224 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



impressed with its earliness, began to propagate it. About J859 the 

 variety was introduced by Hale and Jewett, nurserymen in Summit County, 

 as Hale's Early German. In some localities it became known as Early 

 German but finally the name Hale's Early was adopted. It was so listed 

 in the American Pomological Society's fruit-catalog in 1862 but in 1891 the 

 name was changed to Hale so to remain until 1909 when it appeared 

 in the Society's catalog as Hale Early. The adoption of the last name 

 is warranted, possibly, from the fact that another peach named Hale 

 existed several years before the origin of the present sort. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright -ppreading, hardy, variable in productiveness; trunk 

 thick; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown mingled with ash-gray; branchlets long, 

 dark pinkish-red with a trace of olive-green, glossy, smooth, glabrour, with rather few large, 

 conspicuous lenticels. 



Leaves fiat or curled downward, six and one-fourth inches long, one and one-fourth 

 inches wide, long-oval to obovate-lanceolate, thin, leathery; upper surface dark green, 

 smooth; lower surface grayish-green; margin finely serrate, often in two series, • tipped 

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

 small, globose, reddish-brown glands usually at the base of the blade. 



Flower-buds conical or pointed, pliunp, pubescent, ustially free; blossoms appear in 

 mid-season; flowers dark pink at the center, with lighter pink toward the margin and 

 with streaks of light pink along the veins, one and one-half inches across, usually single; 

 pedicels short, glabrous, green, with a few reddish dots; calyx-tube dull green mottled 

 with red, with varying shades of orange within, campanulate, glabrous; calj^-lobes broad, 

 usually obtuse, pubescent within and without, with longer hairs along the edges, erect; 

 petals round or inclined to oval, entire, notched on both sides near the claws which are 

 short, broad and tinged with red near the base; filaments' one-half inch long, shorter than 

 the petals; pistil finely pubescent at the ovary, longer than the stamens. 



Fruit matures early; one and three-fourths inches long, one and seven-eighths inches 

 wide, roimd, slightly compressed, with unequal halves; cavity regular, medium to deep, 

 wide, flaring; suture shallow, with a sHght bulge near the apex; apex rotmdish or flattened, 

 ending abruptly in a short, sharp, recurved point ; color creamy-white, with an attractive 

 blush extending over one-half of the surface; pubescence short, thick; skin tough, free; 

 flesh white, juicy, tender, sweet, with some astringency; good in quality; stone semi-free, 

 one and five-sixteenths inches long, fifteen-sixteenths inch wide, ovate or oval, plump, 

 with a short-pointed apex, surfaces marked by short grooves; ventral suture deep along 

 the sides, narrow; dorsal suture deeply grooved, winged. 



HEATH CLING 



1. Prince Treat. Fr. Trees 17. 1820. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 234. 1832. 3. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. 

 Gr.51. 1848. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. y8. 1862. 5. Fulton Peac^ Cm/(. 197, 198. 1908. 



Heath. 6. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 228. 1817. 7. Land. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 97. 1831. 8. Prince Pom. 

 Man. 2:29, 30. 1832. 9. Downing /^r. Trees .4m. 494, 495. 1845. 10. 'Ploy-hindXey Guide Orch. Card. 



