JENNIE WORTHEN
1. Mich. Sta. Bul. 31:58. 1887. 2. Munson Cat. 8. 1890-91. 3. Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 183. 1898.
Worthen. 4. U. S. D. A. Pom. Rpt. 44. 1895. 5. Mich. Sta. Bul. 169:229. 1899.
Jennie. 6. Tex. Sta. Bul. 39:812. 1896.
Jennie Worthen is given a place among the major varieties in The Peaches of New York with the hope that New York growers may be induced to try it as a high-grade, yellow-fleshed, freestone variety to precede Elberta. It is enough to say that it is very similar to Early Crawford—best of all early peaches—and on the Station grounds is more productive, unproductiveness being the fault that keeps Early Crawford from being a money-making variety. Whether or not Jennie Worthen can be grown commercially, it is well worth planting in the home orchard.
But little is known of the history of this variety. According to a letter from the late T. V. Munson, Denison, Texas, it originated in Illinois with a Mr. Worthen and was named for his daughter. The Munson Nursery grew the variety for a few years after its introduction but has since discontinued its propagation.
JENNIE WORTHEN
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, hardy, productive; trunk thick, smooth; branches thick, nearly smooth, reddish-brown mingled with light ash-gray; branchlets of medium thickness, tending to rebranch near the tips, with internodes of medium length, dark pinkish-red intermingled with green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with numerous conspicuous, small, raised lenticels.
Leaves six and one-half inches long, one and three-eighths inches wide, curled both upward and downward, oval to obovate-lanceolate, thin, leathery; upper surface dark green, rugose near the base of the midrib; lower surface grayish-green; margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; petiole one-half inch long, glandless or with one to six reniform, reddish-brown glands of medium size, variable in position.
Flower-buds hardy, usually obtuse, sometimes conical, plump, very pubescent, free; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers pale pinkish, darker pink near the margins, well distributed; pedicels short, medium to thick, glabrous, green; calyx-tube dull, dark reddish-green, orange-red within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes short, narrow, usually acute, glabrous within and without; petals oval, often broadly notched near the base, tapering to long, narrow claws occasionally tinged with red at the base; filaments three-eighths inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistil pubescent at the ovary, equal to or longer than the stamens.
Fruit matures in mid-season; two and seven-eighths inches long, two and five-sixteenths inches wide, irregular, roundish-oval, bulged at one side, considerably compressed, with unequal sides; cavity medium to deep, abrupt, with tender skin; suture shallow, deepening toward the tip; apex elongated; color greenish-yellow changing to orange-yellow, with stripes and splashes and mottlings of deeper red; pubescence thick, long; skin thin, tough, separates from the pulp; flesh deep yellow, stained with red near the pit, juicy, slightly stringy, tender, sweet, very pleasantly flavored, sprightly; good to very good in quality; stone free, one and three-eighths inches long, one inch wide, ovate, plump, bulged at one side, the surfaces grooved; ventral suture narrow, winged, deeply grooved near the edges; dorsal suture grooved.