n 1865
reverted to its former state and produced large almonds.

Again, as I hear from Mr. Rivers, the double-flowering Chinese peaches
resemble almonds in their manner of growth and in their flowers; the
fruit is much elongated and flattened, with the flesh both bitter and
sweet, but {339} not uneatable, and it is said to be of better quality
in China. From this stage one small step leads us to such inferior
peaches as are occasionally raised from seed. For instance, Mr. Rivers
sowed a number of peach-stones imported from the United States, where
they are collected for raising stocks, and some of the trees raised by
him produced peaches which were very like almonds in appearance, being
small and hard, with the pulp not softening till very late in the
autumn. Van Mons[642] also states that he once raised from a
peach-stone a peach having the aspect of a wild tree, with fruit like
that of the almond. From inferior peaches, such as these just
described, we may pass by small transitions, through clingstones of
poor quality, to our best and most melting kinds. From this gradation,
from the cases of sudden variation above recorded, and from the fact
that the peach has not been found wild, it seems to me by far the most
probable view, that the peach is the descendant of the almond, improved
and modified in a marvellous manner.

One fact, however, is opposed to this conclusion. A hybrid, raised by
Knight from the sweet almond by the pollen of the peach, produced
flowers with little or no pollen, yet bore fruit, having been
apparently fertilised by a neighbouring nectarine. Another hybrid from
a sweet almond by the pollen of a nectarine produced during the first
three years imperfect blossoms, but afterwards perfect flowers with an
abundance of pollen. If this slight degree of sterility cannot be
accounted for by the youth of the trees (and this often causes lessened
fertility), or by the monstrous state of the flowers, or by the
conditions to which the trees were exposed, these two cases would
afford a strong argument against the peach being the descendant of the
almond.

Whether or not the peach has proceeded from the almond, it has
certainly given rise to nectarines, or smooth peaches, as they are
called by the French. Most of the varieties both of the peach and
nectarine reproduce