Morris White is one of the ancients of American peach-orchards worth
noticing now only because of its worthy past. It is distinguished among
peach varieties by its white flesh--white clear to the pit with no
trace of red even on the surface or next to the stone. It is further
distinguished by its sweet, rich flavor--giving it high rank among the
best of peaches--and by the great productiveness of the trees. Though
undoubtedly the day of Morris White is passed for either commercial or
home orchards, it might still be used advantageously in breeding late,
white-fleshed, freestone peaches.
William Robert Prince,[263] in his _Pomological Manual_, describes
a White Rareripe which he claims originated in the nursery of his
grandfather and which can be no other than the Morris White under
discussion. The origin of the variety will always be in doubt but
probably the elder Prince originated it in the latter part of the
Eighteenth Century. Leroy has confused the history of Morris White
with that of Red Rareripe, commonly called Morris Red Rareripe, which
probably originated with Robert Morris, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Leroy questions the identity of the White Rareripe mentioned by Coxe
but, although the season of Coxe's sort is a trifle earlier than
Leroy's, the two are probably the same. There was a White Rareripe
grown for a short time in America many years ago which proved to be
the old French Nivette renamed. Nivette was not widely disseminated
and probably has long since passed from cultivation in America. Morris
White was reported upon at the National Convention of Fruit-Growers
in 1848 and received a place in the list of recommended fruits.
It continued to be listed in the American Pomological Society's
fruit-catalog until 1891 when it was dropped but was replaced in 1897
and still remains there.
[Illustration: MORRIS WHITE]
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading to drooping,
dense-topped, productive; trunk intermediate in thickness and
smoothness; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown with very
light tinge of ash-gray; branchlets long, with long internodes,
dark red mingled with green, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with
many conspicuous, small, raised lenticels at the base.
Leaves six and three-fourths inches long, one and
three-fourths inches wide, flat or curled downward, oval to
obovate-lanceolate, leathery; upper surface dull, dark green,
smooth; lower surface grayish-green; apex long, acuminate;
margin finely serrate, tipped with reddish-brown glands;
petiole three-eighths inch long, with one to five small,
globose and reniform glands variable in color and position.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account