262 THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 



is, of course, a good shipper and might be in demand in the markets for 

 culinary purposes. We doubt whether the peach should be largely planted 

 in New York. 



Further than that Prolific comes from Michigan, nothing is known of 

 its parentage, the originator or the date of origin. It was introduced about 

 1890 by Greening Brothers, Monroe, Michigan, under the name New 

 Prolific. In 1909 the American Pomological Society added this peach 

 to its fruit-list as New Prolific. 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, becoming drooping, open-topped, very productive; 

 trunk rough; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown with a very light tinge of ash-gray; 

 branchlets deep, dull red intermingled with green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with con- 

 spicuous, numerous lenticels raised near the base. 



Leaves six and one-half inches long, one and one-half inches wide, variable in position, 

 oval to obovate-lanceolate, leathery; upper surface dull, dark green, smooth, becoming 

 rugose near the midrib; lower surface grayish-green; apex long-acuminate; margin finely 

 serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, with from 

 one to five small, globose glands variable in color and position. 



Flower-buds hardy, conical to obtuse, plump, somewhat pubescent, appressed or 

 free; blossoms open early; flowers one and five-sixteenths inches across, white near the 

 center becoming pink along the edges; pedicels very short, glabrous, green; calyx-tube didl, 

 dark reddish-green, orange-colored within, campanulate, glabrous; cals^x-lobes narrow, 

 acute, glabrous within, heavily pubescent without; petals roundish-ovate to oval, broadly 

 notched near the base, tapering to narrow claws red at the base; filaments seven-sixteenths 

 inch long, equal to the petals in length ; pistil pubescent at the ovary, as long as the stamens. 



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

 inches wide, round-oval to cordate, bulged on one side, compressed, with tmequal halves; 

 cavity deep, usually abrupt, frequently mottled with red; suture a line, becoming deeper 

 toward the tip; apex round or somewhat pointed, with a recurved, mamelon tip; color 

 light orange, mottled and blushed with red; pubescence thick, fine; skin thin, tough, sep- 

 arates from the pulp; flesh light yellow, stained with red near the pit, medium juicy, coarse, 

 stringy, tender, sweet, mild, pleasantly flavored; good in quaHty; stone free, one and 

 three-eighths inches long, one inch wide, ovate, bulged on one side, plump, with long, 

 pointed apex, with surfaces grooved and marked by small pits; ventral suttue deeply 

 grooved along the sides, slightly winged near the base; dorsal suture a deep groove, faintly 

 winged. 



RAY 

 1. Del. Sla. Rpt. 13:106. 1901. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 38. 1909. 3. N. J. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 35. 

 1912. 4. Harrison Cat. 27. 1915. 



This is another of the many early, white-fleshed, freestone peaches 

 which are competing for favor among peach-growers. We doubt if Ray, 

 however, shotald find a place on the peach-list for New York. Several 



