THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 215 



Compare the color-plates of Fitzgerald and Early Crawford and it 

 is seen at once that the two peaches are almost identical in fniit and foliage. 

 There could be no use in growing Fitzgerald in this State, so similar is it 

 to the better-known Early Crawford, were it not for the fact that the two 

 diflfer in season a few days and that possibly Fitzgerald is the more pro- 

 ductive of the two. Fitzgerald ripens a few days earlier than Early 

 Crawford though in some of the references given it is said to ripen a few 

 days later. Canadian peach-growers claim that Fitzgerald, besides being 

 more productive and extending the season of Early Crawford, is hardier. 

 In the effort to maintain peaches of the Crawford family in commercial 

 plantations it may be worth while to try Fitzgerald. 



Fitzgerald originated a quarter of a century or more ago at Oakville, 

 Ontario, but who the originator or what the parentage is not known. 

 The American Pomological Society placed Fitzgerald on its list of recom- 

 mended fruits in 1899, a place it still holds. 



Tree of medium size, upright-spreading, round-topped, hardy, not verj' productive; 

 trunk smooth; branches smooth, reddish-brown covered with light ash-gray; branch] ets 

 long, with inclination to develop short, spur-like branchlets, pinkish-red or dark red inter- 

 mingled with green, smooth, glabrous, with numerous conspicuous, rather small lenticels. 



Leaves six inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward but recurved, 

 oval to obovate-lanceolate; upper surface dark green tinged with olive-green, rugose; lower 

 surface light grayish-green; margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; 

 petiole one-half inch long, glandless or with one to five small, globose, greenish-yellow 

 glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds hardy, conical, pubescent, plump, free; blossoms appear in mid-season; 

 flowers pale pink varjdng to a deeper red along the edges, seven-eighths inch across; pedicels 

 very short, slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish-green, orange-colored within. 

 obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, glabrous within, heavily pubescent without; 

 petals roundish-oval to ovate, white at the center, tapering to narrow claws often red 

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

 at the ovarj', equal to the stamens in length. 



Fruit matures in mid-season; two and one-half inches long, more than two and one- 

 half inches wide, roimdish-oval to cordate, somewhat compressed, with unequal halves, 

 bulged at one side; cavity medium to deep, wide, abrupt or often flaring, marked with 

 radiating streaks ; suture shallow, deepening toward the apex ; apex roimdish, ending in a 

 recurved, mamelon point; color golden-yellow more or less overspread with a dull red blush, 

 with splashes and mottlings of deeper red; pubescence long, thick; skin thin, tough; flesh 

 yellow, rayed with red at the pit, juicy, rather firm, tender, sweet or mildly subacid, 

 pleasant flavored; very good in quality; stone free, one and one-half inches long, one inch 

 wide, ovate, plump, flattened near the base, with pitted surfaces; ventral suture very 

 deeply furrowed along the sides; dorsal suture slightly winged. 



