Flower-buds hardy, large, medium to long, conical or obtuse, very plump, strongly pubescent, usually free; season of bloom early; flowers pale pink, one and three-fourths inches across, usually in twos; pedicels very short, glabrous; calyx-tube dull reddish-green, lemon-yellow within, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes very broad, obtuse, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals round-ovate, tapering to short, narrow claws red at the base; filaments one-half inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil pubescent at the base, equal to the stamens in length. Fruit matures early; two and one-half inches long, two and three-eighths inches wide, oblong-oval, often oblique, bulged at one side, compressed, with unequal sides; cavity deep, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, deepening toward the cavity; apex roundish, with a small, mucronate tip; color creamy-white, blushed red, with a few stripes of darker red intermingling; pubescence heavy, nearly tomentose; skin rather tough, separates from the pulp; flesh white, very juicy, tender and melting, mild, sweet, sprightly; fair in quality; stone semi-clinging, one and seven-sixteenths inches long, one inch wide, winged on both sides, ovate, strongly bulged along one side, with short grooves on the surfaces; ventral suture narrow, deeply grooved along the sides; dorsal suture grooved, winged. HALE EARLY =1.= _Mag. Hort._ =27=:65, 66. 1861. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 78. 1862. =3.= _Gard. Mon._ =5=:68, 69, 198, 277, 278. 1863. =4.= _Horticulturist_ =18=:63, 64, 197, 198, 242, 243 fig., 244. 1863. =5.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 615. 1869. =6.= _Horticulturist_ =27=:23, 304. 1872. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 37. 1909. _Précoce de Hale._ =8.= Mas _Le Verger_ =7=:193, 194, fig. 95. 1866-73. _Hale._ =9.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 44. 1891. =10.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:215. 1899.