PEACHES AND NECTARINES 193 



full crop of superlatively luscious fruit each sea- 

 son, ripening here about July 30th. The fruit 

 has a white skin with numerous beautiful dots 

 and shadings of light and dark crimson, and the 

 flesh is pale lemon yellow, being a blend of the 

 deeper tint of the Muir peach and the white flesh 

 of the nectarine. In flavor the fruit has an in- 

 describably delicious quality that surpasses that 

 of all other peaches. But it is too soft for long 

 shipment, although having all the desirable qual- 

 ities of a home fruit. The Opulent has been ac- 

 knowledged by all who have tested it to be the 

 best in quality of any peach ever produced. 



The tree is quite hardy. It has been cultivated 

 as far north as Canada and has proved able to 

 endure a temperature of 40 degrees below zero, 

 bearing a full crop after other peaches in the 

 same locality were destroyed by the severity of 

 the winter. 



Among the numerous seedlings from the Opu- 

 lent, some are white nectarines pure and simple, 

 some are red or pink nectarines, and some closely 

 resemble the Muir peach. Yet there are many 

 that differ from any known variety of peach or 

 nectarine. 



Similar results have been obtained in a subse- 

 quent series of experiments, in which the white 

 nectarine was crossed with the early Crawford 



Vol. 3 Bur. G 



