RAY
1. Del. Sta. Rpt. 13:106. 1901. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 38. 1909. 3. N. J. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 35. 1912. 4. Harrison Cat. 27. 1915.
This is another of the many early, white-fleshed, freestone peaches which are competing for favor among peach-growers. We doubt if Ray, however, should find a place on the peach-list for New York. Several faults condemn it; worst of all, the trees are not productive. Add to unproductiveness, lack of uniformity in size, shape, color and flavor and the variety is out of the race as a commercial sort. This far north, too, the trees suffer from winter injury. The variety is remarkable for its foliage. Were it not for the fact that Ray is well spoken of in several other states, and the possibility that it might do better in other parts of New York than on the Station grounds, we should not place it among the major varieties in The Peaches of New York. It is said to be an excellent shipper.
This peach is occasionally confused with Raymond Cling, which originated in Mississippi many years ago and which has long since passed from cultivation. The present variety originated with D. Ray, Tyler, Texas. Its parentage is unknown. The American Pomological Society placed Ray on its fruit-list in 1909.
RAY
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, the lower branches drooping, medium in productiveness; trunk thick, nearly smooth; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown with a light tinge of ash-gray; branchlets slender, dark red intermingled with olive-green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with numerous raised lenticels variable in size.
Leaves six and one-half inches long, one and five-eighths inches wide, flattened or curled downward, oval to obovate lanceolate, leathery; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface medium green; margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, glandless or with one to three small, globose glands variable in position.
Flower-buds half-hardy, short, heavily pubescent, conical to pointed, plump, usually appressed; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers one inch across, light pink becoming darker pink along the edges; pedicels short; calyx-tube reddish-green, greenish-yellow within, obconic; calyx-lobes long, narrow, obtuse, glabrous within, heavily pubescent without; petals ovate, with claws medium in length and width; filaments three-eighths inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistil pubescent at the base, longer than the stamens.
Fruit matures in mid-season; two and three-eighths inches long, two and one-half inches wide, roundish-conic to oblong-conic, slightly compressed, with nearly equal halves; cavity narrow, abrupt, with tender skin; suture shallow, deepening toward and often extending beyond the tip; apex round, with a mucronate tip; color greenish-white changing to white, scarcely blushed or with a bright pinkish-red blush varying from a small amount to about one-third of the surface, faintly mottled; pubescence coarse, thick, long; skin very thin, tough, separates from the pulp; flesh greenish-white, stained with red near the pit, juicy, stringy, firm but tender, aromatic, sprightly; good in quality; stone semi-free to free, one and seven-sixteenths inches long, slightly more than one inch wide, oval to ovate, plump, with short point at the apex, with grooved and pitted surfaces; ventral suture deeply grooved along the edges, narrow, furrowed; dorsal suture grooved.