LARGE YORK
1. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 22. 1897. 2. Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 26. 1899.
New York Rareripe. 3. Coxe Cult. Fr. Trees 220. 1817. 4. Elliott Fr. Book 277. 1854.
Large Early York. 5. Prince Treat. Fr. Trees 16. 1820. 6. Proc. Nat. Con. Fr. Gr. 39, 51. 1848. 7. Cole Am. Fr. Book 192. 1849. 8. Cultivator 6:308 fig. 1849. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 44. 1856. 10. Elliott Fr. Book 288. 1859. 11. Horticulturist 16:245. 1861. 12. Gard. Mon. 5:13. 1863. 13. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 619. 1869. 14. Fulton Peach Cult. 185, 186. 1908.
Large Early Rareripe. 15. Prince Pom. Man. 2:25. 1832.
Large York long ago lost all value for either home or commercial plantings but it is still listed in a few nursery catalogs and is still in the fruit-list of the American Pomological Society. It is one of the old American sorts and has been much confounded with several other peaches. We place it among the major varieties in The Peaches of New York chiefly to straighten out the nomenclatorial tangle involving it and the several varieties with which it is commonly confounded.
Large York has been more often confused with Early York than any other sort. George IV, Haines and Honest John have also been listed time and again as identical with Large York. While the sorts mentioned have many resemblances, there are distinguishing characters for all of them. Large York, known also as Large Early York and Large Early Rareripe, originated with William Prince,[261] Flushing, New York, some time in the Eighteenth Century, probably from a pit of Red Rareripe. The variety was at first called Early York but to distinguish it from another Early York the term Large was added. Prince sent the variety to William Forsyth of England about 1790. Forsyth grew it in the Royal Kensington Gardens and later renamed it Royal Kensington under which name it is frequently sold in England. While Large York and Early York are closely related, the leaves of the latter are glandless while those of the former have globose glands. At the National Convention of Fruit-Growers held in 1848, Large York was put on the list of recommended varieties under the name Large Early York. The peach has remained on the American Pomological Society's fruit-catalog since the date given, the name being shortened in 1897 to Large York.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, rather unproductive; trunk thick; branches thick, smooth, reddish-brown intermingled with light ash-gray; branchlets with long internodes, dark red with some green, somewhat russetted, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, numerous, large, raised lenticels; leaves six and one-half inches long, one and one-half inches wide, variable in position, oval to obovate-lanceolate, thick, leathery, dark green tinged with olive-green; margin finely serrate; petiole three-eighths inch long, glandless or with one to six small, globose, reddish-brown glands; flower-buds small, short, pointed, not very plump, pubescent, appressed; flowers small, appearing in mid-season.
Fruit ripens in mid-season; one and seven-eighths inches long, two and one-sixteenth inches wide, round-oblate, bulged at one side, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity narrow, abrupt, faintly splashed with red; suture shallow, becoming deeper toward the apex and extending considerably beyond; apex roundish or depressed, with a mucronate tip; color greenish-white or creamy-white, blushed and mottled with red; pubescence short, thick, fine; skin thin, tender, adheres to the pulp; flesh white, rayed with red near the pit, juicy, stringy, tender, sweet, mild, pleasant flavored, aromatic; good in quality; stone nearly free, one and one-eighth inches long, seven-eighths inch wide, oval, plump, short-pointed at the apex; ventral suture medium in width; dorsal suture grooved.