THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 239 



to straighten out the nomenclatorial tangle involving it and the several 

 varieties with which it is commonly confounded. 



Large York has been more often confused with Early York than 

 any other sort. George IV, Haines and Honest John have also been 

 listed time and again as identical with Large York. While the sorts 

 mentioned have many resemblances, there are distinguishing characters 

 for all of them. Large York, known also as Large Early York and Large 

 Early Rareripe, originated with WiUiam Prince,' Flushing, New York, 

 some time in the Eighteenth Centvlr>^ probably from a pit of Red Rareripe. 

 The variety was at first called Early York but to distinguish it from 

 another Early York the term Large was added. Prince sent the variety 

 to William Forsyth of England about 1790. Forsyth grew it in the Royal 

 Kensington Gardens and later renamed it Royal Kensington under which 

 name it is frequently sold in England. While Large York and Early 

 York are closely related, the leaves of the latter are glandless while those 

 of the former have globose glands. At the National Convention of Fruit- 

 Growers held in 1848, Large York was put on the list of recommended 

 varieties under the name Large Early York. The peach has remained 

 on the American Pomological Society's fruit-catalog since the date given, 

 the name being shortened in 1897 to Large York. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, rather unproductive; tnink 

 thick; branches thick, smooth, reddish-brown intermingled with light ash-gray; branchlets 

 with long intemodes, dark red with some green, somewhat russetted, glossy, smooth, 

 glabrous, with conspicuous, numerous, large, raised lenticels; leaves six and one-half inches 

 long, one and one-half inches wide, variable in position, oval to obovate-lanceolate, thick, 

 leathery, dark green tinged with olive-green; margin finely serrate; petiole three-eighths 

 inch long, glandless or with one to six small, globose, reddish-brown glands; flower-buds 

 small, short, pointed, not very plump, pubescent, appressed; flowers small, appearing 

 in mid-season. 



Fruit ripens in mid-season; one and seven-eighths inches long, two and one-sixteenth 

 inches wide, round-oblate, bulged at one side, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity 

 narrow, abrupt, faintly splashed with red; suture shallow, becoming deeper toward the 

 apex and extending considerably beyond; apex roundish or depressed, with a mucronate 

 tip; color greenish-white or creamy-white, blushed and mottled with red; pubescence 

 short, thick, fine; skin thin, tender, adheres to the pulp; flesh white, rayed with red near 

 the pit, juicy, stringy, tender, sweet, mild, pleasant flavored, aromatic; good in qualitj-; 

 stone nearty free, one and one-eighth inches long, seven-eighths inch wide, oval, plumjj, 

 short-pointed at the apex; ventral suture medium in width; dorsal suture grooved. 



' For a brief history of William Prince, the first, and his contributions to American pomology, the 

 reader is referred to The Plums of New York, page 389. 



