BELLE 



BLOOD CLING 



163 



BELLE. Fig. 154. Belle oj Georgia. 

 Georgia. Belle elicits praise because of the 

 great beauty of its fruits, which are large, trim 

 in contour, creamy-white, with a beautiful 

 crimson cheek truly voluptuous in form and 

 color. The fruits are as enticing to the eye in- 

 wardly as outwardly, for the white flesh is 

 delicately marbled, tinted with red at the pit, 

 and flesh and pit usually part cleanly. Un- 

 fortunately, appearance misrepresents quality; 

 for the variety, while good, falls short in flavor, 

 and the flesh is stringy, so that it must be 



154. Belle. (X%) 



rated as not above the average for its type. 

 The trees are large, open-headed, a little strag- 

 gling, fast-growing, and hardy, though, like 

 most of their type, easy prey to leaf-curl. 

 Belle prefers a southern climate, and in the 

 South is often a good commercial sort. Belle 

 came from a seed of Chinese Cling planted in 

 1870 by L. A. Rumph, Marshallville, Georgia. 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, 

 very productive. Leaves 5% inches long, 1% inches 

 wide, oblong-lanceolate, leathery ; margin coarsely ser- 

 rate ; teeth tipped with dark red glands ; petiole 1 % 

 inches long, with 2-6 large, reniform or globose, greenish- 

 yellow glands. Fruit midseason ; 2 inches in diameter, 

 round-oval, bulging near the apex, compressed, with 

 halves nearly equal ; cavity abruptly flaring, red, with 

 tender skin ; suture shallow,- deepening toward the apex ; 

 apex round with a mucronate tip ; color greenish-white 

 changing to creamy-white, blushed with red, with faint 

 stripes and splashes of darker red, mottled ; pubescence 

 short, fine, thick ; skin thin, tender, adherent to the 

 pulp ; flesh white, tinged with red at the pit and with 

 radiating rays of red, juicy, stringy, tender, sweet, 

 mild ; good in quality ; stone semi-free to free, oval, 

 bulged near the apex, blunt at the base, with short, 

 sharp point at the apex, with deeply pitted surfaces. 



BEQUETTE FREE. Bequette Free makes 

 a favorable impression because of the flavor 

 and attractive appearance of the fruit, but 

 does not receive general commendation except 

 on the Pacific slope. The trees are fast-growing, 

 very vigorous, hardy, and densely clothed with 

 foliage, but they cannot be called fruitful, and 

 are susceptible to leaf-curl. This variety origi- 

 nated about 1860 in a seedling orchard of 

 Benjamin Bequette, Visalia, California. 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, 

 rather unproductive. Leaves very numerous, 6% inches 

 long, 1% inches wide, oval-lanceolate to broad-obovate, 

 leathery ; margin coarsely serrate ; teeth tipped with 

 dark glands ; petiole % inch long, with 2-5 large, 

 reniform, greenish-yellow glands. Flowers midseason, 

 light to dark pink, 1^4 inches across, borne in ones and 

 twos. Fruit midseason ; 2 % inches in diameter, round- 

 oval, compressed, often with unequal sides ; cavity small, 



deep, abrupt, often tinged with red ; suture shallow, 

 deepening toward the apex ; apex round, depressed at 

 the center, with a small, recurved, mamelon tip ; color 

 greenish-white marked with yellow, blushed, splashed 

 and blotched with dark red ; pubescence thick, long, 

 coarse ; skin thin, tough, separates readily from the 

 pulp ; flesh white, tinged with red near the pit, juicy, 

 stringy, tender and melting, pleasantly flavored, sprightly ; 

 good to very good in quality ; stone nearly free, oval, 

 with a short-pointed apex, with deeply pitted and 

 slightly grooved surfaces. 



BERENICE. At its best, Berenice is hardly 

 surpassed by any other peach, but the fruits 

 vary greatly, and this fact, with their none 

 too attractive coloring, is probably the reason 

 why the variety is not more grown. The trees 

 are about all that could be desired, falling 

 short chiefly in not being so productive as 

 several other peaches of the same season and 

 in being susceptible to leaf-curl. The variety 

 has been offered to fruit-growers a sufficient 

 length of time to have had its merits well 

 tried as a commercial peach, and the fact that 

 it is not now largely grown is presumptive 

 evidence that it has little commercial value. 

 The variety is a good sort for a home col- 

 lection. Berenice originated some thirty or 

 more years ago with the late L. E. Berckmans, 

 Augusta, Georgia. 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, 

 medium to productive. Leaves 6 inches long, 1^ inches 

 wide, oval to obovate-lanceolate, leathery ; margin 

 coarsely serrate ; teeth tipped with dark glands ; petiole 

 %, inch long, with 2-10 large, reniform, yellowish-green 

 glands. Flowers midseason, 1% inches across, pale pink, 

 tinged darker along the edges. Fruit midseason ; 2 % 

 inches in diameter, round-oval, with halves often un- 

 equal ; cavity deep, medium to wide, contracted around 

 the sides, with tender skin, often blushed with red ; 

 suture shallow, deepening toward the apex ; apex round- 

 ish or depressed, with a mucronate or mamelon tip ; 

 color greenish -yellow, blushed and splashed with red ; 

 pubescence short, fine ; skin tough, separates from the 

 pulp ; flesh yellow, faintly tinted with red near the pit, 

 stringy, tender and melting, sweet, mild, pleasant 

 flavored ; good in quality ; stone nearly free, oval, plump, 

 drawn out at the ends, usually with pitted surfaces. 



BILYEU. Discarded in the East, where it 

 originated a half century ago, Bilyeu is now 

 proving somewhat of a favorite in California 

 as an extremely late freestone peach suitable 

 for dessert and for local markets. The variety 

 is one of the latest of all white-fleshed free- 

 stones, and is also remarkable for the excep- 

 tional vigor of the trees. Bilyeu originated 

 as a chance seedling in Caroline County, Mary- 

 land, with a Mr. Bilyeu sometime previous to 

 1880. 



Tree very vigorous, very productive, certain in bearing 

 only in California. Fruit medium to large in the East, 

 very large in California, round ; skin greenish white 

 with a red cheek ; flesh white, firm, sweet, juicy ; good 

 to very good in quality ; stone rather large, free. 



BLOOD CLING. Blood Peach. Indian 

 Blood. Blood Cling is the favorite curiosity 

 of the peach-orchard. The fruit is pleasant to 

 eat out of hand, and is much used for pickling 

 and preserving, for which purpose it has much 

 merit. This peach is an American seedling 

 raised many years ago from the Blood Cling- 

 stone of the French. The fruit is much larger 

 than that of the parent, but otherwise is much 

 the same. The Blood Free raised by John M. 



