2 Account of a Peach Tree, produced from the 



largest you receive, having measured eight inches in circum- 

 ference : and as the tree grew in a pot, which did not con- 

 tain a square foot of mould, and the first fruit of every 

 seedling tree has proved, in all my experiments, to be of 

 much less size than its subsequent produce, I imagine, that 

 the future fruit of this variety, will a good deal exceed the 

 bulk indicated by the present sample. 



The general character, and quality, of the fruit I send, 

 and the diminished size of its stone, comparatively with that 

 of the Almond, will, I fear, induce the Society to apprehend 

 some error in the experiment : but I beg to assure them 

 that none can possibly have occurred ; and that the result 

 was as unexpected by me, as it would have been by them ; 

 for I did not entertain the slightest hope, that a tree, capable 

 of producing a melting Peach, could have been, by any 

 means, obtained immediately from an Almond. I had, 

 however, long before, entertained an opinion, that the com- 

 mon Almond and the Peach tree constituted only a single 

 species; and that the Almond might, by proper culture, 

 through many successive generations, be ultimately converted 

 into a Peach, or Nectarine. 



Many circumstances, in the ancient history of the Peach, 

 conjoined to lead me to this conclusion. It does not appeal 

 to have been known in Europe till about the reign of the 

 Emperor Claudius; and it is, I believe, first mentioned by 

 Columella * Pliny has given the first accurate description 

 of it; and he states it to have come, through Egypt and 

 Rhodes, into Italy, from Persia, which is universally under- 

 stood to be its native country.f Yet it could hot have 

 * Lib. 10. f Lib . 15> cap 13 



