This section is from "The Horticulturist, And Journal Of Rural Art And Rural Taste", by P. Barry, A. J. Downing, J. Jay Smith, Peter B. Mead, F. W. Woodward, Henry T. Williams. Also available from Amazon: Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.
Our remarks upon the peach will be concluded by a few notes upon the varieties cul-vated here, in regard to quality, time of ripening, and productiveness. The times of ripening of the peaches described below, are for 1850 and 1851, as the crop the past season was greatly injured by frost. They are described in the order of ripening.
Brought here from Columbus, Ga., and said to be a native of the State. Leaves - with uniform glands. Flowers - small. Fruit - medium size to large, flattened or slightly hollowed at the apex. Suture - shallow. Skin - pale yellowish white, with a rich red cheek towards the sun. Flesh - slightly red at the stone, melting, juicy, sweet, and high flavored. A good bearer and an excellent peach for its season, in every respect. Ripens 20th of June. Indispensable.
* Continued from December number.
We have a peach from the north, without the name, which I think is this variety. An excellent peach, very juicy, and in every respect worthy of cultivation. June 20th.
Bears an abundant crop of melting and delicious fruit, which ripens about the 1st of July. Not so easily injured by frost as many others. Succeeds as far south as Mobile. Likes a sandy soil.
Ripens about the same time. Bears welly and is a great favorite here. Fruit - melting and high flavored.
Generally ripens about the 1st of July, and if allowed to overbear is of but ordinary quality. This year a few escaped the frost, and ripened some six days earlier than usual and were very delicious; if well thinned, always so.
This peach is not inclined to overbear, but ripens a moderate crop of delicious peaches about the 4th of July.
The peach received here under this name bears finely, and ripens about the 5th of July, but is too acid and poor to cultivate. We may not have the true variety.
Ripens about the 5th of July. Productive, large, and good. It will stand a frost, without much injury, that will cut off Grosse Mignonne entirely. Bore a good crop this season. One of the best.
Another hardy, excellent variety, bearing a fair crop the present season in spite of the frost. One of the most desirable peaches grown. Ripe July 5th.
This is, perhaps, the best free stone peach cultivated. Fruit - large, beautiful, and delicious, excellent in every respect Ripens July 8th. If it has a rival, it is.
Which ripens a day or two later, and is in general equally esteemed with the foregoing for beauty and excellence.
Ripe the 10th of July. Large, juicy, and good.
Ripe about the middle of July. Productive, melting, and excellent.
Ripe the 15th or 20th of July. Nearly always wormy, and not worth cultivating. Of only second rate quality.
One of the best cultivated, always large and fair, and pretty hardy. Ripe middle of July. Fruit often nine inches in circumference.
This peach came here as the Red Magdelen. It is hardy and productive. Will stand frost better than most of the good varieties. The fruit is melting and delicious. One of the best. Ripe about the 20th of July.
Ripens about the 20th of July, and very excellent. Well worth cultivating, even in small collections.
Received by Mr. Camak from Mr. Prince. Leaves - with globose glands. Flowers - small. Fruit - very large, (about the size of Crawford's Early) roundish, with protruding point at top. Suture - very shallow, but distinctly marked from apex to stem. Skin - light yellowish green, with cheek slightly reddened.
Flesh - greenish yellow, and light red at the stone; a little coarse, but delicious; full of a very rich, slightly acidulated, juice. Tree - thrifty, bears regularly and sufficiently abundant Skin slips readily from the flesh without the use of a knife. Ripe the last of July. One of the best.
Ripens last of July. Productive and good.
Ripens the first of August. Somewhat resembles Grosse Mignonne, but dryer and not so good.
Ripens the 1st of August. One of the very best late peaches. Lasts till the middle of August Still not equal to Grosse Mignonne.
Ripens early in August This peach is very apt to be wormy. I have never seen it first rate, always acid and somewhat astringent.
A magnificent peach, large and productive. Ripens early in August. One of the very best. Indispensable.
Received under this name, but is not the Ispahan of the books, but seems to resemble very much the Red Cheek Melocoton, and is perhaps identical. Generally a large and rather fine variety. Ripens about the 10th of August.
One of the indispensable varieties. Ripe about middle of August.
A large and productive peach, but inferior to the foregoing, and apt to be wormy. Ripe August 15th.
Ripe about the 10th of August One of the best of the clings - rich and juicy.
Ripe middle of August. Fruit - large to very large in size, oval, pointed at apex. Skin - of dull, dark, purplish red, covered with a thick, dull, grey down. Flesh - dark red, marbled with orange, moderately juicy; rich, not too acid for most tastes. Productive, and very hardy. Resists frost better than most peaches. Skin peels off readily when fully ripe. Loses flavor if over ripe. Externally, the color is something like Blood Cling. A freestone and a great favorite in most parts of the State, but not first rate. Reproduces itself from the stone.
Ripe middle of August. A beautiful and productive peach, of fine quality, but not the best. Merits cultivation for its hardiness. Ripens much earlier some years than the time above specified.
In this climate delicious; one of the best of the clings. Ripe 10th of August.
Ripe 20th of August. Leaves - large, with globose glands. Tree - thrifty and healthy. Fruit - large, and in general shaped like the Lemon Cling, with the same projecting swollen point Skin - rich orange, with a slightly red cheek. Flesh - orange yellow, firm, but full of a delicious vinous juice. Originated here. Later and of better quality than Lemon Cling. To my taste the best of the clings. Reproduces itself from seed.
A magnificent looking peach, but the flesh is too coarse to be a favorite.
Ripe the 20th of August, but unfit for eating. When very ripe it is barely tolerable. Don't know any reason why it should be cultivated.
Ripens the latter part of August, and is large, juicy, and fine. One of the best.
Leaves - with globose glands. Fruit - very large, and oval. Suture - slight, with a swollen point at top. Skin - clear, creamy white, with sometimes a slight hue of red on the sunny side. Flesh - delicate white, free from red at the stone, to which it firmly adheres; very rich, juicy, and high flavored. As it is entirely free from color, it is the very best for preserving or for brandy peaches. Has no tendency to be wormy, as most white peaches have. Ripe early in September. Grows true from the stone. Very valuable for its lateness and excellence. Widely known here. Brought originally from Virginia.
This is the next named peach of first quality that ripens after the White English. A native of this State. Leaves - with globose glands. Fruit - medium size, roundish, terminated with a small point. Suture - obscure. Skin - pale yellow, almost white, with a slight blush towards the sun. Flesh - yellowish white, melting and juicy, with a sweet, pleasant flavor. By far the best fruit of its season. Indispensable. Freestone. Ripe 1st of October.
We have three peaches, of pretty good quality, without names, two of which were received from Mr. Prince, by Mr. Camak, with the statement that they were too late to be valuable in that climate, and the other obtained by Mr. Camak from an old field in this State, all of which are really valuable, as they ripen between the 15th of September and 15th of October. We have also a Cling of very good quality in warm seasons, that ripens the 1st of November; making it possible to extend our p ach season from the 20th of June till about the middle of November, in favorable years.
Of the above peaches, the best ten for a succession, in this climate, are Columbus June, Walter's Early, Grosse Mignonne, Crawford's Early, Belle de Beaucaire, Crawford's Late, Newington Cling, Yellow Blanton Cling, White English and Bough. Add to these Early York, Early Admirable, George IV., Bellegarde, Late Admirable, Late Red Rareripe, President, Lemon Cling, Tippecanoe, November Cling, and the unnamed varieties above for October, and the collection is quite as large as desirable.
 
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