354 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOdY 



Tree medium to lar^c, vigorous, uprislit-sj)rca(linf;, unproductive. Fruit 

 early; 2% inches in diameter, round-oviil, depressed, with oblique sides; 

 cavity wide, abrupt or flaring, often tinged with red; suture deep near 

 the tip; apex round or depressed, with a pointed tip; color deep yellow, 

 blushed and splashed with carmine ; pubescence thick and long ; skin thick, 

 tough ; flesh light yellow, tinged with red near the pit, juicy, tender, pleas- 

 antly sprightly, highly flavored; very good in quality; stone free, ovate, 

 plump, tapering to a long point, with rough surfaces marked by large and 

 small pits. 



Sub-group 2. iMidseason Peaches 



548. Muir (Fig. 184) is a late midseason yellow-fleshed, free- 

 stone peach much used by canners on the 

 Pacific slope. It should be more generally 

 grown for the same purpose in the East; for, 

 as a canned product, it is hardly surpassed 

 in a])pearance or quality. The trees are vig- 

 orous, productive, and little subject to leaf- 

 curl, but the fruits are often marred by peach- 

 scab. The variety was found about 1880 on 



Fig. 184. Muir. ^j^g farm of John :\Iuir, Silveyville, California. 



Tree vigorous, upright or somewhat spreading, hardy, productive. Fruit 

 midseason; 2% inches long, 2'/^ inches wide, round-cordate or oval, angu- 

 lar, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity shallow^, contracted about the 

 sides, flaring; suture medium in depth; apex pointed, with a large recurved 

 mamelon tip ; color lemon-yellow ; pubescence heavy, long ; skin thin, tough ; 

 flesh yellow, faintly tinged near the pit, dry, coarse, tender, sweet, mild ; 

 good in quality; stone free, ovate, flattened, wedge-shaped toAvard the base, 

 tapering to a long apex, with large pits and a few small grooves in the 

 surfaces. 



549. Elberta (Fig. 185) leads all other peaches in America in 

 number of trees. The preeminently meritorious character of 

 Elberta is its freedom from local prejudices of either soil or 

 climate. Thus Elberta is grown with profit in every peach- 

 growing state in the Union, and in nearly all is produced in 

 greater quantities than any other market peach. The second 

 character which commends Elberta is f ruitfulness : barring frosts 

 or freezes, the trees load themselves with fruit year in and j^ear 

 out. Added to these two great points of superiority are ability 



