BOTANICAL AND POMOLOGICAL STATUS 1 87 



Price made the first important contribution to the 

 subject in his Texas Experiment Station Bulletin 39, 

 published in 1896. In this he proposes to divide the 

 cultivated peaches into several natural groups. 

 These groups he characterizes fully, and into them 

 he distributes a majority of the varieties then known 

 in Texas. All the more recent classifications have 

 been founded on this one, and are like it in some 

 degree. In his "Cyclopedia of American Horticul- 

 ture" (iii., 1227), pubHshed in 1901, Prof. L. H. Bailey 

 gives a natural classification for peaches very closely 

 modeled on the Price classification. The present 

 writer, in turn, has outlined a natural classification 

 of peaches,* which, with a few changes of names 

 and descriptive terms, follows the same outline. It 

 seems best, under the circumstances, to give only 

 one of these outlines here, and doubtless the latest 

 one can be properly offered. This divides the cul- 

 tivated varieties into five natural groups, named and 

 characterized as follows : 



1. Persian Group (or typical peaches) — ^These are 

 round, more or less pointed, marked with an indis- 

 tinct suture; flesh yellow or white, and characteris- 

 tically soft and juicy; pits roundish or elliptical, 

 pointed, deeply corrugated, mostly clinging to the 

 flesh or only partially free. This group includes all 

 the commonest old-fashioned varieties, such as the 

 Crawfords, Oldmixon, Alexander, Amsden, Salway, 

 Chair Choice, etc. 



2. Chinese Cling Group — Trees broad-headed, 

 open, spreading or even drooping, usually very vig- 

 orous, hardy, and prolific ; foliage large, flat, almond- 

 like, dark green, retaining its color late in the fall, 

 when it changes to a grayish-green tint; glands 



*Waugh, "Systematic Pomology," p 175. 



