204 



THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



DAVIDSON 



I. Harrison & Sons Cat. i6. 1905. 2. Mn. Slate Fr. Sta. Rpt. 12. 1905-06. 3. Mich. Stu. Sp. 

 B!</. 44:35 fig., 36. 1910. 



Davidson is on probation as an early peach for northern cUmates 

 with the chances greatly against its ever proving worthy the attention 

 of New York peach-growers. Still, it comes so highly recommended that 

 we give it a place among the major varieties in The Peaches of New York 

 hoping that the growers of the State will at least try it out. It is a white- 

 fleshed peach similar to the well-known Rivers, larger in size, but not quite as 

 early. The trees are very hardy, come into bearing early and bear heavily 

 but ripen their crop unevenly. The peaches, as the color-plate shows, are 

 handsome, and for a variety of early season they are particularly good 

 in quality but are very susceptible to brown-rot, peach-scab, leaf-curl and 

 seemingly all the other ills peach-flesh is heir to. 



Davidson originated with G. W. Davidson, Shelbj', Michigan, and 

 is supposed to be a sport of Early Michigan, being very similar to that 

 sort in all respects except season, Davidson being two weeks earlier. It 

 is often confused with Eureka. 



Tree large, upright-spreading, hardy, productive; trunk thick; branches stocky, 

 smooth, reddish-brown covered with ash-gray; branchlets dull red strongly colored with 

 olive-green, smooth, glabrous, with numerous small, conspicuous lenticels raised toward 

 the base. 



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

 upward, oval to obovate-lanceolate; upper svirface dark green, smooth or slightly rugose; 

 lower surface light grayish-green; margin broadly crenate or coarsely serrate, tipped with 

 dark red glands; petiole one-half inch long, glandless or \^ath one to five small, reniform, 

 greenish-yellow glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds conical, pubescent, plump, appressed; blooming season early; flowers 

 pink, one and three-fourths inches across, well distributed; pedicels nearly sessile, glabrous, 

 green; cal37X-tube dull reddish-green, yellowish-green within, campanulate, glabrous; 

 calyx-lobes meditim in length, narrow, acute, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals 

 roundish-ovate, often broadly notched near the base, tapering to short, broad claws 

 occasionally with a red base; filaments one-half inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil 

 pubescent at the ovary, equal to the stamens in length. 



Fruit matures early; two and one-half inches long, two and three-eighths inches mdc, 

 roundish, bulged near the apex, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity contracted, 

 deep, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, becoming deep at the extremities; apex roundish, 

 with a small, mucronate tip; color creamy- white blushed with dull red, indistinctly striped 

 with darker red; pubescence short, thick; skin tough, separates from the ptilp; flesh white, 

 juicy, stringy, tender, melting, sweet or with some sprightliness; fair to good in quality; 



