7h* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
139 
The Scientific Search for a Peach 
New Jersey Coming, Back With New Varieties 
[The following is a continuation of the study of the varieties of pea-ches originated by careful breeding 
at the New Jersey Experiment Station. Other• articles will follow until the story is completed .] 
Part II. 
The Gateway to a Rambling Old Place. Fig. 29 
W HY SO MANY 
PRO M ISING 
SEEDLINGS? — The 
question might, be raised, 
“Why is it that so large 
a proportion of the seed¬ 
lings from these crosses 
are so promising?” The 
probable explanation 
lies in the fact that nil 
of the varieties used are 
fairly pure, so far as we 
can judge by their ac¬ 
tions. Each has some 
characteristics that de¬ 
tract from the value of 
the fruit, but these 
characteristics may be 
overbalanced. Some¬ 
times, of course, as in 
the* case of apple seed¬ 
lings with Ben Davis as 
one of the parents, the 
poor qualities predomi¬ 
nate. As a general rule, 
however, in plants prop¬ 
agated by budding and 
grafting the faults may 
not become ‘•fixed,” as 
in the case of plants 
propagated altogether 
from seed. 
E XAMPLES OF 
CROSSES.—Take the 
cross of Belle and 
Greensboro, for example. 
Both are vigorous, quick¬ 
growing. early bearing 
sorts. The fruits of 
both are more or less 
oval in shape. The red 
coloring in the skin is 
bright and snappy, not 
dull and unattractive as 
in Alexander or Triumph or even Carman. A cross 
between Belle and Elberta brings together two varie¬ 
ties that are oval in form, productive, freestone, of 
good size, attractive color and rather general adapt¬ 
ability, although more so in the case of Elberta. 
Why should this not produce good seedlings? In a 
cross between St John and Early Wheeler arises 
another proposition. Here is a very high quality, 
unproductive, weak-growing yellow peach crossed 
with a very large white peach that has rubbery 
flesh, but is very vigorous and fairly productive. It 
would not be expected that in the first generation 
any seedlings from this cross would have much 
value. 
SEEDLING ORCHARDS.—In the earliest days of 
the peach industry in this State, all the orchards 
were planted with seedlings, no attempt being made 
to select out varieties and propagate them by bud¬ 
ding. Perhaps the people of those days were not so 
particular as to what they would eat in the way of 
peaches. Or it may be that a large proportion of 
the fruit raised was made into brandy or was 
pickled and spiced. Be that as it may. the seedlings 
from certain varieties must have come fairly true to 
type, although whether cling or free seemed not to 
matter so much then as in these days. New sources 
of seeds arose, types became mixed and then the 
fruits degenerated to such an extent that the fruit 
growers were forced to propagate the most promising 
by budding. This is partly surmised and partly 
founded on fact, but it leads up to the question: 
“What kind of fruit should we get if we allowed a 
row of nursery seedlings to bear?” Of course most 
of the nursery seedlings are raised from pits from 
“wild” peaches. These have escaped from cultiva¬ 
tion and have probably been crossed and recrossed 
until there is no semblance of the original types, 
only those surviving that have the strongest seeds. 
WORKING FOR AN IDEAL.—Now. while the 
peach blossom is naturally self-fertile, there is no 
question that at times they are cross-pollinated bv 
the agency of insects, and so “mongrels” come. 
However, to use an illustration previously employed, 
if a dairyman wanted to secure a 40-lb. cow he would 
not cross a 5-lb. cow with a bull from a 10-lb. cow. 
On the contrary, he would select for breeding the 
individuals that most nearly approached the ideal 
desired. All breeding work is the search for the 
ideal. The first step in a breeding operation, then, 
is the formulation in the mind or on paper of an 
ideal. Search is made for the individuals that most 
nearly approach this and selection is made from the 
progeny, each time advancing a step toward the goal. 
UNCERTAIN ANCESTRY.—Bearing in mind these 
fundamental facts, what would seem more reason¬ 
able than to use the varieties of peaches that were 
purest in their ancestry and came nearest to what 
was desired? As previously stated, the origin of 
most of our varieties of peaches is problematical. 
