PEACHES. 193 



is aboul mediuiii ; the form is round, deeply lobed at the head, 

 and the stem is inserted within u deep cavity, which extends 

 more towards one side of the suture than the other. 



BEAUTY OF VITRY. Pk. cat. 



Belle de Vitry, \ T\ h 



Admirable tardive, 5 



Belle de Vitri. Die. d'Agric. 



Tlie leaves of this tree are furnished at tiieir base with 

 rounded glands ; the flowers are of medium sixe, and eleven to 

 twelve lines in breadth ; the fruit is beautiful, and measures 

 twenty-six to twenty-eight lines in height and often thirty ; its 

 diameter is in proportion from twenty-eight to thirty and some- 

 times even thirty-three or thirty-four lines ; its form has no pe- 

 culiar characteristic, the longitudinal groove is not deep, but 

 extends a little beyond the summit of the fruit, where there is 

 a very small mamelon or nipple ; the skin is generally velvety, 

 almost entirely of a whitish green, except on the sunny side, 

 which is slightly washed with red ; it separates readily from 

 the flesh, which is white with the exception of that part next 

 the stone, where it becomes slightly reddish ; it is very succu- 

 lent and replete with juice of a sweet, rich, and very pleasant 

 flavour; the stone is large, oblong, swollen at the part next 

 the point, and thin at the base ; it is fifteen to sixteen lines in 

 length, by about eleven in its greatest diameter. This peach 

 attains its perfect maturity, in the vicinity of Paris, at the 

 end of September, or the beginning of October, and in the 

 South of France about the middle of September. The pe- 

 riod of the maturity of peaches is generally rather earlier in 

 the vicinity of New-York than at Paris. Although I folloty 

 Duhamel in placing the Admirable tardive as a synonyme of 

 this variety, I perceive that in some French catalogues, the 

 titles are placed separately, as if referrible to distinct fruits, 



25 



