Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/218

 208 PEACH PEACOCK nearly so serious as the yellows, which mani- fests itself in premature ripening, weak growth of shoots, and sickly yellow leaves, and soon causes the death of the tree ; it is communica- ble from one tree to another, and is probably correctly ascribed to a minute fungus; the remedy is to cut and burn the trees on the first appearance of the disease. The curculio, so destructive to the plum, attacks the peach also, and in some localities is a serious drawback ; the only remedy is to jar off, catch, and kill the insect. The peach borer is the larva of ^figeria exitiosa, and the most troublesome of all the enemies to the tree ; the perfect insect, though it has much the appearance of a wasp, is a moth ; the female is dark blue, the under wings transparent and with an orange-colored band across the abdomen; she deposits her eggs upon the bark of the tree near the ground, beginning in the middle of June and sometimes appearing all summer ; the young larva makes its way into the tree and lives upon the new wood, to which it is very destructive ; it under- goes its transformations and comes out the next spring as a perfect insect; the presence of the borer is indicated by an exudation of gum from the wound, and the only remedy is to cut or dig it out ; in the orchards the hands, after picking is over, are set at " worming," or searching for and killing borers. A frequent cause of failure in the peach crop is one against which no precautions can avail the destruction of the flower buds by intense cold during the winter; spring frosts, unless at flowering time, do but little injury. The peach tree is remarkably excitable, and a warm spell, such as frequently occurs in winter, will awaken the vegetative powers sufficiently to cause the buds to swell, though but slightly ; if under these conditions a sudden change takes place, and, as sometimes happens, the temperature goes below zero, the fruit buds are quite sure to be killed. There are a num- ber of ornamental varieties of the peach, among the best known of which are several double sorts which produce a profusion of flowers as double as roses; one of these, the camellia- flowered, is especially beautiful ; some of them bear fruit of an indifferent quality. The dwarf varieties are curious, producing fruit when one or two feet high; one of these, the golden dwarf, originated in Georgia, another is Ital- ian, and others are Australian. The weeping peach originated with the late William Reid of Elizabeth, N. J., and bears his name ; when grafted on a plum stock 6 ft. high, its branches hang down like those of a weeping willow, and it makes a handsome lawn tree ; it produces an abundance of fruit, which however is fit only for cooking ; the seedlings are said to show the same pendulous habit. A blood-leaved or pur- ple-leaved variety of the peach is very showy in spring, but the leaves do not retain their dark purple color through the summer. The peen-to, or flat peach of China, has its fruit so singularly compressed that the two ends of the stone are only covered by the skin, the flesh being all at the sides. Another curiosity from China is the crooked peach, in which the fruit is long and crooked, and remark- ably sweet. PEACOCK, a gallinaceous bird of the pheas- ant family, and subfamily pavonincB, which includes, according to Gray, the genera pavo (Linn.), polyplectron (Temni.), and crossoptilon (Hodgs.), all natives of India and its archipela- go. In the genus paw the bill is moderate, with the base of the culmen elevated, the api- cal half arched and vaulted, and the sides com- pressed ; wings short and rounded, with the sixth quill the longest ; head plumed and crest- ed, and orbital region naked; the tail com- posed of 18 feathers, long and rounded, but in the males concealed by the greatly lengthened coverts; tarsi long and strong, with large transverse scales in front, and armed with a conical spur ; toes moderate, the anterior ones united at the base by a membrane. They are splendid birds, preferring in the wild state wooded districts and low jungles; they are sufficiently hardy to endure the severe cold of the mountains of northern India; they roost on high branches, and make the 'nest on the ground among thick shrubs ; the male does not attain his perfect train until the third year. The wild birds are more brilliant than the do- Coininon Peacock (Pavo cristatus). mesticated. They are about the size of a hen turkey ; the flight is low and heavy ; they are polygamous, and lay from 12 to 20 eggs, about the size of those of a goose, and raise only one