266 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



the fruit-catalog of the American Pomological Society in 1875 but in 1909 

 the name was shortened by the Society to Reeves. 



Tree meditim to large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, rather unproductive; 

 branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown with Hght ash-gray; branchlets intermediate 

 in thickness and length, with a tendency to rebranch, dark pinkish-red with some oHve- 

 green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with moderately conspicuous lenticels raised and breaking 

 the bark near the base. 



Leaves six and three-fourths inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, variable 

 in position, oval to obovate-lanceolate ; upper surface dark olive-green, smooth becoming 

 rugose along the midrib; lower surface grayish-green; apex acuminate; margin finely ser- 

 rate, with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, glandless or with one 

 to three small, globose glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds tender, medium in size and length, pubescent, conical or pointed, plump, 

 free; blossoms open late; flowers seven-eighths inch across, light and dark pink, well dis- 

 tributed; pedicels very short, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube reddish-green at the base, 

 orange-colored within, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes medium to narrow, acute, glabrous 

 within, pubescent without; petals oval to ovate, tapering to claws red at the base; fila- 

 ments three-eighths inch long, equal to the jjetals in length; pistil pubescent near the 

 base, as long as the stamens. 



Fruit matures in mid-season; two and three-eighths inches long, two and one-half 

 inches wide, round-cordate, bulged at one side, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity 

 often very deep, flaring or abrupt, the skin tender and often marked with red; suture 

 shallow, sometimes extending beyond both cavity and tip; apex pointed or rounded, with 

 a prominent, recurved, mamelon tip; color deep yellow, blushed with dull red, striped, 

 splashed and mottled with brighter red; pubescence thick, long; skin thick, tough, sepa- 

 rates from the pulp; flesh yellow, tinged with red near the pit, juicy, string}% tender and 

 melting, pleasantly flavored, mild, sweet; very good in quality; stone free, one and three- 

 eighths inches long, fifteen-sixteenths inch wide, ovate to oval, more or less biilged near 

 the apex, sometimes winged along the ventral suture, with pitted and grooved surfaces; 

 ventral suture deeply furrowed along the sides, narrow, grooved; dorsal suttu-e small, 

 grooved. 



RIVERS 



I. Am. Pom. ^oc. Cat. 34. 1883. 2. Onl. Fr. Exp. Sta. Rpl. 6:22 fig. 1899. 3. Del. Sla. Rpt. 

 13:106. 1901. 4. Com. 7/or/. 25:464. 1902. 5. Budd-Hansen .4m. /ior/. jl/a«. 2:354. 1903. 



Early Rivers. 6. Jour. Ilorl. N. S. 17:38, 58. ' 1869. 7. Downing Fr. Trees .Am. 1st App. 120, 

 121. 1872. 8. Card. Citron. 1262. 1872. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 28. 1875. 10. Hogg Fruit Man. 

 445. 1884. II. Rev. Hort. 388. 1890. 12. Cat. Cong. Pom. France 98 fig. 1906. 



Rivers' Fruhe. 13. Lauche Dent. Pom. VI: No. 9, PI. 1882. 



Prccoce Rivers. 14. Baltct Cult. Fr. 239 fig. 138. 1908. 



Rivers and one other, Salwey, are the only foreign peaches now com- 

 monly cultivated in America. The peach, of all tree-fruits, best proves 

 the general rule that American varieties of frtiits are best adapted to 

 American conditions. Perhaps to Rivers may be added three or four more 



