RED CHEEK MELOCOTON 



ROCHESTER 



183 



narrow, abrupt ; suture shallow on the sides but deep 

 at the cavity ; apex often large and recurved, depressed ; 

 color pale creamy-white, covered with lively red, often 

 mottled with deeper red ; pubescence short and fine ; 

 flesh white, red at the pit, juicy, tender, sweet ; fair 

 to good ; stone oval, plump, long-pointed, clinging 

 tenaciously. 



RED CHEEK MELOCOTON. Red 



Cheek. Malacatune. For nearly a century, 

 beginning soon after the Revolutionary War, 

 Red Cheek Melocoton had few rivals among 

 yellow-fleshed, freestone peaches. Even yet 

 it is surpassed in quality only by members of 

 the Crawford family, of which it is supposed 

 to be the immediate ancestor. Lack of vigor 

 and unproductiveness have driven Red Cheek 

 Melocoton from common cultivation indeed 

 it is now almost impossible to obtain the trees. 

 It is an American seedling which sprang from 

 a bud of a stock on which Lemon Cling had 

 been grafted, at Flushing, New York, about 

 1800. 



Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright-spreading, 

 lacking in productiveness. Leaves 7^4 inches long, 2 

 inches wide, obovate-lanceolate, leathery ; margin sharply 

 serrate ; petiole % inch long, glandless or with 1-3 

 small, globose, alternate glands. Blossoms midseason, 

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

 cordate, compressed, with halves nearly equal ; cavity 

 wide, deep, abrupt ; suture shallow ; apex rounded, with 

 mamelon tip ; color deep golden-yellow, splashed, blushed 

 and mottled with red ; pubescence heavy ; skin thick, 

 tough, adherent to the pulp ; flesh rayed with red near 

 the pit, yellow, juicy, firm but tender, sweet, pleasantly 

 flavored ; good in quality ; stone free, ovate, more or 

 less bulged at one side and drawn out near the base, 

 plump, rather long-pointed, with short grooves and pits 

 in the surfaces. 



REEVES. Fig. 176. Reeves' Favorite. 

 Reeves is an old favorite now rapidly passing 

 out of cultivation. In its day, it was justly 

 celebrated for the high quality of its yellow- 



176. Reeves. (X%) 



fleshed, freestone fruits, which are as hand- 

 some as they are palatable. The peaches have 

 two minor defects to keep them from perfec- 

 tion : they are too irregular in shape, and some- 

 times fall short in size. In texture of flesh, 

 juiciness, taste, and aroma they are scarcely 

 surpassed. The fault that condemns the va- 

 riety is unproductiveness in the trees. To 

 make up in some degree for unfruitfulness, 

 the trees are vigorous and more than usually 

 hardy. Reeves is worthy of perpetuation for 

 home orchards. This attractive peach came 



from a chance seedling found about 1840 by 

 Samuel Reeves, Salem, New Jersey. 



Tree medium to large, vigorous, upright-spreading, 

 hardy, unproductive. Leaves 6% inches long, 1% inches 

 wide, obovate-lanceolate ; margin finely serrate ; teeth 

 tipped with reddish-brown glands ; petiole % inch long, 

 glandless or with 1-3 small, globose glands. Flowers 

 late, 1 inch across, light and dark pink. Fruit mid- 

 season ; 2 % inches in diameter, round-cordate, com- 

 pressed, with unequal halves ; cavity often very deep, 

 abrupt, the skin tender and often marked with red ; 

 suture shallow, sometimes extending beyond both cavity 

 and tip ; color deep yellow, blushed with dull red, 

 striped, splashed and mottled with brighter red ; pubes- 

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

 the pulp ; flesh yellow, tinged with red near the pit, 

 juicy, stringy, tender and melting, pleasantly flavored, 

 mild, sweet ; very good in quality ; stone free, oval, 

 more or less bulged near the apex, sometimes winged 

 along the ventral suture, with pitted surfaces. 



RIVERS. Early Rivers. Earliness and 

 high quality of fruit keep Rivers alive in pri- 

 vate places in America. No one would think 

 of planting it in a commercial orchard because 

 of its small fruits, which have tender skin and 

 flesh showing every bruise, and its susceptibil- 

 ity to brown-rot. The peach is a white-fleshed 

 freestone, tender, juicy, with an exceedingly 

 rich, sugary flavor with a savory smack of 

 the nectarine; it is remarkable for beauty of 

 flesh, which is white to the stone, translucent, 

 and more or less mottled and interspersed with 

 white veins. At their best, the fruits are rather 

 large and quite handsome as they grow in 

 America, but even so they are but a shadow 

 of the peach described under this name in 

 European fruit-books. The trees are fairly 

 satisfactory in all essential characters. Rivers 

 originated with Thomas Rivers, Sawbridge j 

 worth, England, about 1865. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, with inclina- 

 tion to droop, round-topped, hardy, productive. Leaves 

 5% inches long, 1% inches wide, recurved, obovate- 

 lanceolate, thin, leathery ; margin finely serrate ; teeth 

 tipped with fine, reddish-brown glands ; petiole & inch 

 long, with 1-6 reniform, greenish-yellow glands. Flow- 

 ers early, pink, 1%. inches across, often in pairs. Fruit 

 early, 2 % inches in diameter, round-oval, compressed ; 

 cavity shallow, contracted, irregular, abrupt ; suture 

 medium to shallow ; apex rounded, mucronate ; color 

 creamy-white blushed with red ; pubescence short, heavy ; 

 skin thick but tender, adherent to the pulp ; flesh white, 

 translucent, veined, juicy, melting, sweet or mildly 

 sprightly ; good in quality ; stone nearly free, oval, 

 plump, bulged on one side, light-colored, short-pointed 

 at the apex, with grooved surfaces. 



177. Rochester. 



ROCHESTER. Fig. 177. Fruit-growers 

 have long desired an early, yellow, freestone 

 peach. There are several competitors for the 



