THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 1 95 



Arundel County, Maryland. First called Chairs' Choice, the apostrophe 

 was dropped in 1891 by the American Pomological Society and still later 

 the same organization shortened the name to Chairs. Its horticultural 

 value was early appreciated by all pomologists and it has long been a prime 

 favorite. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, unproductive; trunk stocky; branches 

 thick, smooth, reddish-brown covered with light ash-gray; branchlets inclined to rebranch, 

 short, with long intemodes, olive-green overlaid with dark red, smooth, glabrous, with 

 numerous large and small, raised lenticels. 



Leaves five and three-fourths inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward, 

 oval to obovate-lanceolate, thin; upper surface dark green, smooth or somewhat rugose'; 

 lower surface light grajdsh -green ; margin coarsely serrate, often in two series, tipped with 

 reddish-brown glands ; petiole one-fourth inch long, with two to six small, globose, greenish- 

 yellow glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds large, oblong-obtuse, ven,' plump, usually free; season of bloom late; 

 flowers dark pink fading toward the whitish centers, three-fotuths inch across; pedicels 

 short, glabrous, pale green; calyx-tube dull, dotted reddish-green, orange-red within, 

 campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, glabrous \vithin, heavily pubescent without; 

 petals oval or ovate, nearly entire, often notched near the base, tapering to claws of medium 

 width, white at the base; filaments one-fourth inch long, equal to the petals in length; 

 pistil pubescent near the ovary, usually longer than the stamens. 



Fruit matures in late mid-season; two and three-fourths inches long, two and seven- 

 eighths inches thick, roimdish-oval, irregxdar, bulged beak-like along one side toward the 

 apex, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity deep, wide, abrupt or flaring; suture shallow, 

 deepening toward the apex and extending slightly beyond ; apex roundish, with a mucronate 

 or small, recurved, mamelon tip; color golden-yellow, blushed and splashed with dull red; 

 pubescence short, fine; skin thin, tough, free; flesh yellow, faintly stained with red near 

 the pit, juicy, stringy, tender, subacid or sprightly, pleasantly flavored; very good in 

 quality; stone free, one and three-fourths inches long, one and three-eighths inches wide, 

 large, broadly oval, bidged along one side, pliunp, with surfaces deeply pitted and with 

 short grooves; ventral sutitre wide, deeply fuirowed along the sides, winged; dorsal suture 

 a deep, wide groove inclined to wing. 



CHAMPION 

 I. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 392. 1891. 2. Mich. Sla. Bui. 118:33. ■SqS- 3- Ont. Ft. Exp. Sta. Rpt. 

 1:57 1895- 4- Am- Pom. Soc. Cat. 21. 1897. 5. Ga. Sta. Bui. 42:233. 1898. 6. iiich. Sta. But. 

 169:209,210. 1899. 7. Kan. Horl. Soc. Rpt. 4S. 1901. i. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. \\2. 1903. 9. Can. 

 Hort. 27:97, 98, fig. 2746. 1904. 10. U. S. D. A. Yearbook 478, 479, PI. XLV. 1908. 11. Waugh 

 Am. Peach Orch. 200. 1913. 



Champion is the white-fleshed peach par excellence in quality — rightly 

 used as the standard to gauge the quality of all other white-fleshed peaches. 

 The fruits are nearly as attractive to the eye as to the palate but unfortu- 

 nately nm small ruid off color in all but choiceh' good peach-soils. The 



