FAMILY FAVORITE
1. Gard. Mon. 22:304. 1880. 2. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 114. 1880. 3. Tex. Sta. Bul. 39:807 fig. 7. 1896. 4. Del. Sta. Rpt. 13:99. 1901. 5. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:344. 1903. 6. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 33. 1909.
Family Favorite is one of the well-known peaches in the South-Central States but in most respects falls far short of Champion, with which it must compete, in New York. The tree is doubtfully hardy and the fruit scabs badly. The variety has two characters to commend it and to give it standing among commercial peaches in New York: Compared with that of Champion, the fruit stands shipment much better and when brown-rot is rife, does not suffer nearly as much. In selected locations, then, when a mid-season, white-fleshed peach is wanted, this variety is worth trying.
Family Favorite is a seedling of Chinese Cling, possibly crossed with Oldmixon Free. It was raised by the late William H. Locke, Bonham, Fannin County, Texas. The exact date of its origin is unknown. The variety was named and introduced by T. V. Munson, Denison, Texas. The American Pomological Society added Family Favorite to its list of fruits in 1909.
FAMILY FAVORITE
Tree of medium size, spreading, inclined to droop, open-topped, productive; trunk and branches intermediate in thickness; branches reddish-brown with a tinge of very light ash-gray; branchlets rather short, with internodes dark red intermingled with olive-green, glossy, smooth, curving, with numerous medium to small, conspicuous, raised lenticels.
Leaves folded upward, six inches long, one and one-half inches wide, ovate-lanceolate; upper surface a dull, mottled, dark green mingled with olive-green, rugose along the midrib; lower surface light grayish-green; margin finely serrate, often in two series, tipped with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, with one to four small, globose, greenish-yellow glands variable in position.
Flower-buds small, obtuse to pointed, very plump, heavily pubescent, appressed; season of bloom early; flowers light pink at the center, darker pink along the edges, one and one-eighth inches across; pedicels short, glabrous; calyx-tube reddish-green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent within, heavily pubescent toward the edges; petals oval to ovate, usually entire, tapering to narrow claws; filaments one-half inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistil pubescent at the base, longer than the stamens.
Fruit matures in mid-season; two and one-half inches long, two and three-eighths inches wide, roundish-oval to strongly oval, bulged near the apex, compressed, with unequal sides; cavity contracted, narrow, abrupt; suture a line, deepening toward the apex; apex roundish, with a small, mucronate tip set in a depression; color creamy-white, with a few splashes of red showing through a dull and mottled blush; pubescence short, thin; skin thin, tough; flesh greenish-white, strongly stained with red at the pit, very juicy, tender and melting, sweet or subacid, aromatic; good in quality; stone semi-free to free, tinged with red, one and one-half inches long, one inch wide, flattened near the base, elliptical, plump, winged on one side, with roughish and usually pitted surfaces; ventral suture deeply furrowed along the sides, narrow; dorsal suture grooved, irregular.