This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
Dear sir: Having read much in the Horticulturist, pro et con, concerning a peach stone producing a nectarine and vice versa, I thought a circumstance that transpired under my own observation the past season, might not prove uninteresting to the readers of the Horticulturist.
Some five or six years since, I planted a few thousand peach stones to raise stocks from; but in budding them,quite a number failed to take the bud, and were consequently headed down the next spring, with the exception of the first in each row, which were left as markers; one of which produced the past season, a crop of peaches and nectarines. The peaches were of smallish size, good flavor, and ripened a few days later than the Early York.
The nectarines were of small size, well colored, and of fine flavor. Being unwilling to matter, I preserved a specimen of the nectarines till the fall show of our (Niagara county) Horticultural Society, when I presented it to some of our best judges of fruit, who unhesitatingly pronounced it a bona fide nectarine. This tree never has been grafted or budded. I did not find them, the fruit, on the ground, but picked them off the tree myself. These are facts, and (to me at least,) conclusive and self-convincing, which cannot be controverted.
If you think the above worthy of insertion in the Horticulturist, it is at your disposal.
I have taken the Horticulturist ever since its commencement; it is my hand-book on all subjects of which it treats. I remaiu yours most sincerely, Jas. Culver. Royalton, March 10.
 
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