[Appendix. 



II. Some Horticultural Observations, selected from French Authors, 

 By the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. K. B. P. R. S. S$c. 



Read March 6, 1811. 



Peaches. 



Though the English excel in many branches of Horticulture, 

 there are others in which they are materially outdone by the 

 French; absolute perfection in any branch of an art, so exten- 

 sive as that of gardening, cannot be obtained by a person, who 

 allows his talents to range over every part of it. This the French 

 knew long ago, and have regulated their practice accordingly. 

 The English have not yet began this subdivision of skill. Our 

 fruit gardeners, who carry every sort of fruit to market,of a good 

 quality, cannot be said to have brought any one kind to absolute 

 perfection. In France, whole villages are employed in the culture* 

 each of one single kind of fruit. In consequence of this arrange- 

 ment, the fruits, under the management of individuals, who for 

 many generations have exerted their whole energies to this one 

 point only, are brought toadegree of perfection, which can never 

 be attained in a garden, where fruits and vegetables of all sorts 

 must be provided by one man, for a large and opulent family, or 

 for a weekly market. 



At Montreuil,* a village near Paris, the whole population has 

 been maintained, for several generations, by the cultivation of 

 Peaches, which is their sole occupation. It is there, alone, where 

 the true management of this delicious fruit can be studied and 



* An English tourist tells us, that he had stored his carriage with Peaches, which 



their fruit for -ale to travellers, told him that he would, if he tasted one of theirs, 

 throw those he had got out of his chaise ; which, in fact, he did as soon as he had 

 tasted a Montreuil Peach. 



