184 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



Georgia but in 1909 changed the name to Belle and it is so designated in 

 horticultural treatises but popularly it is " Belle of Georgia." 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hard>-, very productive; trunk thick; 

 branches stocky, smooth, reddish-browTi covered with light ash-gray; branchlets thick, 

 medium to long, olive-green overlaid with dark red, smooth, glabrous, wdth numerous 

 conspicuous, rather small lenticcls. 



Leaves five and one-half inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward, 

 oblong-lanceolate, somewhat leather}' ; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface 

 light grajnsh-green ; margin coarsely serrate, tipped with dark red glands; petiole three- 

 eighths inch long, with two to six large, reniform or globose, greenish-yellow glands variable 

 in position. 



Flower-buds large, long, oval, very plump, strongly pubescent, usually appressed; 

 blooming season early ; flowers pale pink but deeper in color along the edges, one and three- 

 eighths inches across, often in twos; pedicels long, thick; calyx-tube dull reddish-green, 

 yellowish within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes mediimi in length and width, aaite 

 to obtuse, glabrous within, heavily pubescent without; petals roundish-oval, tai^ering to 

 short, broad claws red at the base; filaments nearly one-half inch long; i^istil jiubescent 

 at the ovary, longer than the stamens. 



Fruit matures in mid-season; two and one-sixteenth inches long, two and one-eighth 

 inches wide, roundish-oval, often bulged near the apex, somewhat compressed, with halves 

 nearly equal; cavity abrupt or somewhat flaring, red, with tender skin; suture shallow, 

 deepening toward the apex ; apex roundish to slightly pointed, with a mucronate tip ; color 

 greenish-white changing to creamy-white, blushed with red, with faint stripes and splashes 

 of darker red, mottled; pubescence short, fine, rather thick; skin thin, tender, adherent 

 to the pulp; flesh white, tinged with red at the pit and with radiating rays of red, juicy, 

 string}', tender, sweet, mild; good in quality; stone semi-free to free, one and one-eighth 

 inches long, thirteen-sixteenths inch wide, oval, bulged near the apex, blunt at the base, 

 with short, sharp point at the apex, with deeply-pitted surfaces; ventral suture deeply 

 furrowed along the sides, wide ; dorsal suture a narrow groove. 



BEQUETTE FREE 



I. Mich. Sta. But. 118:32. 1895. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 35. 1909. 



Bequelt Free. 3. U. S. D. A. Pom. Rpt. 41. 1895. 4. Am. Pom. .Soc. Cat. 32. 1899. 5. Budd- 

 Hansen Am. Uorl. Man. 2:337. 1903. 



Becquette Free. 6. Tfi. .S7a. Bh/. 39:806. 1896. 7. Dct. Sla. Rpt. ii:c)i. 1901. 



As it grows at this Station, Bequette Free makes a favorable impression 

 because of the flavor and attractive appearance of the fruit. It is not a 

 new variety, however, and the fact that it seems to have been rather widely 

 and well tested without receiving general commendation except on the 

 Pacific Slope is against its having a place in the list of desirable peaches 

 for the Eastern States. The trees are fast-growing, very vigorous, hardy 

 and densely clothed with foliage but cannot be called fruitful and are, 



