THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 1 83 



usually broadly notched on each side of the base, tapering to short, narrow claws; filaments 

 one-half inch long; pistil glabrous, pubescent at the ovary, equal to the stamens in length. 

 Fruit matures early; two and one-sixteenth inches long, two and one-eighth inches 

 wide, oval to round, compressed, the halves unequal ; cavity medium to deep, wide, abrupt ; 

 suture shallow, deeper at the base; apex roundish or depressed, with a mucronate tip; 

 color greenish-yellow changing to deep yellow, heavily blushed with red, indistinctly 

 striped, with conspicuous, large dots; pubescence short, stiff, thick; skin thick, tough, 

 adhering to the pulp; flesh light yellow mingled with faint stripes of red radiating from the 

 pit. juicy, string)', tender, sweet, highly flavored; very good in quality; stone clinging, 

 one and three-sixteenths inches long, three-fourths inch wide, narrow-oval, plump, with 

 short, acute apex, the surfaces pitted and with few short grooves; ventral suture slightly 

 winged, rather widely furrowed ; dorsal suture a deep, narrow groove. 



BELLE 



I. Ca. Sta. Bui. 42:233. 1898. 2. Am. Card. 21:852. 1900. 3. Ga. Sla. Rpl. 13:308. 1900. 

 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 35. 1909. 



Belle of Georgia. 5. ^m. Cord. 17:67. 1896. 6. O/ii'o 5/a. B«/. 170: 172, 173 fig. 1906. 

 Georgia. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 33. 1899. 8. Del. Sta. Rpt. 13:99, 100 fig. 5. 1901. 



Belle elicits praise from all who know it because of the great beauty 

 of its fruits. At its best it is one of the glories of the peach-orchard, the 

 fruits being large, trim in contour, creamy-white, with a beautiful crimson 

 cheek — truly voluptuous in form and color. The color-plate — made in 

 a poor season — falls far short of doing the fruits justice in size and art 

 cannot depict the soft tints of red and cream which make Belle so beautiful. 

 The fruits are as enticing to the eye inwardly as outwardly, the white 

 flesh being delicately marbled, tinted with red at the pit and the flesh and 

 pit usually part cleanly. Unfortunately, appearance misrepresents quality; 

 for the variety, while good, falls short in flavor, and the flesh is string>' so 

 that it must be rated as not above the average for its type. The trees are 

 large, open-headed, a little straggling, fast-growing and hardy, though, 

 like most of its t>TJe, easy prey to leaf-curl. Belle prefers a southern 

 climate and in the South is often a good commercial sort but in New York 

 is grown only for local markets and home use, hardly equalling Champion 

 as a white-fleshed peach for distant markets. 



Belle came from a seed of Chinese Cling planted in 1870 by L. A. 

 Rumph, Marshallville, Georgia. The other parent is unknown but it is 

 supposed to have been Oldmixon Free, a tree of which stood near the 

 Chinese Cling tree. The variety came to notice about the same time 

 as Elberta and has been thought by some to be a seedling of Elberta. 

 The American Pomological Society listed Belle in its catalog in 1899 as 



