Prolific was heralded a quarter-century ago as one of the great acquisitions to the peach-flora of the country. Time has not dealt kindly with the variety and it is doubtful if it is as popular now as it was a few years after its introduction. The trees are very satisfactory, excelling most of their orchard-associates in vigor, size, health, hardiness and productiveness but the peaches fall below the mark in several characters. The fruits are of but medium size and not uncommonly attractive in color, though handsome enough, but too poor in quality to rate high among the peaches of its season which is a few days before Elberta. The flesh is yellow, firm, dry and little attacked by rot. With the qualities just named, the variety is, of course, a good shipper and might be in demand in the markets for culinary purposes. We doubt whether the peach should be largely planted in New York.
Further than that Prolific comes from Michigan, nothing is known of its parentage, the originator or the date of origin. It was introduced about 1890 by Greening Brothers, Monroe, Michigan, under the name New Prolific. In 1909 the American Pomological Society added this peach to its fruit-list as New Prolific.
PROLIFIC
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, becoming drooping, open-topped, very productive; trunk rough; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown with a very light tinge of ash-gray; branchlets deep, dull red intermingled with green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, numerous lenticels raised near the base.
Leaves six and one-half inches long, one and one-half inches wide, variable in position, oval to obovate-lanceolate, leathery; upper surface dull, dark green, smooth, becoming rugose near the midrib; lower surface grayish-green; apex long-acuminate; margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, with from one to five small, globose glands variable in color and position.
Flower-buds hardy, conical to obtuse, plump, somewhat pubescent, appressed or free; blossoms open early; flowers one and five-sixteenths inches across, white near the center becoming pink along the edges; pedicels very short, glabrous, green; calyx-tube dull, dark reddish-green, orange-colored within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, glabrous within, heavily pubescent without; petals roundish-ovate to oval, broadly notched near the base, tapering to narrow claws red at the base; filaments seven-sixteenths inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistil pubescent at the ovary, as long as the stamens.
Fruit matures in mid-season; two and one-fourth inches long, two and three-eighths inches wide, round-oval to cordate, bulged on one side, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity deep, usually abrupt, frequently mottled with red; suture a line, becoming deeper toward the tip; apex round or somewhat pointed, with a recurved, mamelon tip; color light orange, mottled and blushed with red; pubescence thick, fine; skin thin, tough, separates from the pulp; flesh light yellow, stained with red near the pit, medium juicy, coarse, stringy, tender, sweet, mild, pleasantly flavored; good in quality; stone free, one and three-eighths inches long, one inch wide, ovate, bulged on one side, plump, with long, pointed apex, with surfaces grooved and marked by small pits; ventral suture deeply grooved along the sides, slightly winged near the base; dorsal suture a deep groove, faintly winged.
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.
