The peaches of New York

by U. P. Hedrick

At very early times the quince, pomegranate, olive and grape were introduced from Persia, according to De Candolle, still our best authority, into Greece and Rome and even the cherry and plum, from countries to the north if not from Persia, reached southern Europe long before the peach. It seems certain, as De Candolle suggests,[1] that if the peach had been a native of Persia, had it existed there during all time, so beautiful and so delectable a fruit would have been taken earlier into Asia Minor and Greece. As gratifying to all the senses by which we judge fruits as any other product of the orchard, as easily transported and propagated as any—more so than most—it cannot be believed that the other fruits named would have been given preference over the peach by conquerors or travelers carrying Persian luxuries to westward countries.

Moreover, as De Candolle further points out, the several Hebrew and Sanskrit peoples did not speak in sacred or vulgar writings of the peach as they did many times of the olive, quince, grape and pomegranate. Yet these peoples radiated from the valleys of the Euphrates and were at all times in close communication with Persia. Since, according to the authoritative De Candolle, Xenophon, who retreated with the ten thousand 401 B. C., does not mention the peach, this fruit probably did not reach Greece until Alexander's expedition and was first mentioned by Theophrastus 332 B. C. (if the fruit mentioned by Theophrastus is the peach) and did not reach Rome until after the beginning of the Christian era.

The more one examines historical records the more evident it becomes that Greek and Roman writers assumed that the habitat of the peach, which they called the Persian apple, was Persia because it came thence to their countries. Ancient historians very commonly and very confusingly made the assumption that the region from which a plant product came to their country was its first habitat.

The best means of establishing the origin of a plant is to discover in what country it grows spontaneously. This would be a simple matter, indeed, if one could be sure that a given plant found growing wild is not an escape from cultivation. Here is the trouble in the case of the peach. According to the botanists the tree is now growing wild in Persia, as it is in nearby countries, and for that matter in other parts of the Old World and in many places in the New World. The painstaking De Candolle, who has carefully sifted the evidence of the leading botanists until his time of writing, 1882, concludes that the peach has never been truly wild in Persia. An examination of the works of botanists writing since De Candolle's study of the subject does not show that any offers proof that the peach was originally wild in Persia.

Without going into the matter further it seems safe to say that the Greek and Roman writers were at fault in naming Persia as the home of the peach. To summarize: its late distribution, as compared with that of other Persian fruits argues against such an origin; philology, which usually affords indications touching the habitat of a species, is against the Persian theory of origin since neither Hebrew nor Sanskrit names the peach; lastly, botany, the most direct means of discovering the geographic origin of a plant, offers no positive evidence that Persia is the home of the peach. The fallacy that the peach comes from Persia, written in nearly all horticultural and botanical works for 2000 years, now being disposed of, we may take up the claim of China that the peach is another of its great gifts to the world.

A survey of the subject is convincing that the peach comes from China. Necessarily, such a survey must be brief, yet it is important that no doubt be left as to the origin of the peach, thus freeing pomological literature from the train of misunderstandings following the current opinion that part of our peaches, at least, come from Persia. The terms "Persian peaches" and the "Persian race of peaches" are misleading and should be discarded. Data from botany and history furnish the chief proofs that the fruit of this discussion is of Chinese origin.

Botany and history are a hard team to drive but when the two do travel together in determining the origin of a plant the matter, as a rule, is settled. Does botany accord with history in placing the original peach in China? Botanists and explorers from first to last agree that the peach is, and long has been, wild in China but there is no agreement as to the nature of its wildness. Some say it is indigenous and others that it may be an escape from cultivation. The peach runs wild so quickly in countries to which it is adapted that it is almost impossible to say, from the evidence to be found, whether it is an original or only a naturalized inhabitant of China. But it seems more nearly to approach a truly feral condition in China than in any other country unless it be America and all know that in the New World it is an introduced plant.

Of the botanists and explorers who report finding the peach wild in China, Frank N. Meyer[2] of the United States Department of Agriculture is most explicit. Meyer, in sending seeds of wild peaches from China, accompanies them with the following remarks:

"40001. Wild peaches having larger fruits than the ordinary wild ones, said to come from near Tze Wu, to the south of Sianfu, but some also probably collected from trees in gardens which were raised from wild seeds. When seen wild this peach generally assumes a low bush form of spreading habit; when planted in gardens and attended to, it grows up into a small tree, reaching a height of 12 to 20 feet, with a smooth trunk of dark mahogany-brown color. The leaves are always much smaller and more slender than in cultivated varieties, while their color is much darker green. They seem to be somewhat less subject to various diseases than the cultivated sorts and they are most prolific bearers, although the fruit is of very little value on account of its smallness and lack of flavor. In gardens around Sianfu this wild peach is utilized as a stock for improved varieties. It is also grown as an ornamental; said to be literally covered in spring with multitudes of shell-pink flowers."

"40002. Wild peaches, occurring in the foothills of the higher mountains at Tsing Ling Kang, Shensi, at altitudes from 2000 to 5000 feet, generally found at the edges of loess cliffs and on rocky slopes. There is a great deal of variation to be observed as regards size and shape of leaves, density of foliage and general habits."