110 
NAT. ORDER. AMYDALACEiE. 
known to contain the prussic acid, which operates unfavorably on 
many constitutions. The tree has been cultivated from time imme- 
morial in many parts of Asia : when it was introduced into Greece 
is uncertain : the Romans seem to have brought it direct from Persia 
during the reign of ihe emperor Claudius. It is first mentioned by 
Columella, and afterwards described by Pliny. 
Use, The Peach is a dessert fruit of the first order, and makes 
a delicious preserve. In Maryland, Virginia, and many parts of New 
Jersey, a brandy is made from the fruit ; the best Peaches are care- 
fully picked in baskets and sent to market, and the inferior ones 
either used for the manufacturing this liquor, or fed to the pigs. The 
leaves steeped in gin or whiskey communicate a flavor resembling 
that of noyeau. 
Criterion of a Good Peach. — It may be observed, that a good Peach 
possesses these qualities — the flesh is firm, the skin is thin, of a deep 
or bright-red color next the sun, and yellowish green next the wall ; 
the pulp is of a yellowish color, full of high flavored juice, the fleshy 
part thick, and the stone small. 
Varieties. — Linnseus divides his Amygdalus Persica into two varie- 
ties : that with downy fruit, or the Peach, and that with smooth 
fruit, or the nectarine ; but in the present work the Peach and necta- 
rine will be established into a genus called Persica, and the Peach 
and nectarine u ade distinct species. There are, however, various 
instances on resord of both fruits growing on one tree, and even on 
the same branch ; and cases have occurred of a single fruit partaking 
of the nature of both. The French consider them as one fruit, ar- 
ranging them in four divisions : the peches, or free-stone Peaches, 
the flesh of whose fruit separates readily from the stone and the 
skin ; the peches lisse, or free-stone nectarines ; the pavies, or cling- 
stone Peaches, whose flesh is hard and firm, and adheres both to the 
stone and the skin ; and the brugnons, or clingstone nectarines. — 
Many horticulturists consider the Peach and almond as one species; 
but we shall follow the established nomenclature, and treat them as 
