GREENSBORO 



HEATH CLING 



173 



serrate ; teeth tipped with reddish-brown glands ; petiole 

 % inch long, glandless or with 1-5 reniform, reddish- 

 brown glands. Blossoms midseason, medium in size, 

 pale pink. Fruit early, 2^4 inches in diameter, oblong- 

 oval, compressed, oblique ; cavity deep, narrow, abrupt ; 

 suture shallow, becoming deeper at the cavity ; apex 

 depressed, with a mucronate tip ; color creamy-white, 

 blushed with red ; pubescence short ; skin thin, separates 

 from the pulp ; flesh white, juicy, stringy, meaty ; good 

 in quality ; stone clinging, obovate, plump, strongly 

 bulged on one side, conspicuously winged, pointed at 

 the base, with the surfaces grooved and pitted. 



GREENSBORO. Fig. 165. Balsey. Greens- 

 boro is one of the leading early, white-fleshed 

 peaches. It takes high place because of its 

 showy fruits and its large, vigorous, healthy, 

 early-bearing, and prolific trees. In the last 



165. Greensboro. 



character, in particular, Greensboro is almost 

 supreme year in and year out, its trees are 

 fruitful. Possibly no other white-fleshed peach 

 is adapted to a greater variety of soils than 

 Greensboro a quality which makes it suitable 

 for wide variations in peach-regions. The 

 peaches, while handsome, are in no way re- 

 markable, the quality being rather inferior, so 

 that it is the tree that gives Greensboro its 

 standing. The variety is well thought of by 

 fruit-dealers, because the fruits carry well and 

 keep long. Possibly the peaches are less sus- 

 ceptible to brown-rot than most other varieties 

 of Greensboro's season, but to offset this ad- 

 vantage there are many cracked pits and ac- 

 companying malformed fruits. Picked green, 

 the stone clings; picked at maturity, the flesh 

 is free. Greensboro is a seedling of Connett 

 grown by W. G. Balsey, Greensboro, North 

 Carolina, about 1891. 



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

 productive. Leaves 6% inches long, 1% inches wide, 

 recurved, obovate-lanceolate, leathery ; margin finely 

 serrate ; teeth tipped with reddish-brown glands ; petiole 

 14 inch long, with 1-5 reniform, reddish-brown glands. 

 Flowers early, pale pink, 1% inches across, usually in 

 twos. Fruit early ; 2 % inches in diameter, oblong-oval, 

 often oblique, bulged at one side, compressed, with 

 unequal sides ; cavity deep, narrow, abrupt ; suture 

 shallow, deepening toward the cavity ; apex rounded, 

 with a small, mucronate tip ; color creamy-white, 

 blushed with red, with a few stripes of darker red inter- 

 mingling ; pubescence heavy, nearly tomentose ; skin 

 tough, separates from the pulp ; flesh white, very juicy, 

 tender and melting, mild, sweet, sprightly ; fair in 

 quality ; stone semi-clinging, ovate, strongly bulged 

 along one side, with short grooves on the surfaces. 



HALE EARLY. Hale. In the middle of 

 the last century, Hale Early was considered 

 the best peach of its season for home and 



market. Eyen now it has several characters 

 to recommend it: as, large, vigorous, hardy, 

 healthy, productive trees; fruits handsome in 

 color, uniform in size and shape, with flesh 

 more than ordinarily free from the stone for 

 an early peach, fair quality for the season, 

 and extreme earliness. The chief fault is that 

 the peaches run small in size, scarcely exceed- 

 ing large marbles, which they resemble in 

 roundness. The variety must be grown in the 

 best of peach lands, heavily thinned, and the 

 trees severely pruned. The peaches are very 

 susceptible to brown-rot. Nowhere very com- 

 monly planted, the variety is still widely dis- 

 tributed. Hale Early grew from a seed planted 

 in 1850 by a German named Moas at Ran- 

 dolph, Ohio. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, variable 

 in productiveness. Leaves flat or curled downward, 6^4 

 inches long, 1 % inches wide, long-oval, thin, leathery ; 

 margin finely serrate, often in 2 series ; teeth tipped 

 with reddish-brown glands ; petiole i inch long, gland- 

 less or with 1-4 small, globose, reddish-brown glands. 

 Blossoms midseason, dark pink at the center, lighter 

 toward the margin and with streaks of light pink along 

 the veins, 1 J /4 inches across, usually single. Fruit early ; 

 1% inches in diameter, round, slightly compressed, with 

 unequal halves ; cavity regular, deep, wide, flaring ; 

 suture shallow, with a slight bulge near the apex ; 

 apex rounded or flattened, ending abruptly in a short, 

 sharp, recurved point ; color creamy-white, blushed over 

 one-half the surface ; pubescence short, thick ; skin tough, 

 free ; flesh white, juicy, tender, sweet, with some 

 astringency ; good in quality ; stone semi-free, oval, 

 plump, with a short-pointed apex, surfaces marked by 

 short grooves. 



HALL YELLOW. Hall Yellow is a peach 

 of the Peento type, said to be a seedling of 

 Angel. It is grown rather commonly in Florida 

 as a home fruit, the peaches being esteemed 

 for their high quality. The variety originated 

 with R. C. Hall, Vplusia County, Florida, 

 about 1900. The fruits are described as fol- 

 lows: 



Fruit early, large, round-oblate to round-oblong, bulged 

 on one side ; suture very shallow ; apex rounded ; skin 

 yellow washed with red ; flesh yellow, red at the stone 

 with red lines radiating in the flesh ; firm, juicy with a 

 rich and very agreeable flavor ; quality good to very 

 good ; stone of medium size, free. 



HEATH CLING. Heath. White English. 

 Heath Cling is the oldest named American 

 peach now under cultivation. For its tree- 

 characters and for at least one fruit-character 

 it ought to be retained for breeding. Thus, 

 few varieties have larger, healthier, hardier, 

 trees; and of all American peaches, the fruits 

 keep longest, often keeping in good condition 

 from October to December. Well-grown, the 

 peach has a sweet, rich, vinous taste, but the 

 flesh adheres so tightly to the stone that it 

 is not pleasant eating out of hand, although 

 excellent cooked, preserved, or pickled, as the 

 stone in culinary preparations imparts a pleas- 

 ant flavor of peach-pit bitterness. Just how 

 old Heath Cling is no one knows, but it prob- 

 ably was grown in the colonies before the 

 Revolution. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, unpro- 

 ductive. Leaves 6 J /4 inches long, 1% inches wide, 

 obovate-lanceolate, leathery; margin finely serrate; teeth 



