Coming at a season when there are several very good, white-fleshed peaches, we doubt whether Hynes can establish itself in the peach-list for New York. The peaches are not quite large enough and the stone clings a little too tenaciously for a first-class early peach. The flavor is good for an early peach and when large enough the fruits are attractive, shape and coloring being particularly pleasing. Hynes was at one time highly recommended, widely advertised and largely sold in New York by nurserymen and fruit-growers in this State. We doubt if many are now planting it. The color-plate is an excellent reproduction of the variety.
Hynes was grown about 1877 by E. F. Hynes, West Plains, Missouri. Its parentage is unknown. The variety soon became disseminated as a valuable early, commercial peach. At first it was known as Hynes Surprise but gradually the name has been shortened to Hynes. The late S. D. Willard, Geneva, New York, grew and recommended this variety for a number of years and by some has been given the credit of having originated and introduced it. The American Pomological Society put Hynes on its fruit-list in 1899.
HYNES
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, hardy, medium in productiveness; trunk thick; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown with a small amount of ash-gray; branchlets long, with internodes of medium length, dark red intermingled with olive-green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with conspicuous, large lenticels.
Leaves six and one-half inches long, about one and one-half inches wide, oval to obovate-lanceolate, leathery, dull, dark green, smooth; lower surface grayish-green; apex tapering to a long, narrow point; margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, with one to five small, globose, brownish-yellow glands variable in position.
Flower-buds hardy, small, short, obtuse, plump, slightly pubescent, usually appressed; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers dark pink at the center, light pink near the edges, often in twos; pedicels short, medium to thick, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube reddish-green, greenish-yellow within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes short, medium to broad, obtuse, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals broadly oval, irregular in outline, tapering to claws often red at the base; filaments one-half inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil pubescent near the base, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit matures early; two and one-half inches long, two and one-fourth inches wide, round-oblate, with halves usually equal; cavity wide, flaring; suture shallow, becoming deeper near the tip; apex flattened or roundish, ending abruptly in a short, sharp point; color greenish or creamy-white, with a dull, dark red blush, splashed and mottled with carmine; pubescence thin, short, fine; skin thin, tender, variable in adherence to the pulp; flesh greenish-white, with a red stain under the skin and often rayed with red about the pit, juicy, stringy, tender and melting, sweet, mild; fair to good in quality; stone nearly free, one and one-fourth inches long, seven-eighths inch wide, bulged on one side, ovate, very plump, with surfaces pitted and with short, narrow grooves; ventral suture furrowed, very deeply grooved at the edges; dorsal suture wide, deeply grooved.
ILLINOIS
1. N. J. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 36. 1912. 2. Stark Bros. Cat. 37 fig. 1913. 3. Waugh Am. Peach Orch. 203. 1913. 4. Stark Bros. Cat. 43. 1914.
Illinois is a mid-season, white-fleshed, freestone peach, still on probation with what result as to commercial possibilities we should not like to predict. It has been little tried in New York and growers in other peach-regions are not in accord as to its value. In size, color and shape of fruit, as the color-plate shows, Illinois is one of the beauties of the orchard. Yet, all things considered, the new variety is not as good as Champion with which it would have to compete. Neither tree- nor fruit-characters are quite satisfactory as the variety grows on the Station grounds. It must be apparent, too, to all peach-growers that the industry is overloaded with white-fleshed peaches which at best must be sold in nearby markets or grown for home use.
Illinois originated about 1910 on the grounds of E. H. Riehl near North Alton, Illinois. It is supposed to be a cross between Stark Heath and Washington.
