228 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



nor sufficiently hardy and vigorous to make an ideal commercial sort. 

 Still, we must end as we began, with the statement that there is a place 

 for Hiley because of earliness and high quality. The fruits, unfortunately, 

 are easy prey to brown -rot. 



Hiley originated with Eugene Hiley, Marshallville, Georgia, about 

 1886. Seeds of several varieties, including Belle and Elberta, were planted 

 and from these sprang one tree which bore the fruit under discussion. 

 R. A. Hiley, who seems to have first discovered its value, is of the opinion 

 that this variety is a seedling of Belle crossed with Alexander. The new 

 peach was first named Early Belle and the first crops were shipped under 

 this name. Later the name was changed to Hiley. The American Pomo- 

 logical Society placed the variety on its fruit-list in 1909. 



Tree medium in size, lacking in vigor, upright-spreading, open-topped, very pro- 

 ductive; trunk thick; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown covered with Hght ash-gray; 

 branchlets with short internodes, brownish-red heavily overlaid with olive-green, smooth, 

 glabrous, with conspicuous lenticels variable in number and size. 



Leaves six and one-fourth inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upwards 

 to nearly flattened, narrow-oval to obovate-lanceolate, leathery; upper surface dull, dark 

 green, mottled, nearly smooth; lower surface grayish-green; margin finely serrate, tipped 

 with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, glandless or with one to eight 

 small, globose and reniform, greenish-yellow glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds tender, obtuse, plump, heavily pubescent, appressed or nearly so; 

 blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers pink, one and seven-eighths inches across, often 

 in twos; pedicels glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube dull, dark reddish-green, greenish-yellow 

 within, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, glabrous within, heavily pubescent 

 without; petals roundish-ovate, tapering to long, broad claws red at the base; filaments 

 one-half inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil pubescent at the ovary, equal to or often 

 longer than the stamens. 



Fruit matures in mid-season; two and three-eighths inches long, two and one-fourth 

 inches thick, roundish-conic to oblong-conic, bulged near the apex, with unequal halves; 

 cavity abrupt, the skin tender and tearing easily; suture shallow, deepening toward the 

 apex; apex pointed; color greenish-yellow with a dull blush often extending over one-half 

 the surface, more or less mottled; pubescence thick, fine, short; skin thin, tough, separates 

 from the pulp when fully ripe; flesh creamy-white, stained red at the pit, stringy, firm 

 but tender, with a distinct, pleasant flavor, sprightly; good in quality; stone semi-free 

 to free, one and three-eighths inches long, .seven-eighths inch wide, elliptical to ovate, 

 pointed at both ends, with nearly smooth surfaces; ventral suture rather wide and with 

 deep furrows along the sides; dorsal suture a small groove. 



