THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 215 



Compare the color-plates of Fitzgerald and Early Craw'ford and it 

 is seen at once that the two peaches are almost identical in fruit and foliage. 

 There could be no use in growing Fitzgerald in this State, so similar is it 

 to the better-known Early Crawford, were it not for the fact that the two 

 differ in season a few days and that possibly Fitzgerald is the more pro- 

 ductive of the two. Fitzgerald ripens a few days earlier than Early 

 Crawford though in some of the references given it is said to ripen a few 

 days later. Canadian peach-growers claim that Fitzgerald, besides being 

 more productive and extending the season of Early Crawford, is hardier. 

 In the effort to maintain peaches of the Crawford family in commercial 

 plantations it may be worth while to try Fitzgerald. 



Fitzgerald originated a quarter of a centvu-y or more ago at Oakville, 

 Ontario, but who the originator or what the parentage is not known. 

 The American Pomological Societ}- placed Fitzgerald on its list of recom- 

 TTiended fruits in 1899, a place it still holds. 



Tree of medium size, upright-spreading, round-topped, hardy, not very productive; 

 trunk smooth; branches smooth, reddish-browTi covered with light ash-gray; branch! ets 

 long, with incHnation to develop short, spur-hke branchlets, pinkish-red or dark red inter- 

 mingled with green, smooth, glabrous, with numerous conspicuous, rather small lenticels. 



Leaves six inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward but recurved, 

 oval to obovate-lanceolate ; upper surface dark green tinged with olive-green, rugose ; lower 

 surface light grayish-green; margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; 

 petiole one-half inch long, glandless or with one to five small, globose, greenish-yellow 

 glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds hardy, conical, pubescent, plump, free; blossoms appear in mid-season; 

 flowers pale pink varjang to a deeper red along the edges, seven-eighths inch across; pedicels 

 very short, slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish-green, orange-colored \vithin, 

 obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, glabrous within, heavily pubescent without; 

 petals roundish-oval to ovate, white at the center, tapering to narrow claws often red 

 at the base; filaments one-fourth inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistU pubescent 

 at the ovar}% equal to the stamens in length. 



Fruit matures in mid-season; two and one-half inches long, more than two and one- 

 half inches wide, roundish-oval to cordate, somewhat compressed, with unequal halves, 

 bulged at one side; cavity medium to deep, wide, abrupt or often flaring, marked with 

 radiating streaks; suture shallow, deepening toward the apex; apex roundish, ending in a 

 recurved, mamelon point; color golden-yellow more or less overspread with a dull red blush, 

 with splashes and mottlings of deeper red; pubescence long, thick; skin thin, tough; flesh 

 yellow, rayed with red at the pit, juicy, rather firm, tender, sweet or mildly subacid, 

 pleasant flavored; verj' good in quality; stone free, one and one-half inches long, one inch 

 wide, ovate, plump, flattened near the base, with pitted surfaces; ventral suture very 

 deeplv furrowed along the sides; dorsal suture slightly winged. 



