Peach

Origin / History

Origin unknown (Downing; Beach, citing Downing 1869). Beach notes it has long been known in cultivation and is considered by some a profitable sort, but generally speaking it has won little recognition among fruit growers; it is but very little grown in New York. It is not recommended for general planting, though it may be valuable locally. Bunyard describes it (under the name "Winter Peach," Florist and Pomologist, 1883, 153; French, Pêche d'Hiver) as an American variety of uncertain origin, known in England in 1853. Hansen records it under the names Canada Peach and Montreal Peach.

Tree

Tree moderate grower (Downing); medium in size, moderately vigorous to vigorous, long-lived and a pretty reliable biennial cropper, but hardly as uniformly productive as is desirable in a commercial variety (Beach). Branches moderately long, slender, crooked. Form roundish or nearly upright, open. Twigs medium to short, straight, moderately stout; internodes medium to short. Bark brown or somewhat tinged with red, lightly streaked with scarf-skin, pubescent. Lenticels quite numerous but not conspicuous, small, roundish or elongated, not raised. Buds medium to small, plump, obtuse, free or nearly so, pubescent. Bunyard: growth moderate, fertility moderate; leaf pale, little upfolded, large, very coarsely curved serrate. Bunyard notes the variety is apt to canker, making it only second rate.

Fruit

Size

Below medium (Downing); below medium to above (Beach); medium (Hansen); medium, 2⅜ by 2 inches (Bunyard). Beach notes it does not always average good marketable size. In general appearance it is quite attractive (Beach).

Form

Oblate, inclining to conic (Downing). Beach: oblate varying to roundish, flat at base, inclined to conic, somewhat ribbed and often irregularly elliptical; sides often unequal. Hansen: oblong to conical. Bunyard: round flattened, fairly regular.

Stem

Short (Downing); short to long, sometimes swollen (Beach); medium to long (Hansen); very short, in a deep cavity (Bunyard).

Cavity

Rather large, acute, moderately deep, rather broad, furrowed, usually russeted (Beach); regular, acute, russeted (Hansen); deep (Bunyard).

Calyx

Closed (Downing, Hansen). Beach: small to above medium, closed or partly open. Hansen: segments large, erect convergent. Bunyard: eye open, in a rather deep basin. Calyx tube usually funnel-shape and rather narrow with wide limb, sometimes conical (Beach); tube funnel-shaped (Hansen). Stamens basal (Beach) / marginal (Hansen).

Basin

Beach: small to medium, shallow to moderately deep, narrow to moderately wide, abrupt to rather obtuse, sometimes furrowed, often wrinkled. Hansen: narrow, corrugated. Bunyard: rather deep.

Skin

Pale yellow, with blush of red in the sun, and thickly sprinkled with gray dots (Downing). Beach: skin moderately thin, rather tender, smooth, clear pale yellow or whitish, often with a faint blush sometimes deepening in part to pink, mottled about the cavity with whitish scarf-skin and overspread with a white bloom which produces a delicate and beautiful effect; dots numerous, whitish or areolar with russet point, often submerged; the white-skinned fruit often shows a delicate pink cheek overspread with whitish bloom. Hansen: surface yellow, sometimes bronze blush; dots white, suffused. Bunyard: colour palest creamy-yellow with faint scarlet blush.

Flesh / Flavor

White, crisp, tender, juicy, lively brisk subacid (Downing). Beach: flesh whitish tinged with yellow, very firm, moderately fine-grained, breaking, tender, very juicy, rather briskly subacid, perfumed, slightly astringent — a perfumed, subacid flesh of pretty good quality. Hansen: flesh white, fine grained, juicy, acid. Bunyard: flesh crisp, yellowish, juicy, with a slight spicy flavour; he notes it is not of particularly good flavour. Quality: good to very good (Downing); good or sometimes very good (Beach); good (Hansen).

Core / Seeds

Core small (Downing); medium or below medium in size, abaxile; cells usually symmetrical, sometimes open; core lines clasping or meeting (Beach). Hansen: core closed, clasping. Carpels elliptical to somewhat obcordate, emarginate, smooth (Beach). Seeds few, above medium to rather small, wide, obtuse (Beach).

Season

December to April; a good keeper (Downing). December to May or June (Beach). Bunyard: keeps well, in use till March. Hansen, by contrast, places it in summer, ripening about the same as Oldenburg.

Uses

Bunyard classes it as culinary (in use till March). Beach treats it as a dessert/market sort of pretty good quality, considered by some a profitable variety.

Subtypes / Variants

Not described in source.

Other

Beach gives references: Downing 1869:299; Bailey, An. Hort., 1892:246; Burrill and McCluer, Ill. Sta. Bul., 45:335 (1896); Beach and Clark, N.Y. Sta. Bul., 248:137 (1904).

[NOTE: Source text may be incorrect — Hansen's entry (Canada Peach / Montreal Peach) describes a summer apple ripening with Oldenburg, with acid flesh, marginal stamens, and erect convergent calyx segments. This conflicts sharply with Downing, Beach, and Bunyard, who all describe a long-keeping winter/late apple. Hansen may be describing a different variety; his details are included above with attribution.]