OUR COMMON FRUIT TREES 



and commerce soon after the discovery of America 

 by Columbus the Peach was introduced by the Span- 

 iards, for immediately after permanent settlement 

 had been made in the South the settlers found this 

 fruit in widespread cultivation by the Indians, and 

 its origin could only be traced to the Spaniards who 

 early visited Florida and the Gulf region. As early 

 as 1682 William Penn wrote, "there are very good 

 peaches in Pennsylvania, not an Indian plantation 

 is without them." 



In the Northern Hemisphere, during the course of 

 ages, two forms of civilization have developed. They 

 are commonly expressed as that of the west and of the 

 east ; i.e., that of Europe and that of eastern Asia whose 

 dominant factor has been China. So, too, have two 

 distinct stocks of fruit trees. There is the Eurasian 

 group of apples, pears, plums, and cherries and there 

 is the Chinese group of these same fruits. They are 

 separate and distinct one from another, and have 

 been evolved independently from the wild species 

 found in areas separated by the high table-land of 

 central Asia. This important fact has only quite 

 recently been properly established. It has been my 

 privilege and good fortune to discover in China and 

 Korea the wild types of the apples, pears, cherries, 

 and plums of the Orient. The Peach is of Chinese 

 origin and probably the Apricot also, though there 



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