THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 257 



branchlets of medium thickness and length, with tendency to rebranch, dark, deep red 

 intermingled with olive-green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, numerous, raised 

 lenticels. 



Leaves six and seven-eighths inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, curled 

 downward or flattened, oval to obovate-lanceolate, leathery, dull, dark green, smooth; 

 lower surface grayish-green; apex acuminate; margins finely serrate, tipped with reddish- 

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

 glands variable in color and position. 



Flower-buds half-hardy, conical to pointed, plump, pubescent, free; blossoms appear 

 in mid-season ; flowers three-fourths inch across, pale pink near the center becoming darker 

 pink at the outside, often in twos; pedicels very short, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish- 

 green at the base, greenish-yellow within, obconic; calyx-lobes short, obtuse, glabrous 

 within, pubescent without; petals oval, faintly notched near the base, tapering to 

 narrow, long claws tinged with red at the base; filaments three-eighths inch long, equal 

 to the petals in length; pistil pubescent near the base, equal to or longer than the 

 stamens. 



Fruit matures late; two and one-half inches long, two and three-fourths inches wide, 

 round-cordate, usually bulged on one side, often compressed, with unequal sides; cavity 

 mediimi to deep, abrupt or flaring, tinged with red; suture shallow, becoming deeper 

 toward the apex and extending beyond; apex roundish, with a mucronate or recurved, 

 mamelon tip ; color creamy- white more or less overspread with a lively red blush in which 

 are faint splashes and mottlings of darker red; pubescence coarse, thick; skin thin, tough, 

 separates from the pulp; flesh white, deeply tinted with red near the pit, juicy, stringj% 

 tender and melting, sweet, with more or less sprightliness ; very good in quality; stone 

 free or nearly free, one and three-eighths inches long, one and one-eighth inches wide, 

 oval to ovate, bulged, flattened near the base, with grooved and purplish-brown surfaces; 

 ventral suture deeply grooved near the edges, furrowed, faintly winged; dorsal suture 

 grooved. 



OPULENT 



1. III. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 2og. 1906. 2. Fancher Creek Nur. Cat. ^1. 1907. 3. Burbank Cai. 5. 1911 



Opulent is a white-fleshed, freestone peach of very mediocre char- 

 acter as it grows on the Station grotinds. The fniits are attractive in 

 appearance but not uncommonly so and are often marred, as they grow in 

 New York, by peach-scab. The quality is scarcely better than the average 

 and is ruined for most peach-lovers by a bitter tang, though to others 

 this almond-like bitterness in the flavor may be a commendation. The 

 variety ripens in mid-season. The trees are scarcely more satisfactory 

 on the Station grounds than the fruits, being tmproductive and none too 

 vigorous. The chief claim this peach has to public notice is that it is a 

 cross between a peach and a nectarine. Though as yet not thoroughly 



tried in New York, it is safe to say that it is worthless for this region. 

 17 



