606 Report of the Department of Horticulture of the 



important characters. In fact, of the score or more of peaches of the 

 Crawford type, in many respects the best of the several types of 

 peaches, Edgemont is distinctly superior to all on our grounds. It 

 is a few days or a week earlier than Elberta, is juicier, less fibrous, 

 much excels that variety in quality and, though the individual peaches 

 are not quite as large in size, yet at Geneva the yield of fruit is even 

 greater. If the Edgemont proves adapted to as wide a range of 

 climates and soils as the Elberta, we shall have a new commercial 

 peach of very great value. Whether it succeeds in commerce or 

 not, Edgemont is well worth planting in home orchards by virtue 

 of its exceptionally high quality and alluring appearance. 



The Edgemont, shortened from Edgemont Beauty, in accordance 

 with the rules of the American Pomological Society, is of rather 

 recent origin, having been introduced by the Miller Orchard Company 

 of Edgemont, Maryland, in 1902. 



Tree very large, upright-spreading, somewhat open, productive; leaves large, oval, 

 lanceolate; upper surface smooth, dark green; lower surface silvery green; season of 

 bloom with Elberta, short. Fruit midseason, season short; large, roundish-oval to 

 somewhat ccnic, halves unequal; cavity medium to deep, rather wide, slightly flaring; 

 suture shallow, deepening toward the apex; apex roundish to bluntly pointed; color 

 greenish-yellow changing to a pale lemon-yellow, splashed with dull red with a 

 carmine blush; overspread with short pubescence; dots numerous, rather conspicuous; 

 skin thin, tough, adherent; flesh yellow, faintly red at the pit, fine, tender, slightly 

 fibrous, rich, sweet, spicy; very good; stone free. 



CHERRY. 



Abbesse d'Oignies has so many good characters that it is well 

 worth trying commercially wherever cherries are grown in the 

 United States. Curiously enough, it seems so far to have been tried 

 only in the Middle West, Professor Budd having introduced it in 

 Iowa from Russia in 1883. It grew in the Mississippi Valley, if 

 we may judge from the accounts of it, as well as any cherry of its 

 class in the unfavorable soil and climatic conditions of that region. 

 We do not know of its having been tried elsewhere in the East than 

 on our grounds and here we find it, in competition with practically 

 all of the varieties of its class, one of the best of the Dukes. The 

 trees are vigorous, hardy, fruitful. The cherries are large, dark 

 red, of most excellent quality, combining the flavor of the Dukes 

 with a firmer and yet tenderer flesh than the Montmorency. The 