A large number of them are chance seedlings. In 
a great many cases the seed or female parent is 
known, but in none is there absolute surety of the 
pollen or male parent Assumption of the pollen 
parent is frequently made, by reason of some char¬ 
acters of the seedling and the juxtaposition to the 
parent tree of some variety that might contribute 
these characters to the offspring. 
WIIAT MATERIALS WERE USED.—The general 
consensus of opinion is that two “races” of peaches 
have entered largely into the composition of the 
commercial varieties of peaches that are adapted to 
our climate. Roughly speaking, these are the so- 
called Persian race (of which the peaches of the 
Crawford type are the best known representatives) 
and the Chinese Cling race (represented by Carman 
and Greensboro). The basis of classification is 
vague, but in the choice of the varieties to be used 
in the first series of crosses, one variety that was 
chosen represented each race, and two other varie¬ 
ties that are apparently hybrids between the two. 
THE PERSIAN RACE.—Early Crawford repre¬ 
sents the so-called Persian race. This is one of the 
old standard varieties that seems to have fulfilled 
its mission as a market peach, although it is still 
grown in some regions. 
The tree is upright in 
growth and bears small 
blossoms. It lacks hard¬ 
iness in bud and is “irri¬ 
table.” i. e.. it starts 
growing during periods 
of warm weather dur¬ 
ing the Wintei*, thus 
making the buds suscep¬ 
tible to injury by cold 
or sleet storms. The 
variety is a poor crop¬ 
per under most condi¬ 
tions. and the fruit is 
inclined to be small. It 
is a spherical fruit, 
which is a disadvantage 
when Georgia carriers 
are used for shipment, 
and in addition is some¬ 
what “lipped,” which 
feature lays it open to 
bruising during transit. 
While of exceptionally 
high quality during a 
normal season—indeed, 
it is held by some au¬ 
thorities to be the cri¬ 
terion of quality—in a 
wet season it is very 
acid. The qualities of 
value to 1 ‘eeommend it 
in breeding for our ideal 
are its color of flesh, its 
quality and its season of 
ripening. A fuitlier re¬ 
commendation is that it 
breeds fairly true to it¬ 
self. most of its self- 
pollinated seedlings re¬ 
semble the parent. It is 
supposed to be a seed- 
ling of late Crawford 
and originated in New Jersey more than a hundred 
years ago. 
GREENSBORO is a well-known early white cling¬ 
stone peach that is widely planted in some districts. 
The tree is rather flat and spreading and beai-s very 
large blossoms. It is very hardy in bud. The fruit 
matures very early, and is oval in shape, the shape 
most desirable for packing in carriers. The variety 
has one gx*eat failing in that it has a tendency to 
ripen at the apex and then crack open. This variety 
is a descendant of the Chinese Cling, being a seed¬ 
ling of Connett. originating about 1S91. Unfortu¬ 
nately. this variety never matures seeds, so nothing 
is known of how its charactei's are inherited. It is 
valuable therefore only as a male parent, but being 
very early and very hardy it. might contribute these 
characters towards our ideal. 
ELBERTA AND BELLE.—The other two varieties 
used in this four-cornered series are Elberta and 
Belle. Elberta is the best known peach on the list 
of varieties. It is very adaptable, fruiting in prac¬ 
tically every important peach district in the United 
States. Highly colored, oval in shape, good size, 
productive, Elberta is almost ideal as a market 
peach. But. alas! even Elberta has its faults. J. H. 
Hale jokingly called it the “Beix Davis” of the 
peaches. As a dessert peach its quality is not very 
high, although the flavor comes out after cooking. 
In addition. Elberta is like Early Crawford in that 
the buds are inclined to start into growth during 
mild periods in Winter. In habit the tree of Elberta 
is intermediate between Early Crawford and Gi’eens- 
boro; it is called upright spreading. Elberta origin¬ 
ated about 1875 from a pit from a tree of Chinese 
Cling. It is believed by the originator that the blos¬ 
som was pollinated with pollen from an Early Craw¬ 
ford tree that stood near. It is evidently a hybrid, 
as Chinese Cling is a spreading tree with large blos¬ 
soms. Elberta bears a medium-sized blossom. The 
seedlings of Elberta run fairly true to type in their 
resemblance of the parent, so far as shape and color 
are concerned. Belle, the fourth member of the 
