Narrative
Type = Peach. Per Okie: "Carries gene for pollen sterility, good bud hardiness, aromatic flavor, softens rapidly. Flower pale pink, nonshowy; high cropping efficiency; tree chilling requirement 850, petiole gland shape reniform; skin pubescent, flesh white with red near the pit, fruit size 2 1/8 inches, ovate, ground color green, slight red blush, firmness low, fair to good eating quality; stone size 1 1/8 by 13/16 inch, freestone; ripens three days before Elberta; moderate resistance to bacterial leaf spot." Per Hedrick (see citation): "Unfortunately, appearance misrepresents quality; for the variety, while good, falls short in flavor, and the flesh is stringy so that it must be rated as not above the average for its type...easy prey to leaf-curl...Belle came from a seed of Chinese Cling planted in 1870 by L. A. Rumph, Marshallville, Georgia. The other parent is unknown but it is supposed to have been Oldmixon Free, a tree of which stood near the Chinese Cling tree...tree very productive; leaf margin coarsely serrate, tipped with dark red glands; reniform...blooming season early; flowers pale pink...campanulate,...Fruit matures in mid-season; two and one-sixteenth inches long, two and one-eigth inches wide, roundish-oval; color greenish-white changing to creamy-white, blushed with red, with faint stripes and splashes of darker red, mottled;...stone semi-free to free, one and one-eighth inches long, thirteen-sixteenths inch wide."