CHAPTER VI. 



THE PEACH AND NECTARINE. 



The peach and nectarine, although in cultiva- 

 tion spoken of as two distinct fruits, owe their 

 origin to one and the same parent, Amygdalus 

 Persica L., Persica vulgaris of Miller ; and 

 some botanists consider the peach, nectarine, 

 aud almond as only one species. The only 

 difference between the two former is, that the 

 one has a downy skin, and the other a smooth 

 one. Their identity has been again and again 

 confirmed by fruit of both sorts being produced, 

 not only on the same tree, but on the same 

 branch ; and one instance is recorded of the same 

 occurring in one fruit, one side of which was 

 downy, like the peach, and the other smooth, 

 like the nectarine ; and the Boston nectarine 

 originated from a peach-stone. The French have 

 always considered them the same, and designate 

 them as downy and smooth peaches. Persia is 

 considered the native country of the peach, and 

 its introduction into Italy is conjectured to have 

 occurred so early as the time of the Emperor 

 Claudius. It was first received into England 

 about the middle of the sixteenth century, and 

 in all probability was imported from France, 

 where it had been long cultivated prior to that 

 period. It was introduced into America by the 

 earlier settlers, somewhere about 1680. 



So great a resemblance exists between many 

 kinds of peaches and nectarines, that sufficient 

 marks of distinction would be difficult to fix 

 upon, so as to know the one from the other, had 

 we no other characters to assist us except the 

 form, size, colour, texture, &c. of the fruit alone, 

 as in the case of the apple and the pear. There 

 are happily other and more permanent charac- 

 ters, and these have been made use of by several 

 ingenious pomologists, with a view to establish 

 a classification, the importance of which in a 

 family of fruits so numerous as the peach has now 

 become will be sufficiently obvious. Poiteau 

 and the Count Lelieur in France, and Mr Robert- 

 son of Kilkenny, were the first to turn their at- 

 tention to this matter; but it remained for the 

 late Mr G. Lindley, and Mr Thompson, of the 

 London Horticultural Society Gardens, to esta- 

 blish, upon a clear and satisfactory basis, a 

 mode of classification which for the purpose will 

 be regarded as sufficiently correct. Mr Thomp- 

 son divides the varieties of this fruit into two 

 grand divisions, namely, peaches and nectarines; 

 these, again, into iwo classes, melters or free- 

 VOL. II. 



stones,or such as have the flesh parting freely from 

 the stone when ripe ; and paries or clingstones, or 

 such as have the flesh adhering to the stone 

 when ripe. Clingstone peaches with us are 

 termed Pavies by the French, and our cling- 

 stone nectarines are their Brugnons. Mr Thomp- 

 son classes all peaches and nectarines into three 

 other divisions, founded on the leaves. First, 

 Leaves serrated and glandless; second, Leaves 

 crenated or serrulated, with globose glands; 

 third, Leaves crenated or serrulated with reni- 

 form or kidney-shaped glands. These glands 

 are placed on the foot-stalk of the leaf, close to 

 its junction with the leaf itself. Some little dis- 

 crimination is required to distinguish the two 

 forms of glands from each other, and the exami- 

 nation should take place when the leaves are 

 fully developed, and not from one leaf alone, but 

 from several on the same branch or tree. 



The flowers, again, afford two subdivisions; 

 namely, First, Large flowers, as in the Noblesse 

 peach; Second, Small flowers, as in the Elruge 

 nectarine. 



The varieties of peaches and nectarines are 

 now numerous. In 1573, Tusser merely men- 

 tions peaches red and white. By 1629 they had 

 increased considerably, as Parkinson enumerates 

 21 sorts; Miller, in 1750, 31 varieties; Long- 

 ley, in Pomona, 1729, describes and figures 39; 

 Rogers, 43; Forsyth, in 1806, describes 40, and 

 gives the names of 27 more, which he says may 

 be added. This long list, however, requires to 

 be purged of many which are mere synonyms. 

 The Horticultural Society Fruit Catalogue con- 

 tains 47, 19 of which are nectarines; and Down- 

 ing, in " Fruits and Fruit Trees of America," 

 describes no less than 79 peaches, and in addi- 

 tion 18 nectarines. Some of the American nur- 

 serymen's catalogues enumerate above 100 kinds, 

 all originated in that country ; and the Fruit 

 Catalogue of Messrs Lawson & Son describes 

 sorts. 



The peach will not succeed either in England 

 or France as an open standard, but in China 

 and the United States it attains a high degree 

 of perfection when so grown. The peaches of 

 Pekin are celebrated as being amongst the finest 

 in the world, and of a very large size. In no 

 country in the world is the peach grown in such 

 quantities as in the United States. In the eastern 

 states they do not succeed well, but in all the 



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