In still another letter sent me from the United States Department of Agriculture, Mr. Meyer says: "It is about one month ago since I wrote you last, and so far as real distance is concerned, I have not advanced much, but we went over some very interesting territory and I was lucky enough to discover the _real wild peach_, growing in loess ravines some 2-3 days to the East from here, near a village called _Tchao yu_. The plants are of smaller dimensions than our cultivated strains, and the stones are somewhat different as regards shape and grooves, but still on the whole there is little difference between a very poor seedling-peach and this wild one. These wild peaches are locally cut for firewood, for the fruits are pretty near inedible, being small and having hard, sourish flesh. They grow at the edges of deep loess ravines and on the steep, sloping bottom of such ravines. The Chinese locally do not call this peach '_yeh tao_' or '_shan tao_' but '_Mao t'ao_,' meaning 'hairy peach.' In the vicinity where they grow, no peaches are cultivated although half a day's journey lower down, one meets with some poor looking trees in gardens. The elevation I found them was almost exactly 4000 feet above sea. I gathered some fruits, but they are not quite ripe; I am trying to ripen them off, however, so that we may obtain at least a few ripe seeds. As a stock, however, it has not the value the _Davidiana_ peach has, not being as vigorous and apparently being attacked by the same pests that infest cultivated peaches. This 'find' is of great interest, however, showing that wild peaches exist much nearer the coast than we suspected, and that the peach naturally is a native of semi-arid regions." The explorations made by Mr. Meyer cover, of course, but a small part of the vast empire of China. Further search will, no doubt, show many other localities in Central and Eastern Asia where the peach grows naturally and has probably done so from time immemorial. As all who consult them know, ancient authors are often at fault in matters of history in determining the origin of cultivated plants but they are usually fairly accurate in stating the date of culture of a plant in a country. In the case of the peach the date of culture can be established as so much earlier in China than elsewhere that history alone all but proves its previous existence there in the wild state. In short, the peach was a cultivated fruit in China before there were other agricultural communities from which it could come; for, be it remembered, in China, according to De Candolle, our best authority, agricultural and horticultural arts flourished long before they had even begun elsewhere, unless, possibly, Egypt be excepted, and here the peach, where it may be grown at all, is surely an introduced plant.