swetv 



Chap. X. PEACH AND NECTARINE. 339 



not uneatable, and it is said to be of better quality in China. From this 

 stage one small step leads us to such inferior peaches as are occasionally 

 raised from seed. For instance, Mr. Eivers sowed a number of peach-stones 

 imported from the United States, where they are collected for raising stocks, 

 and some of the trees raised by him produced peaches which were very 

 like almonds in appearance, being small and hard, with the pulp not soften- 

 ing till very late in the autumn. Van Mons 28 also states that he once 

 raised from a peach-stone a peach having the aspect of a wild tree, with 

 fruit like that of the almond. From inferior peaches, such as these just 

 described, we may pass by small transitions, through clingstones of poor 

 quality, to our best and most melting kinds. From this gradation, from 

 the cases of sudden variation above recorded, and from the fact that the 

 peach has not been found wild, it seems to me by far the most probable 

 view, that the peach is the descendant of the almond, improved and modi- 

 fied in a marvellous manner. 



One fact, however, is opposed to this conclusion. A hybrid, raised by 

 Knight from the sweet almond by the pollen of the peach, produced flowers 

 with little or no pollen, yet bore fruit, having been apparently fertilised by 

 a neighbouring nectarine. Another hybrid from a sweet almond by the 

 pollen of a nectarine produced during the first three years imperfect 

 blossoms, but afterwards perfect flowers with an abundance of pollen. If 

 this slight degree of sterility cannot be accounted for by the youth of the 

 trees (and this often causes lessened fertility), or by the monstrous state of 

 the flowers, or by the conditions to which the trees were exposed, these 

 two cases would afford a strong argument against the peach being the 

 descendant of the almond. 



Whether or not the peach has proceeded from the almond, it has cer- 

 tainly given rise to nectarines, or smooth peaches, as they are called by the 

 French. Most of the varieties both of the peach and nectarine reproduce 

 themselves truly by seed. Gallesio 29 says he has verified this with respect 

 to eight races of the peach. Mr. Eivers 30 has given some striking instances 

 from his own experience, and it is notorious that good peaches are con- 

 stantly raised in North America from seed. Many of the American sub- 

 varieties come true or nearly true to their kind, such as the white-blossom, 

 several of the yellow-fruited freestone peaches, the blood clingstone, the 

 heath, and the lemon-clingstone. On the other hand, a clingstone peach 

 has been known to give rise to a freestone. 31 In England it has been 

 noticed that seedlings inherit from their parents flowers of the same size 

 and colour. Some characters, however, contrary to what might have been 

 expected, often are not inherited ; such as the presence and form of the 

 glands on the leaves. 32 With respect to nectarines, both cling and free- 



28 Quoted in ' Journal de la Soc. 1859, p. 774. 



Imp. d 'Horticulture,' 1855, p. 238. 32 Downing, 'The Fruits of America,' 



29 « Teoria della Riproduzione Vege- 1845, pp. 475, 489, 492, 494, 496. See 

 tale,' 1816, p. 86. ^also F. Michaux, ' Travels in N. Ame- 



so 'Gardener's Chronicle,' 1862, p. rica' (Eng. translat.), p. 228. For 



1195. similar cases in France see Godron, ' De 



31 Mr. Rivers, ' Gardener's Chron.,' l'Espece,' torn. ii. p. 97. 



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