340 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ October 11, 1888. 
in drills 3 inches deep, from 8 to 10 feet apart, and running north and 
south, are now, as they have been for some weeks past, yielding abundant 
supplies of large, handsome, and well filled pods. The haulms were 
earthed and sticks supplied in due time, the supports being 6 feet high 
from the ground, and a good mulching of manure was then laid on each 
side of the ranks. Subsequently, owing to the weight of the crop, long 
Bean sticks were placed longitudinally on each side of the rows at 5 feet 
from the ground and secured to a series of upright sticks of a like 
thickness driven into the ground on each side, and with cross-ties made 
of tar string. These necessary supports have served a double purpose— 
namely, in the first instance in supporting the heavily laden haulms in 
an upright position, and now in supporting the no less heavily burdened 
haulms which overhang the longitudinal supports 3 or 4 feet on either 
side. This is the result of the wet season. The haulms have kept on 
growing from the time they started into growth. They are growing, 
flowering, and podding still, and will continue to do so until cut down 
by frost. Growers should note this.— H. W. Ward. 
THE PEACH. 
[A paper read by Mr. T. Francis Rivers at the meeting of the Horticultural Club, ‘ Hotel 
Windsor,” October 9th, i 
The origin of the Peach, like the origin of species, is so far removed 
from all our means of arriving at the truth that it is not necessary to 
make it a subject of discussion. It is sufficient to say that it is probable 
it was introduced into Europe from Asia about the time of the Emperor 
Augustus, and it was introduced into Greece by the Bomans ; the name 
Persica indicates the country from which the Peach is derived. It is 
said by some French authors that a variety of the Peach was grown in 
Southern Gaul at a very early period. There is, however, nothing re¬ 
markable in this fact, as the Mediterranean was traversed by Syrian 
mariners before Home had attained to imperial power, and the seaport 
of Marseilles being a trading centre of great importance, there would 
be nothing strange in the fact of the introduction of Peaches from 
Syria into Gaul. We know of course that the relations of Syria and 
Persia had been very intimate from very ancient times, the Book of 
Esther showing that an important colony of Jews was established there. 
The transfer of the fruit in a dried form would account for its introduc¬ 
tion into Palestine, and as the Peach varies almost more than any of 
our domestic fruits from seed, no doubt plenty of sorts came rapidly 
into general cultivation. To this day certain districts of Syria abound 
with Peaches and Nectarines. An old friend of my father sent him 
some years since some score or more of Peach trees which had been 
raised in the gardens near Aleppo. These were received with the native 
soil clinging to their roots ; all these were seedlings, and bore fruit of 
different degrees of excellence, some being Nectarines of the Stanwick 
type, and some very good and sweet Peaches. A thirsty traveller would 
no doubt go into ecstasies about them, but when tested here in company 
with cultivated varieties they were good but of no particular excellence. 
The sweet kernel, which is a distinguishing characteristic, is of course of 
no consequence, as one would hardly crack a Peach stone with the teeth, 
and the labour of extracting the kernel with a hammer would not be 
repaid by the result. 
There seems to have been an uneasy feeling among some of the 
ancient doctors that the Peach is not a wholesome fruit. I can under¬ 
stand that this theory was founded on something like a hard fact, for 
some of the seedling Syrian Peaches and Nectarines were so bitter as to 
be uneatable, and the strong flavour of prussic acid suggested their un¬ 
wholesomeness ; in fact, I should have been very sorry to have eaten 
one of these bitter fruits, a very slight taste was convincing. Assuming 
that Persia was the native home of the Peach, it seems to have spread 
both to the east and west with equal facility, for the Peach is so well 
established and so universal in China that its introduction through the 
Central Asian highways of commerce must have taken place at a very 
early period. 
The Peach seems to have attracted popular attention in a singular 
degree in China. Its history has been wreathed with legends more or less 
interesting, and as it can be cultivated without the assistance of walls 
the Peach orchards when in flower are wonderfully attractive, the 
trees being laden with pink and white blossoms, which are used for 
decoration in the houses of the wealthy and luxurious Chinese. It is not 
abundant enough here to be used as a decorative flower, but there is 
no doubt if it could be gathered from trees as children gather May, it 
would soon become popular. In the “ Leaves from my Chinese Scrap¬ 
book,” by Frederick Henry Balfour, it is stated that three sorts of Peach 
trees are grown by Chinese gardeners—the dwarf, the shrub and the full 
sized trees, of these the dwarf is the most highly prized for the beauty 
and perfume. Of its blossoms which are remarkable for their size and 
colour, and are divided by Chinese florists in eighteen different species. 
