticed with decisive clearness a few hundred miles farther 

 north." A further objection to this regional classification of Onderdonk 

 is that, in the numerous distinct peach-regions of America, new regional 

 variations are arising which make it impossible to classify in accordance 

 with characters that appeared before the peach came to America. 



These " races " of Onderdonk and Price, then, by leaving out the 

 peach-floras of many regions, are too exclusive, but it is no less true that 

 they are too inclusive. Thus, the many varieties of the historic peach of 

 western countries are put by the Onderdonk classification in the Persian 

 race. So considered, this Persian race contains types quite as widely 

 separated from each other as are the five " races " of the Onderdonk classifi- 

 cation. In one great group are collected early, late, white-fleshed, yellow- 



' Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. no. 1887. 



