242 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



Rareripe Rouge Tardive. 7. Mas Le Verger 7:217, 218, fig. 107. 1866-73. 8. Leroy Did. Pom. 

 6:255 fig-. 256. 1879. 



Prince. 9. Mich. .Sla. Bui. 169:223. 1899. 



Late Rareripe is a white-fleshed, late freestone. It is of value now only 

 because of its historical interest though its high quality makes it well 

 worth growing in gardens. Its position as a milestone in the progress of 

 peaches is better marked if we quote A. J. Downing ' who wrote in 1845 

 when Late Rareripe was in its prime and one of the leading varieties: 

 " Unquestionably one of the very finest of all peaches. Its large size, 

 great excellence, late maturity, productiveness, vigor, all unite to recom- 

 mend it to universal favor. We cannot praise it too highly." 



This old variety is certainly of American origin but the originator, 

 the time and place of origin are all unknown. It has been cultivated more 

 than a hundred years. Prince believed it to be a seedling of Red Rare- 

 ripe but there is nothing to be found now to verify this belief. Late Rare- 

 ripe was sent to France in 1855 where it has since been grown as a satis- 

 factory commercial sort. The American Pomological Society listed this 

 variety in its catalog in 1862 under the name Late Red Rareripe. In 

 1897, the name was shortened to Late Rareripe as it now appears. 



Tree often very large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, of medium productiveness; 

 trunk stocky, nearly smooth; branches thick, smooth, reddish-brown tinged with light 

 ash-gray; branchlets long, with intemodes of medium length, dark pinkish-red inter- 

 mingled with dull green, glabrous, with numerous conspicuous, large lenticels raised at 

 the base. 



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

 and curled downward, oval to obovate-lanceolate, thick, leathery; upper surface smooth 

 becoming rugose at the midrib; lower surface pale green; apex acimiinate; margin finely 

 and often doubly serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch 

 long, glandless or with one to four small, globose, reddish-brown glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds half-hardy, conical to pointed, plump, pubescent, free; blossoms appear 

 in mid-season; flowers one and three-sixteenths inches across, white at the center of the 

 petals changing to pink toward the margins, well distributed; pedicels short, glabrous, green; 

 calyx-tube reddish-green at the base, greenish-yellow within, obconic, glabrous; calyx- 

 lobes acute, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals oval, faintly notched near the base, 

 tapering to narrow claws of medium length tinged with red at the base; filaments three- 

 eighths inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistil pubescent near the base, usually 

 as long as the stamens. 



Fruit matures late ; two and five-eighths inches long, two and eleven-sixteenths inches 



' For a brief history of the Hfe and horticultural activities of .\ndrew Jackson Downing, whose likeness 

 is shown in the frontispiece of The Peaches of New York, the reader is referred to The Cherries of New 

 York, page 244. 