Some of these are the varieties which electrified the gardening world 
when introduced by Bobert I'ortune. As they are not hardy enough to 
be grown in the open air they have not retained their original 
popularity. 
The shrub grows to the height of 4 or 5 feet, is common in the 
Imperial gardens, where it is planted on the margins of pools and 
acclivities of rockwork, which form a prominent featuro in Chinese 
artificial landscapes. This is, of course, our flowering Peach. If our 
climate were not so cold in the spring there is no doubt the Peach would 
be a popular ornamental flowering tree, but a biting east wind does not 
conduce to the admiration of any out-of-doors product; but I can quite 
understand the delicious effects given to the early spring in China by 
the abundant and delicate colouring of this pretty tree. One of the 
Chinese historians has described in glowing language the delight of 
seeing the villages connected by gigantic wreaths of Peach trees, dotting 
the plains as far as the eye can reach. 
The third sort is the full-sized tree, and is cultivated for the fruit r 
which I have always heard is handsome and poor in flavour. There is 
much diversity in the shapes and colours of these fruits, some being 
spherical, and one variety a curiously oblate spheroid, which we call the- 
flat Peach of China, and which is no value except as a curiosity. The 
Peach is said to have been established upwards of 2000 years in China 
(this is a very moderate estimate of Chinese time), and was presented to 
the Emperor Wu-Ti of the Hau dynasty by foreign ambassadors. It was 
held in so much esteem that the fruit or plants formed part of the 
tribute paid to the Imperial government by foreign nations. It is also 
one of the emblems of longevity and marriage : 
" When the Peach tree flowers, 
The bride with order rules.” 
Here, I think, where the Tarragon grows, the grey mare is the better 
horse. A Peach garden was the scene of one of the most celebrated 
events in Chinese history, where the oath of brotherhood was taken by 
the three heroes who played so important a part in the historical 
romance of the “ Three Kingdoms.” There are many interesting detail* 
connected with the Peach in Chinese literature, to which it is not neces¬ 
sary to refer. The Chinese gardeners have an infallible receipt for the 
destruction of the insects which infest the Peach. This is a cold decoc¬ 
tion of pig’s head, poured on the trunk and into the roots, and they 
also say the best manure for the trees is snow. From China many of 
the Peach trees in Australia were derived. Besidents, however, say that 
the Peaches are woolly and insipid, and always full of grubs. 
The Peach appears to have been known in England in the eleventh 
and twelfth centuries, as we read that King John died of a surfeit of 
Peaches and new wine at Swineshead Abbey. It is very probable that it 
was known to King Alfred, as his tutor resided for some time at the 
Court of Charlemagne, who was a cultivator and admirer of the Peach. 
It is recorded by French historians that he ordered a list to be compiled 
of the varieties grown in his garden. In the seventeenth century the 
fruit appears to be very generally cultivated, as both Philip Miller and 
Batty Langley, early in the eighteenth century, give lists of some forty or 
fifty varieties, many of the sorts named being still familiar to English 
fruit gardens. 
No English historian will ever be able to point with pride to his 
native villages being wreathed with Peach orchards, but there seems 
little doubt that before many years have elapsed the railways will be 
lined with glass houses, under whose sheltering protection more good 
Peaches will be grown than either Chinese or American orchards have ever 
produced. No fruit suffers so much from bad cultivation and over-pro¬ 
duction as the Peach. Excessive cropping means loss of flavour, and 
good cultivators need never fear competition. A bad Peach is only fit 
for pigs. The fruit has no economic value in the sense of the 
Apple and the Plum. As a preserve it is not equal to the Plum, 
and it cannot be stored for future consumption like the Apple. In 
this country it must therefore be a fruit of luxury, requiring skill and 
capital for its cultivation, which must be carried on either on walls or in 
glasshouses. Very uncertain crops are, however, obtained from unpro¬ 
tected walls in our climate, and my own experience has been gained for 
the last thirty years from glass houses, during which period I may say 
that I have never known a failure. 
When the cultivation of Peaches in pots was systematised it became 
possible to test the several varieties, both of the Continent and of 
England, which had been hitherto known by name only, and a col¬ 
lection was formed, including as many distinct varieties as it was 
possible to obtain. I remember being much interested by the precocity 
of some of the sorts, the “ Avant Peche Bouge ” and the ‘‘ Double de 
Troyes ” being ripe in the middle of July, the “ Early Anne,” dedicated 
to the momory of Mrs. Anne Dunch, ripening at the end of the month 
