PEACH, the name of a fruit tree which is included under the genus Prunus (Prunus persica) ; its resemblance to the plum is obvious. Others have classed it with the almond as a distinct genus, Amygdalus ; while others again have considered it suffi ciently distinct to constitute a separate genus, Persica.
In general terms the peach may be said to be a medium-sized tree, with lanceolate, stipulate leaves, borne on long, slender, relatively unbranched shoots, and with the flowers arranged singly, or in groups of two or more, at intervals along the shoots of the previous year's growth. The flowers have a hollow tube at the base bearing at its free edge five sepals, an equal number of petals, usually concave or spoon-shaped, pink or white, and a great number of stamens. The pistil consists of a single carpel with its ovary, style, stigma and solitary ovule or twin ovules. The fruit is a drupe having a thin outer skin (epicarp) enclosing the flesh of the peach (mesocarp), the inner layers of the carpel becoming woody to form the stone, while the ovule ripens into the kernel or seed. This is exactly the structure of the plum or apricot, and differs from that of the almond, which is identical in the first instance, only in the circumstance that the fleshy part of the latter eventually becomes dry and leathery and cracks open along a line called the suture.
The nectarine is a variation from the peach, mainly charac terized by the circumstance that, while the skin of the ripe fruit is downy in the peach, it is shining and destitute of hairs in the nectarine. That there is no essential difference between the two is, however, shown by the facts that the seeds of the peach will pro duce nectarines, and vice versa, and that it is not very uncommon, though still exceptional, to see peaches and nectarines on the same branch, and fruits which combine in themselves the characteristics of both nectarines and peaches. The blossoms of the peach are formed the autumn previous to their expansion, and this fact, to gether with the peculiarities of their form and position, requires to be borne in mind by the gardener in his pruning and training oper ations. The only point of practical interest requiring mention here is the very singular fact attested by all peach-growers, that, while certain peaches are liable to the attacks of mildew, others are not. In the case of the peach this peculiarity is in some way connected with the presence of small glandular outgrowths on the stalk, or at the base of the leaf. Some peaches have globular,
others reniform glands, others none at all, and these latter trees are more subject to mildew than are those provided with glands.
As to the origin of the peach two views are held, that of A. de Candolle, who attributes all cultivated varieties to a distinct species, probably of Chinese origin, and that adopted by many naturalists, but more especially by Darwin, who looks upon the peach as a modification of the almond. The botanical evi dence seems to indicate that the wild almond is the source of cultivated almonds, peaches and nectarines, and consequently that the peach was introduced from Asia Minor or Persia, whence the name Persica given to the peach. On the other hand, de Can dolle, from philological and other considerations, considers the peach to be of Chinese origin, though it is not found wild there.
(X.) Cultivation in the United States.—The first Spanish ex plorers brought the peach to the New World and as early as 1600 peaches were common in Mexico. Before the lapse of another century the peach had been carried by explorers, settlers and In dians to every part of the two continents where this fruit is now grown. Nowhere else in the world does the peach thrive so well as in temperate parts of the Western Hemisphere. Soil and climate exactly suit the peach in the Americas so that soon after its introduction in the New World it became a wide-spread escape from cultivation and early botanists considered it a native. In no other part of the world is the peach so largely grown as a com mercial product as in the peach regions of the United States. Using the census report of 193o as a basis of calculation, it can be stated that the commercial value of the peach crop of the United States is about $43,000,000 per annum. Formerly a luxury, the peach is now a necessity in American homes and is used fresh, dried or canned the year around. The value of canned peaches in the United States is about one-seventh that of the total value above given. The peach ranks second to the apple in the fruit industry of the United States.