PEACHES. 459 



ROSANNA (Petite Rosanne ; St. Laurent Jaune). Fruit, medium 

 sized, roundish. Skin, yellow, deep purplish next the sun. Flesh, 

 deep yellow at the circumference, and deep red at the stone ; firm, 

 rich, sugary, and vinous. Flowers, small. Leaves, with kidney-shaped 

 glands. 



Ripens in the middle of September. Tree bears well as a standard, 

 and is very productive. 



This is very different from Yellow Alberge, which :'s sometimes called 

 Rosanna. 



Roy ale. See Boudin. 



Royal Ascot. See Marquis of Downshire. 



110 YAL CHARLOTTE (Grimwoods Royal Charlotte; Kew Early 

 rurple; Lord Fauconbery's ; Lord Nelson's; New Royal Charlotte}. 

 Fruit, rather large, roundish ovate. Skin, pale white, deep red next 

 the sun. Suture, moderately distinct. Flesh, whitish, pale red next 

 the stone, juicy, rich, and vinous. Flowers, small. Leaves, without 

 glands. 



Ripens in the beginning of September. 



ROYAL GEORGE (Double Sivalsh : Dubbcle Zwohche; Griffith'* 

 Miffiwnne ; Lockyer's Mignonne ; Madeleine Rouge a P elites Fleurs ; 

 Milh't'x Mif/nonne ; Superb). Fruit, large, round, and depressed. Skin, 

 very pale, speckled with red in the shade, marbled with deeper colour 

 next the sun. Suture, deep, and broad at the top, extending round 

 almost the whole circumference of the fruit. Flesh, pale yellowish 

 white, very red at the stone, very juicy, rich, and highly flavoured. 

 Flowers, small. Leaves, without glands. 



Ripens in the end of August and beginning of September. 



Mr. Blackmore says " it is worthless at Teddington. The fruit, as 

 soon as set, is whitewashed with mildew." 



The first mention we have of the Royal George is by Switzer, who says it was 

 raised by his " ingenious and laborious friend, Mr. Oram, of Brompton Lane." He 

 describes it as "flattish and pretty large, with a dark red coat on the sunny side, 

 the flower is one of the large whitish kind." " Earlier than the Anne, of great 

 esteem, and inferior to none that comes after it." At the time Switzer wrote this 

 account of it (1724), George the First was on the throne, and, no doubt, the peach 

 was named in honour of him. This must therefore have been the original Royal 

 George. But that which is now cultivated under this name is a very different 

 variety with small flowers, which seems to have superseded the original one. This 

 is not surprising, when we find from Switzer's account that " such is its aversion 

 to unite with stocks in general, and so sad a destruction does it make in the nursery 

 stocks, that I find all nurserymen are weary of it." 



There is every probability that the high reputation the Royal George of Oram 

 attained, and the difficulty of its propagation, induced other cultivators to substitute 

 a variety which could be more easily multiplied, and this they found in Millet's 

 Mignonne, which was also new at the same time, and was introduced by Millet, a 

 nurseryman at North End, Fulham, and it has continued to represent the Royal 

 George ever since. So late as the beginning of the present century Forsyth 

 describes the flowers of Royal George as large. 



I have no doubt that the original Royal George of Oram was a seedling from 



