ILLINOIS
1. N. J. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 36. 1912. 2. Stark Bros. Cat. 37 fig. 1913. 3. Waugh Am. Peach Orch. 203. 1913. 4. Stark Bros. Cat. 43. 1914.
Illinois is a mid-season, white-fleshed, freestone peach, still on probation with what result as to commercial possibilities we should not like to predict. It has been little tried in New York and growers in other peach-regions are not in accord as to its value. In size, color and shape of fruit, as the color-plate shows, Illinois is one of the beauties of the orchard. Yet, all things considered, the new variety is not as good as Champion with which it would have to compete. Neither tree- nor fruit-characters are quite satisfactory as the variety grows on the Station grounds. It must be apparent, too, to all peach-growers that the industry is overloaded with white-fleshed peaches which at best must be sold in nearby markets or grown for home use.
Illinois originated about 1910 on the grounds of E. H. Riehl near North Alton, Illinois. It is supposed to be a cross between Stark Heath and Washington.
ILLINOIS
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright to spreading, hardy, very productive; trunk thick; branches stocky, smooth, dark reddish-brown overlaid by ash-gray; branchlets slender, short, with internodes dark red and olive-green, smooth, glabrous, with a few inconspicuous, raised lenticels variable in size.
Leaves five and one-half inches long, one and one-half inches wide, curled under at the tips, ovate-lanceolate, thin, leathery; upper surface dull, dark green, rugose along the midrib; lower surface olive-green; margin deeply and sharply serrate, the serrations often in two series, tipped with small glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, glandless.
Flower-buds medium to large, obtuse or conical, plump, pubescent, appressed; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers variable in color, over one inch across, often in twos; pedicels short, greenish, glabrous; calyx-tube reddish-green, greenish-yellow within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes medium to broad, obtuse, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals oval, crenate, often broadly notched near the base, tapering to narrow claws with a tinge of red at the base; filaments one-half inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistil pubescent at the base, as long as the stamens.
Fruit matures in early mid-season; two and one-fourth inches long, two and one-half inches wide, round-oblate, compressed, the halves usually unequal; cavity deep, abrupt, often tinged with red; suture shallow, deepening toward the apex; apex roundish, with a mucronate tip; color creamy-white, blushed with dull, dark red and mottled with splashes of brighter red; pubescence heavy; skin tough; flesh white, stained red near the pit, juicy, tender and melting, sweet; good in quality; stone semi-free to free, one and one-fourth inches long, fifteen-sixteenths inch wide, oval or obovate, not bulged, slightly elongated toward the base, plump, short-pointed at the apex, with grooved and pitted surfaces; ventral suture winged, of medium width, deeply grooved along the edges; dorsal suture deeply grooved.