COMMONPLACE NOTES. 



597 



stones, and vice versa, is exceedingly common. The occurrence of a 

 Nectarine fruit on a Peach-tree is unusual, though not very rare. The 

 production of a fruit part one, part the other, as represented in Fig. 236, is, 

 as far as we know, unique, but having happened once, it has shown us 

 both the exceedingly close relationship of the two fruits, and also that it 

 may very probably happen some day and somewhere again. 



Another point, on which people often mistake, is worth mention. As 

 a general rule, the flesh of a Peach or- a Nectarine as grown in England 

 is almost white, perhaps with a few dashes or flushes of crimson, but 

 roughly speaking white. But there are a multitude of varieties which 

 have yellowish flesh, and some of quite an orange colour. In England 

 we think the yellow-fleshed Peaches — which are generally very large fruits 

 — are distinctly lacking in flavour compared with the white-fleshed 

 varieties, and so they are very seldom met with amongst us. But it is not so 

 at all with the yellow-fleshed Nectarines — which are generally smallish 



Fig. 236. — Fruit half Peach, half Nectarine. {Gardeners' Chronicle.) 



fruits — many of which are of superlative flavour. For instance, ' Goldoni,' 

 a yellow Nectarine, raised from a Peach-stone by the late Mr. Francis 

 Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, to whom we are indebted for literally all the 

 good new varieties of Peaches and Nectarines — ' Goldoni,' when properly 

 ripened, is, in our opinion, without any exception the finest fruit in the 

 world. These yellow-fleshed Nectarines are not nearly so much grown as 

 they should be, because, forsooth, they not are quite so large as the white- 

 fleshed. But when they are grown we have not once nor twice but often 

 heard people sayino^, " Oh, it's a cross between a Nectarine and an 

 Apricot," a statement for which there is not the very smallest foundation, 

 or, indeed, the least probability ; in fact, you might just, as well say that 

 because a Mango is of fine flavour and yellow, therefore these yellow- 

 fleshed Nectarines are " a cross between a Nectarine and a Mango."' 

 We have no idea what it is that produces the yellow hue in some Nec- 

 tarines ; neither have we any knowledge, and very little idea, what produces 

 variation of colour in any tree or plant or fruit ; but we need not on that 



