I purchased an ‘Early Crawford’ peach tree going on five years ago. I cannot find a good description of this peach or picture. Does anyone else grow it? Its taste was described as one of the best. It is noticeably smaller than all of my other peaches. My Elberta’s and Shui Mi Taos are almost twice the size of the the E. Crawfords. Also there is not much of anything ‘Early’ about this peach as it is due to ripen at the end of August, beginning of September. Thanks
The Arboreum Company occassionally stocks it. Here is their description, with photo (see link):
https://www.arboreumco.com/store/products/early-crawford
I know Scott Smith has grown it in Baltimore. In the past, he has said he likes it, but that a mature Late Crawford is better.
Late Crawford is also carried by Arboreum too.
You can get Baby Crawford from some of the Dave Wilson Nursery mail-order affiliates. I have one of those in my orchard. It has its first 2 fruit on it this summer. 2nd leaf tree.
Here are my notes on Early Crawford, gathered from various sources:
Early Crawford yellow peach, occassionally available on Lovell from Arboreum, last offered for $32 in 2014. Estimated ripening in Maryland: mid Aug (Aug 6-20?) Yellow flesh red at pit. MELTING JUICY productive. Some resistance to curl. Wants heat & thinning. Clayton might ripen around the same time and may be a better option for me, if I can secure it:
(Note: I have not yet grown this peach, nor yet have I had the opportunity to sample one either).
Matt I bought my peach from Arboreum and know their description, however there is very little other info or rating for it on the internet. The only ratings I can find are from the 1800’s. Maybe Scott will chime in again. Thanks Matt!
I have not seen much in the way of recent descriptions of it. The best description I have found is the one in Peaches of New York. I’ll paste it below. Your peach sounds identical to mine, it is definitely on the small side. They are very tasty and more or less match the description in Peaches of New York except the size.
EARLY CRAWFORD
Unproductiveness and uncertainty in bearing keep Early Crawford from being the most commonly grown early, yellow-fleshed peach in America. In its season, when well grown, it is unapproachable in quality by any other peach and is scarcely equalled by any other of any season. The peach has all of the characters that gratify the taste richness of flavor, pleasant aroma, tender flesh and abundant juice. Besides being one of the very best in quality it is one of the handsomest peaches. Unfortunately, this Station is one of the many places in which Early Crawford is not at home and the accompanying illustration is far from doing the variety justice in size, shape or color. At their best, the fruits are larger, more rotund and more richly colored than shown in The Peaches of New York. In soils to which it is well adapted the peach is large, often very large, roundish-oblong, slightly compressed, distinguished by its broad, deep cavity, rich red in the sun, splashed and mottled with darker red, and golden yellow in the shade. The flesh is a beautiful, marbled yellow, rayed with red at the pit and perfectly free from the stone. The trees are all that could be desired in health, vigor, size and shape but are unproductive and uncertain and tardy in bearing. Yet with these faults Early Crawford, for at least a half-century, was the leading market peach of its season giving way finally to white-fleshed sorts of the Belle, Carman and Greensboro type. Fast passing from commercial importance, Early Crawford ought long to be grown in home plantations because of the beauty and unexcelled quality of the fruit.
Early Crawford came into existence in the orchard of William Crawford, Middletown, New Jersey, early in the Nineteenth Century. Its merits were first set forth by William Kenrick in the American Orchardist in 1832. The variety in some manner found its way to Europe and came into the hands of Ferdinand Gaillard, a nurseryman at Brignais, Rhone, France, but without a name. Gaillard, believing it to be a new sort, gave it the name Willermoz in honor of M. Willermoz, Secretary of the Pomological Congress of France. Later, French pomologists decided that Gaillard’s peach and Early Crawford were identical. The American Pomological Society put this peach on its fruit-list in 1856 under the name Crawford’s Early. The name has several times been varied but today the variety is listed as Early Crawford.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, round-topped, often unproductive; trunk thick; branches stocky, smooth, reddish-brown very lightly tinged with ash-gray; branchlets with internodes of medium length, pinkish-red intermingled with darker red, glossy, smooth, glabrous, with numerous large and small, conspicuous, raised lenticels.
Leaves six and three-fourths inches long, one and one-half inches wide, folded upward and recurved, oval to obovate-lanceolate, medium in thickness, leathery; upper surface dark green, usually smooth except along the prominent midrib; lower surface light grayish-green; margin finely serrate, often in two series, tipped with very fine, reddish-brown glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, glandless or with one to five small, globose, greenish-yellow glands variable in position.
Flower-buds conical, heavily pubescent, free; blossoms appear in mid-season; flowers pale pink, less than one inch across, well distributed; pedicels very short, thick, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish-green, orange-colored within, obconic; calyx-lobes short, medium to narrow, acute, glabrous within, pubescent without; petals oval, broadly notched near the base, tapering to broad claws red at the base; filaments one-fourth inch long, equal to the petals in length; pistil often longer than the stamens.
Fruit matures in early mid-season; two and one-half inches long, two and nine-sixteenths inches wide, round-oval or cordate, bulged near the apex, compressed, with unequal halves; cavity deep, wide, abrupt; suture shallow, becoming deeper near the apex; apex variable in shape, often with a swollen, elongated tip; color golden-yellow, blushed with dark red, splashed and mottled with deeper red; pubescence thick; skin separates from the pulp; flesh deep yellow, rayed with red near the pit, juicy, tender, pleasantly sprightly, highly flavored; very good in quality; stone free, one and one-half inches long, one inch wide, oval or ovate, bulged along one side, medium plump, with small, shallow pits in the surfaces; ventral suture deeply furrowed along the sides, medium in width, winged; dorsal suture grooved, slightly winged.
Thanks Scott, they are very slowly getting a hint of red on them. I cannot wait to taste one! Will take pics.
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I wonder if anyone has ever tried to graft Early Crawford onto Citation rootstock; whether it would be compatible; and whether this might improve the variety’s productivity. Hmm… just thinking out loud here.
Matt I think mine is on Citation, if not, Lovell.
Mrsg47 hi
You said there is not anything early about your early crawford peach tree. Usually in peach tree varieties word early does not mean fruit ripens early, it means it ripens earlier than normal variety of same name. For example early red heaven ripen earlier than normal red heaven peach tree.
Thank you Dennis! I hope you are having a good summer. There is also a Crawford and Late Crawford.
Mrsg47 hi
Using same common sense late crawford would be then later normal crawford. If this peach was in peaches of New York book it is quite old variety. Why you choose this variety instead of some more recent variety?
I purchase many trees from a company by the name of Arboreum. They sell many ‘heirloom’ or ‘heritage’ varieties. I like that kind of fruit rather than many that are new. I only have two new apples that have disease resistance. I love ‘old fashioned’ varieities. Crawford peaches are also known for their excellent taste which is very important to me as well. 
Mrsg47 hi
I think it also matters what peach variety is available. You can grow old peach variety if you want, if they work for you. Good if you think Crawford variety is good tasting peach, but it has been said any own growth peach is better than peach you found in shop.