l86 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



fact that it is none too attractive in coloring, is probably the reason \vh_\- 

 the variety is not more grown. The trees are about all that could be 

 desired, falling short chiefly in not being as productive as several other 

 peaches of its season and in being a little susceptible to leaf-curl. The 

 variety has been offered to fruit-growers a sufficient length of time to 

 have had its merits well tried as a commercial peach and the fact that 

 it is not now largely grown is presumptive evidence that it has little 

 commercial value. Its high quality makes the variety a good sort for 

 the home collection at least. 



Berenice originated some thirty or more years ago with the late Dr. 

 L. E. Berckmans of Ai;gusta, Georgia. It is supposed to have sprung 

 from the pit of a General Lee tree which grew in one of Mr. Berck- 

 mans' test orchards. In the Berckmans nursery catalog it is stated of 

 Berenice that after thirty years' trial " there is nothing equal to it in the 

 same season." 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, medium to productive; trunk 

 stocky; branches tliick, smooth, reddish-brown mingled with light ash-gray; branchlets 

 with short internodes, dark red overlaid with olive-green, smooth, glabrous, with numerous 

 large and small Icnticels raised at the base. 



Leaves six inches long, one and five-eighths inches wide, folded upward, oval to obo\'ate- 

 lanceolate, leethery; upi)er surface dark green, smooth; lower .surface light grayish-green; 

 margin coarsely serrate, tipped with dark glands; petiole one-fourth inch long, with two 

 to ten large, reniform, yellowish-green glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds large, oblong, slightly pointed, heavilj- pubescent, usually appressed; 

 blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers one and three-si.xteenths inches across, pale pink, 

 tinged darker along the edges, well distributed; pedicels short, glabrous, green; calyx-tube 

 red mingled with dull, dark green, orange-colored within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx- 

 lobes often broad, acute to obtuse, glabrous within, slightly pubescent or heavily pubescent 

 without; petals round-ovate, broadly notched, tapering to short claws red at base; 

 filaments three-eighths inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil pubescent at the ovary, 

 longer than the stamens. 



Fruit matures in mid-season; two and five-eighths inches long, two and one-half 

 inches wide, round-oval, with halves often unequal; cavit}' deep, medium to wide, con- 

 tracted around the sides, with tender skin, often blushed with red; suture shallow, deepening 

 toward the apex; apex roundish or depressed, with a mucronate or mamelon tip; color 

 greenish-yellow, blushed and splashed with red; pubescence short, medium fine; skin tough, 

 separates from the pulp; flesh yellow, faintly tinted with red near the pit, stringv, tender 

 and melting, sweet, mild, pleasant flavored; good in quality; stone nearly free, one and 

 three-eighths inches long, fifteen-sixteenths inch wide, oval, plump, drawn out at the ends, 

 usualh- with pitted surfaces ; ventral suture deeply furrowed along the edges ; dorsal suture 

 deeply grooved, with sides slightly wing-lik(\ 



