of the number of varieties of these fruits since the time when these authors wrote, their distinctions would probably have been sufficient; but the great influx of new kinds demands a more systematic and extensive division. Mr. ROBERTSON* has gone much further into this subject than either MILLER or DUHAMEL, and has favoured us with the first synoptical distribution of Peaches and Nectarines which I have met with. It is simple and perfectly clear, as far as it goes; but it is defective in general application: for if he had attempted by it to make an arrangement of all the different sorts, he would have found the eight subdivisions of his table insufficient. Mr. ROBERTSON's two classes, founded on the leaves, are correct only so far as regards the first, or those sorts whose leaves are without glands. The second, comprehending the glandular-leaved kinds, require to be extended to a third; for it includes plants with two distinct natural characters dependent on the glands. His divisions into those with large and those with small sized flowers are also objectionable, since our collections furnish several varieties of Peaches and Nectarines which possess a middle character. The designating the large blossoms as light-coloured, and the small ones as deep-coloured, cannot be admitted as proper distinctions; several of the small flowers being quite as pale as the large ones. The character of Mr. ROBERTSON'S subdivisions, founded on the adhesion of the flesh to, or the parting from, the stone, are perfectly natural.

The Editor of the Bon Jardinier, and the Count LELIEUR in his Pomone Française, have given a classification on a much more comprehensive scale, introducing a third division of flowers; and they take notice also, for the first time, I believe, of two different cha

*See Horticultural Transactions, vol. iii. p. 380.

racters in the glands of the leaves. Their method of arrangement, however, appears objectionable in forming their classes from the fruit instead of the leaves, because an attempt at a thorough classification on this principle must be ineffectual till the fruit has arrived at maturity. In forming a synoptical Table for practical purposes, we should follow nature herself as nearly as possible; we ought not to make an arrangement that is not progressive, or to which we cannot apply ourselves as the parts successively come into existence. The fruit not being the first produced, we ought not to begin with it, in preference to the leaves.

Having stated thus much, I must render a just tribute of acknowledgment to the writers last mentioned, for having brought into notice the divisions of the glandular leaves, which are highly important, and some marks of distinction between varieties which might be otherwise considered alike.

The anxiety which prevails to cultivate the Peach in its full extent, the disappointment which cultivators daily experience in finding one sort of fruit imposed upon them for another, to say nothing of the error of continuing to propagate a fruit by a name wholly at variance with acknowledged authority, have induced me to attempt such an arrangement of Peaches and Nectarines as will, to a certain extent, give a facility of discrimination in distinguishing one sort from another. For this purpose, I have formed a synopsis on so extended a scale as to admit not only all those which are at present well known, but such also as are likely to become known, or to be introduced hereafter.

To accomplish this, I create three classes, each of which has three divisions; these are each separated into two subdivisions, and every subdivision into two sections; making in the whole thirty-six sections. Part only of these sections are applicable to those varieties we

are now acquainted with; the others will remain to be filled up as new kinds arise, there being at present no plants with such characters.

The practice which has lately prevailed, and which I hope will be continued, of obtaining new varieties by cross impregnation; the glandless with the glandular, the large-flowered with the small-flowered, Peaches with Nectarines, and the Pavies with the Melting kinds, is the method by which the completion of the arrangement, as well as the extension of good sorts, is the most likely to be accomplished; but in pursuing this method, it should not be forgotten that the most excellent of each kind are those only which ought to be employed.

The fruits which I have now arranged under the different sections are those, both French and English, which have been described by different authors; some others are added, which are well known in England, but which have not been noticed in any work of celebrity.

In the following Tables, the classes are founded on the leaves, and the divisions on the flowers.

CLASS I.

Contains those whose leaves are deeply and doubly serrated, having no glands.

CLASS 2.

Those whose leaves are crenate or serrulate, having globose glands.

CLASS 3.

Those whose leaves are crenate or serrulate, having reniform glands.

An accurate observer will distinguish other characters in the glands; they are either sessile or pedicellate; but

these distinctions are too minute for application on the present occasion.

The form of the glands, as well as their position, is perfectly distinct; they are fully developed in the month of May, and they continue to the last permanent in their character, and are not affected by cultivation. The globose glands are situated, one, two, or more, on the footstalks, and one, two, or more on the tips or points of the serratures of the leaves. The reniform glands grow also on the footstalks of the leaves, but those on the leaves are placed within the serratures, connecting, as it it were, the upper and lower teeth of the serratures together; their leaves, when taken from a branch of a vigorous growth, have more glands than the leaves of the globose varieties. It will, however, sometimes happen, that glands are not discernible on some of the leaves, especially on those produced from weak branches; in this case, other branches must be sought for which do produce them.

With regard to the flowers, on which the divisions are founded, all authors previous to DUHAMEL have described large and small flowers only. Both in the Bon Jardinier and in the Pomone Française, "fleurs moyennes, or middle flowers, are mentioned; the notice of them, however, originated with DUHAMEL, who, in the descriptions of several of his Peaches, speaks in a manner which indicates even four sizes, viz. fleurs grandes*, fleurs assez grandes†, fleurs petites‡, fleurs très petites§; and on examining the trees thus described, the differences are evident. In noticing these, however, it is not intended to convey an idea that a fourth division is necessary; on the contrary, it would perplex rather than elucidate. In fact, it requires some practice

Madeleine Blanche.
Bourdine.

+ Avant Pêche Blanche.
§ Bellegarde.

to distinguish the middle from the small-sized flowers; the former are larger in all their parts, but in other respects there is no difference between them; and in maintaining the division, I have conformed more to the authority of Lelieur than to my own opinion.

We now come to the fruit, with regard to which nature has furnished two distinct characters in the external appearance, as well as two in the internal structure. The first of these depends on the downiness or smoothness of the skin; the former being true Peaches, the latter our Nectarines, known in France only as Pêches lisses, or smooth-skinned Peaches. Each of these are divisible, from their internal structure, into the Pavies or Clingstones, and the Melting kinds; the former having firm flesh adhering so closely to the stone as to be perfectly inseparable from it; the latter having soft dissolving flesh separating readily from the stone, and leaving a few detached pieces of the flesh only behind. As the mature fruit in vegetable economy appears to be the last stage of nature in her progress towards reproduction, I have adopted it as the most natural on which to found my subdivisions and sections.

Accordingly, the classes of Peaches and Nectarines may, by the examination of the leaves, be ascertained in the first year the plant has been raised; the divisions, from the flowers, in the spring following; and the subdivisions and sections, founding the former on the character of the skins, the latter on the qualities of the flesh, in the succeeding summer or autumn; and whether the number to be submitted to examination be great or small, the arrangement may be effected with equal facility and precision.