THE CLASSIFICATION OF PEACHES 177 



stone somewhat flat, with medium corrugations, ad- 

 hesion various; season variable, but early varieties 

 predominating. Chinese Cling is the type of this 

 group; but Belle of Georgia, Waddell, and Hiley 

 are, perhaps, the best known commercial types. 

 Elberta, best known of all, belongs to this group, but 

 its characters do not conform nicely to those of the 

 pure type. 



j. Honey Group. Fruit long and irregular in form, 

 with a deep suture, and usually with a long, pointed 

 apex; pits long, corrugated, and sharply pointed. 

 Tree not hardy, suitable for planting only in the ex- 

 treme southern states, along the Gulf of Mexico. 

 The variety Honey is the one commonly grown. 



4. Columbia Group. Mostly large trees (Columbia 

 itself being an exception to this rule); fruit late, firm, 

 often streaked and mottled; pits small, oval, pointed. 

 The variety Columbia, taken as the type, has been 

 long known in the United States, but has never been 

 cultivated on an extensive commercial scale. Other 

 varieties are Cobler, La Reine, Lula, Texas, and Vic- 

 toria. 



5. Peen-to Group. Tree large; and vigorous, willowy, 

 with long, slender branches; leaves long and narrow; 

 fruit much flattened endwise. (Though this is the 

 most striking characteristic of the variety Peen-to it- 

 self, the seedlings raised from this variety seldom 

 show this peculiar form.) Skin white and mottled 

 with red, much as in the Chinese Cling group, flavor 

 sweet but peculiar; stone flattened endwise like the 

 fruit. This is said to be a distinctly southern type, 

 ranging farther south than any of the other peaches. 



