116 THE OECHARD AND FRUIT GARDEN. 



times liappens, after an over-liberal thinning, that acci- 

 dent clears the rest of the crop. The first thinning may- 

 be done with care when the fruit is the size of a hazel- 

 nut, the next when it is as large as a walnut (then they 

 are nice in tarts), and the third and last when the stone 

 is hard. 



Prench cultivators have divided peaches and necta- 

 rines into four classes : — Feches, with downy skins, and 

 flesh separating easily from the stone; Pavies, with 

 downy skins, and flesh adhering to the stone ; JPeches- 

 violettes, with smooth skins, and flesh separating from 

 the stone ; and Brugnons, with smooth skins, and flesh 

 adhering to the stone ; the two first we call peaches, the 

 two last nectarines. English cultivators have made 

 more elaborate divisions, but to enter into them would 

 be of little use to the cultivator on a small scale. 



Peaches may be grown as standards in warm localities^ 

 well sheltered from east and strong westerly winds ; the 

 fruit often ripens tolerably, and is very nice in fiavour. 



CHAPTER XX. 



VARIETIES OE PEACHES. 



A SELECTION may be made for keeping up a supply from 

 August until the end of October, or even rather later. 



Early Anne is a sweet, juicy, well-flavoured peach, a 

 little musky, round, and rather below the middle size. It 

 is whitish, with a little colour on the sunny side, and the 

 flesh is tender, melting, and white to the stone, from 

 which it separates readily. The leaves are doubly ser- 

 rated, and without glands ; and the bloom is large and 

 very pale in colour. It is ripe the beginning and middle 

 of August, and it will do on an east wall. Another 

 name for it is White Avant. 



The Early York is an excellent early peach ; the fruit 

 is greenish- white, and it is in use from the beginning to 

 the end of August. 



