1. U. S. D. A. Pom. Rpt. 25. 1894. 2. Rural N. Y. 54:235, 619. 1895. 3. Ga. Sta. Rpt. 13:308. 1900. 4. Del. Sta. Rpt. 13:92, 93 fig. 3. 1901. 5. U. S. D. A. Yearbook 385, 386, Pl. XLVIII. 1901. 6. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 11. 1907. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 36. 1909.

Among the many white-fleshed peaches of recent introduction, few hold a more conspicuous place than Carman. Possibly its chief asset is a constitution which enables it to withstand trying climates, both north and south, and to accommodate itself to a great variety of soils. Thus, we find Carman a very general favorite in nearly every peach-region on this continent. Besides its cosmopolitan constitution, there is much merit in the fruits especially for a peach ripening so early. While of but medium size (the color-plate does not do justice in showing the size of Carman) the peaches are most pleasing in appearance. The color is a brilliant red splashed with darker red on a creamy-white background. The shape is nearly round and the trimness and symmetry of the contour make the variety, especially when packed in box or basket, one scarcely surpassed in attractiveness of form. Carman is rated as very good in quality for a peach of its season though a smack of bitterness in its mild, sweet flavor condemns it for some. The habit of growth is excellent, peaches are borne abundantly, brown-rot takes comparatively little toll and in tree or bud the variety is remarkably hardy. All in all, Carman is one of the most useful peaches of its class and season for either home or commercial planting.

Carman grew from a seed planted in 1889 by J. W. Stubenrauch, Mexia, Texas. The tree fruited in 1892 and its earliness and freedom from rot so pleased Mr. Stubenrauch that he at once began propagating the new variety, naming it Pride of Texas. Later, in 1894, the name was changed to Carman in honor of the late E. S. Carman, long editor of the Rural New Yorker. In 1909 the American Pomological Society added Carman to its list of fruits as one of its recommended varieties.

CARMAN

Tree large, vigorous, spreading or somewhat upright, open-topped, hardy, very productive; trunk thick; branches stocky, smooth, bright red overspread with ash-gray; branchlets long, olive-green overspread with dark red, glabrous, smooth, glossy, with numerous small, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaves five and seven-eighths inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, oval to obovate-lanceolate; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface light grayish-green; margin finely serrate, tipped with dark red glands; petiole one-fourth inch long, with three to five reniform glands medium in size and variable in position and color.

Flower-buds oval, pointed, plump, heavily pubescent, appressed; blossoms open in mid-season; flowers one and one-fourth inches across, pink; pedicels short, glabrous, pale green; calyx-tube dull reddish-green, speckled, yellowish-green within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes short, acute to obtuse, glabrous within, heavily pubescent without; petals oval to ovate, with distinct notches near the base, tapering to narrow, white claws of medium length; filaments three-eighths inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil pubescent near the base, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures early; about two and one-fourth inches in diameter, round-oval, compressed, with unequal sides, bulged near the apex; cavity abrupt or flaring, tinged with pink and with tender skin; suture shallow, becoming deeper at the cavity; apex roundish or depressed, with a somewhat pointed or mucronate tip; color creamy-white more or less overspread with light red, with splashes of darker red; pubescence very thick, short; skin thin, tough, adherent to the pulp; flesh white, red at the pit, juicy, tender, sweet, mild, pleasant flavored; very good in quality; stone nearly free, about one and one-half inches long, one inch wide, oval, plump, with thickly-pitted surfaces; ventral suture deeply grooved along the edges, thick, furrowed and winged; dorsal suture deeply grooved.

CHAIRS

1. Mich. Sta. Bul. 169:209. 1899. 2. Rural N. Y. 59:642 fig. 236. 1900. 3. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:340. 1903.

Chairs' Choice. 4. N. C. Sta. Rpt. 11:108. 1889. 5. Waugh Am. Peach Orch. 200. 1913.

Chair's Choice. 6. Col. O. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 151. 1893. 7. Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 166. 1895. 8. Ibid. 26. 1899.

Chair Choice. 9. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 44. 1891.

Chairs is a select fruit in the Crawford group, in its turn the most select of the several groups of peaches. In quality Chairs is unapproachable by varieties outside of its own family and is not surpassed by any within its group. The variety was at one time a standard late, yellow-fleshed, freestone, market peach competing in popularity with Late Crawford over which it often held ascendency because less subject to brown-rot. The coming of the showier and more productive but less well-flavored varieties of the Elberta type has driven the Crawford group from the markets and Chairs is now known only in collections where it will long be treasured for its delectable quality. Unproductiveness and capriciousness in soil and climate, faults of all Crawford-like peaches, are marked in Chairs. The fruits are usually larger than the specimens shown in the accompanying illustration.

Chairs originated about 1880 in the orchard of Franklin Chairs, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. First called Chairs' Choice, the apostrophe was dropped in 1891 by the American Pomological Society and still later the same organization shortened the name to Chairs. Its horticultural value was early appreciated by all pomologists and it has long been a prime favorite.