THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 203 



covered with dense tomentum. Still, at its best, in soils to which it is 

 perfectly suited, the peaches are often handsome. But there. lies another 

 faiolt, the variety accommodates itself but poorly to trying soils and 

 climates, failing especially in hungry soils and dark climates. The variety 

 is noted for its willowy growth, small leaves, small flowers, small pits and, 

 as has been said, hardiness. It is an ideal home sort. 



Crosby was sent out about 1876 by a Mr. Crosby, a nurseryman of 

 Billerica, lyiassachusetts. Later the Massachusetts Agricultural College 

 propagated and distributed it in a small way in northern Massachusetts 

 where it was known as Excelsior. The fact that there was another variety 

 called Excelsior made a change necessary and the peach was renamed in 

 honor of Mr. Crosby. The American Pomological Society placed Crosby 

 on its list of recommended varieties in 1897. 



Tree small, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, with lower branches slightly drooping, 

 unusually hardy, very productive; trunk thick; branches of medium size, smooth, reddish- 

 brown overspread with light ash-gray; branchlets slender, inclined to rebranch, long, 

 olive-green almost overspread with dark red, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with numerous 

 large and small, conspicuous lenticels. 



Leaves rather small and narrow, five and three-fourths inches long, one and one-fourth 

 inches wide, folded upward, oval to obovate-lanceolate, thin; upper surface dark green, 

 smooth; lower siirface light grayish-green; margin finely serrate or crenate, tipped with 

 dark brownish-red glands ; petiole three-eighths inch long, with two to seven rather small, 

 reniform, greenish -yellow glands variable in position. 



Flower-buds small, short, conical, pubescent, appressed; flowers appear in mid-season; 

 blossoms pale pink, darker near the edges, nearly one inch across, well distributed; pedicels 

 very short, thick; calyx-tube dull reddish-green, orange-colored within, campanulate, 

 glabrous; calyx-lobes short, narrow, acute, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals 

 oval, tapering to long, narrow claws often red at the base; filaments three-eighths inch 

 long, equal to the petals in length; pistil pubescent at the ovary, equal to or sometimes 

 longer than the stamens. 



Fruit matures late; two and three-fourths inches long, two and three-eighths indies 

 thick, roundish or roundish-oblate, slightly compressed, btdged near the apex, with 

 unequal sides; cavity deep, abrupt or flaring, sometimes splashed with red; suture shallow, 

 becoming deeper near the apex and extending beyond; apex rotmdish, with a simken, 

 mucronate tip; color orange-yellow, often blushed over much of the surface with dull red, 

 splashed and striped with darker red; pubescence long, thick, coarse; skin thick, tough, 

 adherent to the pulp; flesh deep yellow, stained with red near the pit, juicy, stringy, firm 

 .but tender, sweet, mild, pleasant flavored; very good in quality; stone free, one and five- 

 sixteenths inches long, one inch wide, oval, plimip, bulged near the apex, with pitted and 

 grooved surfaces; ventral suture with shallow furrows along the sides; dorsal suture deeply 

 grooved, winged. 



