232 



3PEACH-TREE. 



uniformly produces peas that will not melt in boiling, *ai> 

 matter what the variety may be." — Loudon. 



" When peas are sown before winter, or early in spring, 

 they are very apt to be eaten by mice. To prevent this, 

 soak the peas, for a day or two, in train oil, before you sow 

 them, which will encourage their vegetation, and render 

 them so obnoxious to the mice that they will not eat 

 them." — Domestic Encyclopedia, 



PEACH-TREE. — Amygdalus Persica. — The peach-tree 

 is a native of Asia, and was first brought to Rome during 

 the reign of the emperor Claudius. 



Varieties. — Linnaeus divides the A. Persica into two 

 varieties; that with downy fruit, or the peach, and that 

 with smooth fruit, or the nectarine. There are various in- 

 stances on record, {Hort, Trans, vol. i. p. 103,) of both 

 fruits growing on the same tree, even on the same branch ; 

 and one case has occurred of a single fruit partaking of the 

 nature of both. See further^ Fruit. 



All the varieties are continued by budding, and, as in all 

 other cases, new ones are obtained by sowing the stones ; 

 in doing which, we ought not to forget, that, like oil-giving 

 ^eeds in general, those of the peach require to be earthed 

 as soon as they are separated from the pulp. In their sec- 

 ond year, (if wall-trees are required,) such of them as are 

 destined for stems are budded close to the earth ; and if 

 /iders or standards are wanted, three, four, or six feet 

 higher. In the spring following, the first shoots from 

 these buds should be headed down to four, five, or six 

 eyes, for the purpose of producing two upright and leading 

 branches, and as many laterals, with which you begin to 

 give to the head the form you intend it shall ultimately 

 take. 



"The standard is nearly the natural form of the tree; 

 requiring no interposition of art, if we except the removal 

 of dead, or dying, or superfluous limbs, and an occasional 

 supply of wood, (if this be wanted,) to keep up a well-bal- 

 anced head. It is also that form in which the tree suc- 

 ceeds best in hot climates ; and in such it ought always to 

 be employed. But, in northern latitudes, (where the heat 

 is neither long continued nor great,) the fruit of the stand- 

 ard peach-tree is rarely seen in perfection ; it may be large, 

 and juicy, and well coloured, but it will always be deficient 

 in that peculiar flavour, that aroma, which is its true char- 

 acteristic, and v/ithout which it is but ordinary fruit. To 

 supply, therefore, a.^ far as may be possible, without the aid 



