VARIETIES OF PEACHES 



355 



Fig. 185. Elberta. 



to withstand the ravages of both insects and fungi, large size, 

 vigor, early bearing, and longevity in tree ; 

 and large handsome fruits which ship and 

 keep remarkably well. Elberta, however, 

 is not without faults. The trees are not 

 hardy in either wood or blossoms. The 

 peaches lack the richness of the Crawfords 

 and the sweetness of the white-fleshed Cham- 

 pion type. The stone is large but usually 

 wholly free from the flesh. Elberta was 

 grown by Samuel Rumph, Marshallville, 

 Georgia, from a seed of Chinese Cling planted in the fall of 1870. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright spreading, very productive. Fruit midsea- 

 son; 2% inches long, 2^^ inches wide, round-oblong or cordate, compressed, 

 usually with a slight bulge at one side; cavity deep, flaring, often mottled 

 with red; suture shallow, deepening toward the apex; apex rounded, with a 

 mamelon or pointed tip; color greenish-yelloAv changing to orange-yellow, 

 from one-quarter to three-fourths overspread with red and with much mot- 

 tling extending sometimes over nearly the entire surface; pubescence thick 

 and coarse; skin thick, tough, separates from the pulp; flesh yellow stained 

 with red near the pit, juicy, stringy, firm but tender, sweet to subacid, 

 mild; good in quality; stone free, broadly ovate, sharp-pointed, bulged on 

 one side, with pitted surfaces. 



550. J. H. Hale (Fig. 186).— The characters of J. H. Hale 

 can be set forth best by comparing it with Elberta. In size, 

 the fruit of J. H. Hale averages larger; the flesh is firmer and 

 heavier. In shape, the fruit is almost a 

 sphere, so that it is more shapely than the 

 oblong Elberta, and can be packed to better 

 advantage. In color there is no choice; both 

 peaches are voluptuously handsome. The skin 

 of the J. H. Hale is less pubescent and a little 

 firmer and tighter. There is but little differ- 

 ence in flavor, aroma, texture and juiciness. 

 J, H. Hale ripens its fruits a few days earlier 

 than Elberta, and its trees and buds are hardier. Which is the 

 more productive is not certain. This variety is a chance seed- 

 ling found by J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Connecticut. The 

 distribution of the variety was begun by Stark Brothers, Louisi- 

 ana, Missouri, in 1912. 



