THE PEACHES OF NEW YORK 263 



faults condemn it; worst of all, the trees are not productive. Add to 

 unproductiveness, lack of uniformity in size, shape, color and flavor and 

 the variety is out of the race as a commercial sort. This far north, too, 

 the trees suffer from winter injury. The variety is remarkable for its 

 foliage. Were it not for the fact that Ray is well spoken of in several 

 other states, and the possibility that it might do "better in other parts of 

 New York than on the Station grounds, we should not place it among the 

 major varieties in The Peaches of New York. It is said to be an excellent 

 shipper. 



This peach is occasionally confused with Raymond Cling, which 

 originated in Mississippi many years ago and which has long since passed 

 from cultivation. The present variety originated with D. Ray, Tyler, 

 Texas. Its parentage is unknown. The American Pomological Society 

 placed Ray on its fruit-list in 1909. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, the lower branches drooping, medium in 

 productiveness; trunk thick, nearly smooth; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown 

 with a light tinge of ash-gray; branchlets slender, dark red intermingled with olive-green, 

 glossy, smooth, glabrous, with numerous raised lenticels variable in size. 



Leaves six and one-half inches long, one and five-eighths inches wide, flattened or 

 curled downward, oval to obovate lanceolate, leathery; upper surface dark green, smooth; 

 lower surface medium green; margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; 

 petiole threercighths inch long, glandless or with one to three small, globose glands variable 

 in position. 



Flower-buds half-hardy, short, heavily pubescent, conical to pointed, plvimp, usually 

 appressed; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers one inch across, light pink becoming 

 darker pink along the edges; pedicels short; calyx-tube reddish-green, greenish-yellow 

 within, obconic; calyx-lobes long, narrow, obtuse, glabrous within, heavily pubescent 

 without; petals ovate, with claws medium in length and width; filaments three-eighths 

 inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistil pubescent at the base, longer than the 

 stamens. 



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

 inches wide, roundish-conic to oblong- conic, slightly compressed, with nearly equal halves; 

 cavity narrow, abrupt, with tender skin; suture shallow, deepening toward and often 

 extending beyond the tip; apex round, with a mucronate tip; color greenish-white changing 

 to white, scarcely blushed or with a bright pinkish-red blush varying from a small amount 

 to about one-third of the surface, faintly mottled; pubescence coarse, thick, long; skin 

 very thin, tough, separates from the pulp; flesh greenish-white, stained with red near 

 the pit, juicy, stringy, firm but tender, aromatic, sprightly; good in quality; stone semi- 

 free to free, one and seven-sixteenths inches long, slightly more than one inch wide, oval 

 to ovate, plump, with short point at the apex, with grooved and pitted surfaces; ventral 

 suture deeply grooved along the edges, narrow, furrowed; dorsal suture grooved. 



