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Show 34.0 FRUITS. C HAP. X. stones arc known in North America to roprodnco themselves by seed.~~ In EnglaH<l tho new white nectarine was a socd.ling of tbo old wl1ito, and Mr. l:ivors 31 has recorded scvcml similar cas s. From this strong tendency to inhcrilftnco, which both poach nnd. ncctnrino trees oxhibit,from certain slight constitutional difTorcnc s :Jr. in their wtturo,- and from the great <liiTcrcncc i11 their fruit both in appearance and fl:wour, it is not surprising, notwithHhtnding thn.t the trees <lifter in no other respects and cn.nuot even b Jistiuo-nishcd, aR lam informed. by Mr. Jtivcrs, whiJ. ·t yonng, tl111t 1h y hn.vc boon ranked hy some authors as Rpccifically distinct. GallcRio docs not doubt tbn.t they arc distinct; even Alph. Do Cand.ollo docs not appear perfectly rtfismocl of their specific identity; and an eminent bota11i ·t has quito recently 36 maintained th::tt tlte nectarine "prob::tbly constitutes a distinct Apccior;." IJouco jt may ho worth while to give all tho ovidcnco on tho origin of tho nccl::trinc. Tho factA in themselves arc curious, and will hereafter have to bo referred to when tho important subject of bud-variation is discus. eel. It is asserted 37 that the Boston nectarine was prod need from a peachstone, and this noctnl'ino reproduced itself by sccd.38 Mr. Rivers states 39 that from stones of three distinct varieties of tho peach he raised three varieties of n ctarino; and in one of those caRes no nectarine grow ncar tho parent peach-tree. In another instance Mr. Rivers misod a nectarine from a peach, and in tho succeeding generation another ncct::trino from this noctarinc.40 Other such instances have bceu communicated to mo, but they need not be given. Of the converso case, namely, of nectarine-stones yielding peach-trees (both free and cling-stones), we have six undoubted instances recorded by Mr. Rivers; ::tnd in two of these instances the pn.rent nectarines had been seedlings from other nook'Lrincs.41 With rcRpoct to tho more curious c::tse of full-grown peach-trees suddenly producing nectarines by bud-variation (or sports as they ::tro called by gardcnerA), tho evidence is superabundant; thoro is also good evidence of the same tree producing both peaches and nectarines, or half and half fruit; - by this term I mean a fmit with tho one-half a perfect peach, and the other half a perfect nectarine. Peter Collinson in 1741 rocm·dod tho first case of n, peach-tree producing a ncctarino,'12 aud in 17G6 ho added two other instances. In tho same work, the editor, Sir J. E. Smith, clcRcribcs the more remarkable case of a tree in Norfolk, which usually bore both perfect nectarines and perfect peaches; but during two seasons some of tho fruit were half-and-half in nature. 3:J llrit'kcll'B 'Nat. lli~i. of N. CaroJinn,' p. 102, and Dowlling'H 'Fruit 'l'rees, · p. 50[). 3·1 • Ganleuer's Chronicle,' 18G2, p. 119G. 35 Tho pcnoh o.nd nectarine do not succecll cl]_ually well in tho same soil: see Lindley's 'Horticulture,'· p. 351. Jti Godron, 'Do l'EBpcco,' tom. ii. l85fl, p. 97. :q ' Transact. IIort. 8oe.,' vol. vi. p. 394. 38 Downing's • Fmit Trees,' p. 502. 39 'Gardener's Uhronicle,' 18G2, p. 1195. 40 'Journal of IIortieulturo,' Fob. GLh, 18G6, p. 102. 41 Mr. Hivors, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 185!), p. 771; 18G2, p. 1195; 1865, p.I050; and. Journal or llori.,' 1866, p. 102. •12 'Cones ponclonco of Linnrous,' 1821, pp. 7, R, 70. CllAP. X. PEACH AND NECTARINE. 341 Mr. Salisbury in 1808 '13 records six other cases of poach-trees producing necbri11os. Three of tho varieties are named; viz., the Albergo, Bello Chovrouso, and Royal George. 'l'his latter tree seldom failed to produce both kiuds of fruit. Ile gives another case of a half-and-half fruit. At Hadford in Devonshire <14 a clingstone pc::tch, pmchased as tho Chancellor, was pl::tnted in 1815, and in 1821, after having previously produced peaches alone, bore on one branch twelve nectarines; in 1825 the same branch yielded twenty-six nectarines, and in 1826 thirty-six nectarines together with eighteen peaches. One of the peaches was almost as smooth on one side as n, nectarine. The nectarines were as dark as, but smaller than, the Elrugo. At Becclcs a Royal George peach 45 produced a fruit, "three parts of it being poach and one part nectarine, quite distinct in appearance as well as in flavour." The lines of divi.·ion were longitudinal, as represented in the engraving. A nectari,ne-trec grew five yards from this tree. Professor Chapman states 46 tb::tt he has often seen in Virginia very old pc::tch-troes bearing nectarines. A Wl·itcr in the 'Gardener's Chronide' s::tys that a peaoh-tl·co planted fifteen years previously 47 produced this yoru.· a nectarine between two peaches ; a noctariue-tree grew close by. In 184448 a Vanguard poach-tree p1·oduced, in the midst of its ordinary fruit, a single red Rom::tn nectarine. Mr. Calvor is stated 40 to have raised in the United States a seedling peach which produced a mixed crop of both peaches and nect.ru.·ines. Near Dorking 50 a branch of the Teton de Venus peach, which reproduces itself truly by seed,:n bore its own fruit "so rem::trkablo for its prominent point, and a nectarine rather smaller but well formed and quito round." The previous c::tSes ::tll refer to pe::tches suddenly producing nect::trines, but at Carclow 52 tho unique caso occurred, of a nectarine-tree, raised twenty yc::trs before from seed and novor grafted, producing a fruit half peach and half nectarine; subsequently it bore a perfect peach. 'fo sum up tho foregoing facts: we have excellent evidence of peachstones producing nectarine-trees, and of nectarine-stones producing pcachtrces,- of the same tree bearing peaches and nectarincs,- of peach-trees suddenly producing by bud-vari~tt.ion nectarines (such nectarines reproducing nectarines by seed), as well as fruit in part nectarine and in part poach,-and lastly of one nectarine-tree first bearing half-and-half fruit, and subsequently true peaches. As tho peach came into existence before tho nectarine, it might have been expected from the law of reversion that 4 ~ 'Transact. Hort. Soc.,' vol. i. p. 103. 44 Loudon's 'Gardener's Mag.,' 1826, vol. i. p. 471. '15 Ibid., 1828, p. 53. 46 Ibid., 1R30, p. 597. 17 • Gardener's Chronicle,' 184l, p. GL7. 48 ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1844, p. 58!). 49 • Phytologist,' vol. iv. p. 299. 50 'Gardener's Chron.,' 185G, p. 531. 51 Godron, 'Do l'.Espcce,' tom. ii. p. 97. 52 • Gardener's Chron.,' 1856, p. 531. |