PEACHES. 19 



found even at the edge of Manchuria. The writer has noticed green- 

 ish, red, yellowish, and white types, varying a good deal in size and 

 appearance. 



In the Chekiang Province there is a red flat peach which ripens 

 in June and is called "Hong peento," or red flat peach. A white 

 variety occurs in the neighborhood of Shanghai, bearing the name 

 "Pak peento," meaning white flat peach. In the Shantung Province 

 there are some excellent sweet flat peaches. Near Kiaochou one 

 variety is called "Pai pien tau" and is deliciously sweet and juicy. 

 A yellowish variety coming from central Shantung is also very fine. 

 It is called "Huang peento," or yellow flat peach. 



There are several forms of peaches in China that are intermediate 

 between the different groups and can not be assigned to classes by 

 themselves. 



How far the peaches of northern China may make it possible for 

 us to extend the peach belt northward by using them in hybridization 

 is a question that might be well worth consideration. In the city of 

 Kirin, Manchuria, where the thermometer sometimes drops to —40° 

 F., there grows a small-fruited variety in a temple garden; and Prof. 

 X. E. Hansen, of the South Dakota State College of Agriculture, has 

 stated that rumors reached him on his last trip through Siberia of 

 peaches growing in northeastern Mongolia, where the winters are very 

 severe and very little or no snow covers the ground at that season. 



One great difficulty in shipping bud wood of peaches is the fact that 

 it does not travel very well. On the long journey over sea and land 

 from China to America the buds become spoiled, although the wood 

 may remain green and health}*. Owing in part to this fact, many 

 excellent varieties of Chinese peaches have not as yet been success- 

 fully introduced. 



NECTARINES. 



Xectarines (Amygdalus persica nectarina) are apparently very 

 rare in China, as the writer heard of them only a few times. Bud 

 wood was obtained but once, and that was in Kwangning, Manchuria, 

 where this fruit is called "Ta hsing-mei." 



THE ORIGINAL WILD PEACH. 

 [Chinese name, "Shan tail shu,"" meaning wild peach tree.] 



Ill connection with the cultivated peaches a few words about a 

 peculiar wild Amygdalus will not be out of place. This species, 

 Amygdalus davidiana, was observed growing wild on the rocky south 

 slopes of mountains in the neighborhood of Peking, Jehol, and in the 

 neighborhood of Taitchow, Shansi Province (fig. 7). The plants in 

 the wild state always grow shrubby and are from a few feet to 10 



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