204 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



DAVIDSON 



I. Harrison & Sons Cat. l6. 1905. 2. Mn. State Fr. Sta. Rpt. 12. 1905-06. 3. Mich. Sta. Sp. 

 Bui. 44:35 fig., 36. 1910. 



Davidson is on probation as an early peach for northern cUmates 

 with the chances greatly against its ever proving worthy the attention 

 of New York peach-growers. Still, it comes so highly recommended that 

 we give it a place among the major varieties in The Peaches of New York 

 hoping that the growers of the State will at least try it out. It is a white- 

 fleshed peach similar to the well-known Rivers, larger in size, but not quite as 

 early. The trees are ver>' hardy, come into bearing early and bear heavily 

 but ripen their crop unevenly. The peaches, as the color-plate shows, are 

 handsome, and for a variety of early season they are particularly good 

 in quality but are very susceptible to brown-rot, peach-scab, leaf-curl and 

 seemingly all . the other ills peach-flesh is heir to. 



Davidson originated with G. W. Davidson, Shelby, Michigan, and 

 is supposed to be a sport of Early Michigan, being very similar to that 

 sort in all respects except season, Davidson being two weeks earlier. It 

 is often confused with Eureka. 



Tree large, upright-spreading, hardy, productive; trunk thick; branches stocky, 

 smooth, reddish-brown covered with ash-gray; branchlets dull red strongly colored with 

 olive-green, smooth, glabrous, with numerous small, conspicuous lenticels raised toward 

 the base. 



Leaves five and three-fourths inches long, one and five-eighths inches wide, folded 

 upward, oval to obovate-lanceolate; upper surface dark green, smooth or slightly rugose; 

 lower surface light grayish-green; margin broadly crenate or coarsely serrate, tipped with 

 dark red glands ; petiole one-half inch long, glandless or with one to five small, reniform, 

 greenish-yellow glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds conical, pubescent, plump, appressed; blooming season earlj^; flowers 

 pink, one and three-fourths inches across, well distributed; pedicels nearly sessile, glabrous, 

 green; calyx-tube dull reddish-green, yellowish-green within, campanulate, glabrous; 

 calyx-lobes medium in length, narrow, acute, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals 

 roundish-ovate, often broadly notched near the base, tapering to short, broad claws 

 occasionally with a red base; filaments one-half inch long, shorter than the petals; ]iistil 

 pubescent at the ovary, equal to the stamens in length. 



Fruit matures early; two and one-half inches long, two and three-eighths inches wide, 

 roundish, bulged near the apex, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity contracted, 

 deep, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, becoming deep at the extremities; apex roundish, 

 with a small, mucronate tip; color creamy-white blushed with dull red, indistinctly striped 

 with darker red; pubescence short, thick; skin tough, separates from the pulp; flesh white, 

 juicy, stringy, tender, melting, sweet or with some sprightliness ; fair to good in quality; 



