CHINESE FREE 



CROSBY 



167 



many of its offspring, except, possibly in qual- 

 ity. The flavor is delicious, being finely bal- 

 anced between sweetness and sourness, with 

 sweet predominating, and with a most distinct, 

 curious, and pleasant taste of the almond. 

 The fruits are too tender for shipment and 

 very subject to brown-rot. The trees are 

 weak-growers, shy-bearers, tender to cold, and 

 susceptible to leaf-curl. Chinese Cling was 

 imported in 1850 by Charles Downing from 

 Shanghai, China. 



Tree weak in growth, upright-spreading, round-topped, 

 not very hardy, medium in productiveness. Leaves 7% 

 inches long, 2 inches wide, broad oval-lanceolate, thick, 

 leathery ; margin coarsely crenate to finely serrate ; teeth 

 tipped with dark red glands ; petiole % inch long, with 

 2-5 reniform, greenish-yellow, dark-tipped glands. Blos- 

 soms midseason, pink, 1 % inches across. Fruit late ; 2 % 

 inches in diameter, round-oval, compressed ; cavity deep, 

 contracted, narrow, abrupt, faintly tinged with red ; 

 suture deep, extending beyond the apex ; apex round 

 or flattened, with a mucronate tip ; color greenish-white 

 changing to creamy-white, blushed on one side with 

 lively red, splashed and marbled with duller red ; 

 pubescence thick ; skin tough, adhering to the pulp ; 

 flesh white, tinged with red near the pit, juicy, meaty, 

 tender, sweet but sprightly, aromatic ; good in quality ; 

 stone clinging, oval, conspicuously winged, bulged on 

 one side, with pitted surfaces. 



CHINESE FREE. Leaves, flowers, and 

 fruits of Chinese Free are all smaller than 

 those of Chinese Cling, the quality of the 

 fruit is not nearly so good, while the tree 

 runs a little better in most characters. The 

 variety is surpassed by many other white- 

 fleshed peaches of its season for both home 

 and market. Chinese Free grew from a seed 

 of Chinese Cling in the orchard of W. P. 

 Robinson, Atlanta, Georgia, about 1880. 



Tree vigorous, spreading, open-topped, neither very 

 hardy nor very productive. Leaves 5%, inches long, 1% 

 inches wide, oval-lanceolate ; margin finely serrate ; teeth 

 tipped with dark red glands ; petiole % inch long, with 

 2-6 large, reniform, greenish-yellow, dark-tipped glands. 

 Flowers early, pale pink, darker along the edges, IVt 

 inches across, often in twos. Fruit midseason, 2% inches 

 in diameter, round-oval, bulged at one side, compressed, 

 with unequal halves ; cavity narrow, abrupt, tinged with 

 red ; suture shallow ; apex rounded or pointed, with 

 a mucronate tip ; color greenish-white changing to 

 creamy-white, blushed with red, mottled and striped 

 with darker red ; pubescence very short, thin ; skin thin, 

 tough ; flesh greenish-white, stained with red at the 

 pit, juicy, tender, melting, subacid, sprightly ; good in 

 quality ; stone free, oval, plump, abruptly pointed, with 

 pitted surfaces. 



tractive and the variety is a commercial sort. 

 In the North, the peaches are small, unattrac- 

 tive in color, drop badly, are disfigured by 

 peach-scab, and have only honeyed sweetness 

 to recommend them. Climax is a seedling of 

 Honey, but neither the date of origin nor the 

 name of the originator is known. The variety 

 was introduced by G. L. Taber, Glen Saint 

 Mary, Florida, in 1886. 



Tree small, vigorous, upright-spreading, round-topped, 

 dense, productive. Leaves 6 inches long, l 1 /^ inches 

 wide, flattened, lanceolate, thin, leathery ; margin bluntly 

 serrate ; teeth glandular ; petiole ^ inch long, slender, 

 glandless or with 1-4 small, reniform glands usually at 

 the base of the leaf. Flowers late, pale pink, 1 inch 

 across. Fruit midseason, 2% inches in diameter, oval, 

 slightly compressed, with unequal sides ; cavity shallow, 

 flaring, splashed with red ; suture shallow ; apex conic, 

 with a long, swollen often recurved tip ; color creamy- 

 white, occasionally with a blush or faint mottlings of 

 red toward the base ; pubescence short, thick ; skin thin, 

 adherent to the pulp ; flesh white, stained with red 

 near the pit, juicy, stringy, melting, very sweet, mild ; 

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

 plump, bulged on one side, long-pointed at the apex, 

 with pitted and grooved, reddish-brown surfaces. 



CONNETT. Connett Early. This variety 

 is a seedling of the old Chinese Cling, which 

 it much resembles. At its best, the peaches 

 are about the most delicately colored of all 

 grown. They are remarkable also for their 

 small stones, which cling little or not at all. 

 The tree is hardy and vigorous in the North, 

 but is a shy bearer, for which reason it is 

 little grown. In parts of the South, it is a 

 rather general favorite and perhaps would be 

 listed as a commercial sort, if it did not ripen 

 with the better known Carman. Connett 

 originated with Rev. Alfred Connett, McLeans- 

 ville, North Carolina, about 1880. 



Tree very vigorous, large, round-topped, willowy in 

 growth, productive in the South but a shy bearer in the 

 North ; leaves with reniform glands. Flowers midseason, 

 large. Fruit early, ripening with Carman, medium or 

 large, round-oval ; suture shallow ; skin thin, tough, 

 creamy-yellow, slightly blushed with dark red ; flesh 

 white, stained with red at the pit, short, stringy, sweet, 

 juicy ; quality fair to good ; stone free, small, oval, 

 pointed at the ends. 



158. Climax. (XV 2 ) 



CLIMAX. Fig. 158. Climax is a honey- 

 sweet, freestone peach adapted only to the 

 far South, where the fruits are large and at- 



159. Crosby. (X%) 



CROSBY. Fig. 159. Excelsior. Of the 

 several virtues which entitle Crosby to the 

 esteem of fruit-growers, possibly the most 

 notable is hardiness in tree and bud so marked 

 that it is often called the "frost-proof" peach. 

 Besides hardiness, the trees have to recom- 

 mend them vigor, health, and productiveness* 



