EDGEMONT 



ELBERTA CLING 



169 



Tree large, upright-spreading, hardy, healthy, produc- 

 tive in the South but only moderately so in the North ; 

 glands renifonn. Flowers very large, tinted with pink, 

 midseason. Fruit very early, medium to large, round- 

 oblong to oblong-conic ; cavity large, broad, mottled 

 with red ; stem short, stout ; apex protruding ; suture 

 shallow except near the cavity ; skin thick, tough, 

 heavily pubescent ; creamy-white, mottled and splashed 

 with crimson ; flesh white stained with red near the 

 skin, firm, meaty, juicy, subacid ; quality good to very 

 good ; stone of medium size, clinging, oval. 



EDGEMONT. Fig. 161. Edgemont 

 Beauty. In fruit, Edgemont is not easily dis- 

 tinguished from. Late Crawford, the essential 

 differences being that the fruits of Edgemont 

 are more rotund than those of Late Crawford, 

 and the flavor is a little more acid. The trees 

 differ in the greater productiveness of Edge- 

 mont and in a little later maturity of the crop. 

 Of the score or more peaches of the Crawford 

 type, Edgemont is distinctly superior to all. 

 Compared with Elberta, with which it must 

 compete in the markets, it is several days 

 later, juicier, and less fibrous, and much excels 

 that variety in quality; and, moreover, though 



cosmopolite of cultivated peaches. Thus, El- 

 berta is grown with profit in every peach- 

 growing state in the Union, and in nearly all 

 is grown in greater quantities than any other 

 market peach. The second character which 



161. Edgemont. (X%) 



the individual peaches are not quite so large, 

 the yield of fruit is even greater. If Edge- 

 mont proves adapted to as wide a range of 

 climates and soils as Elberta, it is a new com- 

 mercial peach of great value. Whether it 

 succeeds in commerce or not, Edgemont is 

 well worth planting in home orchards by virtue 

 of the exceptionally high quality and attractive 

 appearance of the fruit. Edgemont was intro- 

 duced by the Miller Orchard Company, Edge- 

 mont, Maryland, in 1902. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, productive. 

 Leaves large, obovate, thick ; margin crenate ; glands 

 globose. Flowers midseason, small, dark pink, single. 

 Fruit late midseason ; large, irregular, round-ovate, 

 truncate at the base, with unequal halves ; cavity deep, 

 narrow, regular, abrupt ; suture shallow ; apex mu- 

 cronate ; color light yellow or orange-yellow, with a 

 bronze blush often deepening to a carmine blush ; pubes- 

 cence short, thick ; skin thick, tough, separates from 

 the pulp ; flesh yellow, stained at the pit, very juicy, 

 slightly coarse and stringy, meaty, mild subacid or 

 sprightly ; very good in quality ; stone free, large, oval, 

 plump, pointed, with corrugated surfaces. 



ELBERTA. Fig. 162. Elberta leads all 

 other peaches in America in number of trees. 

 It is, too, the most popular of all peaches in 

 the markets. The preeminently meritorious 

 character of Elberta is its freedom from local 

 prejudices of either soil or climate it is the 



162. Elberta. (Xy 2 ) 



commends Elberta to those in the business of 

 peach-growing is fruitfulness : barring frosts or 

 freezes, the trees load themselves with fruit 

 year in and year out. Added to these two 

 great points of superiority are ability to with- 

 stand the ravages of both insects and fungi, 

 large size, vigor, early bearing, and longevity 

 in tree; and large, handsome, well-flavored 

 fruits which ship and keep remarkably well. 

 Elberta, however, is not without faults and 

 serious ones. The trees are not so hardy in 

 either wood or blossoms as might be wished. 

 The peaches fall short in quality; they lack 

 the richness of the Crawfords and the sweet- 

 ness of the white-fleshed Champion type. 

 Moreover, the pronounced bitter tang, even 

 when the peaches are fully ripe, is disagreeable 

 to some. The stone is large but usually wholly 

 free from the flesh. With these faults, the 

 dominance of Elberta is not wholly desirable, 

 as growers are satisfied with the one variety, 

 and consumers are forced to put up with a 

 peach none too high in quality. Elberta was 

 grown by Samuel Rumph, Marshallville, 

 Georgia, from a seed of Chinese Cling planted 

 in the fall of 1870. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, 

 hardy, very productive. Leaves 6% inches long, 1% 

 inches wide, oval to obovate-lanceolate ; margin serrate, 

 often in 2 series ; teeth tipped with reddish-brown 

 glands ; petiole % inch long, with 1-6 reniform, greenish- 

 yellow glands. Flowers midseason, light pink near the 

 center, darker toward the edges, 1*4 inches across. Fruit 

 midseason, 2% inches long, 2^ inches wide, round- 

 oblong or cordate, compressed, usually with a slight 

 bulge at one side ; cavity deep, flaring, often mottled 

 with red ; suture shallow, deepening toward the apex ; 

 apex rounded, with a mamelon or pointed tip ; color 

 greenish-yellow changing to orange-yellow, from %-% 

 overspread with red and with much mottling extending 

 sometimes over nearly the entire surface ; pubescence 

 thick and coarse ; skin thick, tough, separates from the 

 pulp ; flesh yellow, stained with red near the pit, juicy, 

 stringy, firm but tender, sweet to subacid, mild ; good 

 in quality ; stone free, broadly ovate, varying from flat 

 to plump, sharp-pointed, decidedly bulged on one side 

 with pitted surfaces. 



ELBERTA CLING. Elberta Cling was in- 

 troduced as identical with Elberta in growth of 



