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Nectarines and Peaches

These fruits are both the produce of the same species of plant, the skin of the first being smooth, that of the second downy. Both contain a considerable quantity of sugar, but cannot boast of possessing great nutritive properties. The seeds of the nectarine are employed for making noyeau and flavouring brandy-Peaches and nectarines are dessert fruits of a very high order. They make delicious preserves, and in America and in some parts of France are used in the manufacture of a sort of brandy. The leaves contain prussic acid, and consequently when steeped in gin or whisky impart a flavour resembling that of noyeau. According to Mr. Loudon, the following are the characteristics of a good peach or nectarine. "A good peach or nectarine possesses these qualities: the flesh is firm; the skin is thin, of a deep or bright red colour next the sun, and of a yellowish green next the wall; the pulp is of a yellowish colour, full of high-flavoured juice; the fleshy part thick, and the stone small." The peach was introduced into this country about the middle of the sixteenth century. It is always reared against walls or under glass. Both peaches and nectarines are divided into the "free-stone" or "melting" peaches, in which the flesh or pulp separates readily from the stone; and the "cling-stone varieties," in which the flesh clings or adheres to the stone. The first named are usually the best flavoured.