Chapter II
, the Marianna is not now employed by nurserymen as largely as formerly, though there are still conditions in which it is the best of stocks. The tree is a handsome ornamental at any season of the year and its broad, spreading top makes it a good shade tree.
Marianna originated as a seedling in a mixed orchard belonging to Charles G. Fitze, Marianna, Polk County, Texas; its parentage is unknown. The originator considered it a seedling of Wild Goose, but, it is probably an offspring of DeCaradeuc and, as stated in the foregoing paragraph, undoubtedly a hybrid. In 1884, Charles N. Eley, Smith Point, Texas, introduced the Marianna to fruit-growers; in 1889 it was placed on the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society.
Tree large, vigorous, broad, spreading, open and flat-topped, hardy, unproductive, comparatively free from insects or diseases; trunk rough; branches numerous, usually smooth, but sometimes roughened by the cracking of the bark, thorny, dark ash-gray, with numerous, very large, raised lenticels; branchlets slender, twiggy, with internodes of medium length, green changing to dull reddish-brown, with gray scarf-skin, glabrous, with conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds very small and short, obtuse, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, elongated-oval, one and one-eighth inches wide, two and five-eighths inches long, thin; upper surface smooth, glabrous, with a shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface pale green, lightly pubescent along the midrib and larger veins; apex and base acute, margin very finely serrate, with small, black or amber glands; petiole slender, three-quarters inch long, pubescent along one side, usually tinged red, glandless or with from one to three very small, globose, greenish-brown glands variable in position.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across, white; borne in clusters on lateral spurs, in twos or in threes; pedicels three-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes acute, sparingly pubescent, ciliate, erect; petals very small, separated from each other, broadly oval, entire, tapering to narrow claws; anthers yellowish; filaments three-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit early, season of medium length; one and one-eighth inches or more in diameter, oval or roundish-oval, often not compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt, regular; suture a line; apex roundish or blunt-pointed; color bright, light red changing to darker red, overspread with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, light russet, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous; skin tough, bitter, inclined to crack under unfavorable conditions, parts readily; flesh yellow, tinged red under the skin and next to the stone, unusually juicy, fibrous, watery and melting, sweet next to the skin, but acid near the pit, sprightly; inferior in quality; stone clinging, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size, elongated-oval, blunt-pointed, surfaces pitted; ventral suture blunt, wide, slightly ridged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
MARU
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 29. 1886. =2.= _Ibid._ 53, 99. 1889. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 105, 106. 1891. =4.= _Rev. Hort._ 515. 1891. =5.= _Ibid._ 278. 1894. =6.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =62=:26. 1894. =7.= _Tex. Sta. Bul._ =32=:489. 1899. =8.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =106=:57. 1896. =9.= _Rural N. Y._ =56=:615. 1897. =10.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =175=:143. 1899. =11.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:242, 249. 1899. =12.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 138. 1901. =13.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =68=:9, 31. 1905.
Maru is much in evidence in plum literature, the concensus of opinion being that it is little short of worthless. Its quality is not high and it comes in season about with Abundance which surpasses it in nearly all characters. The variety was introduced by Luther Burbank and is said to have been imported by him about 1885. In Japan this name is applied to any round plum, but so far in America it has been restricted to this variety.
Tree large, lacking in vigor, broad-vasiform, dense-topped, unproductive, somewhat susceptible to attacks of shot-hole fungus; trunk and branches rough; branchlets twiggy, marked with thin, russety scarf-skin, glabrous, with large, prominent lenticels; leaves folded upward, oblanceolate, peach-like, thin, one and three-eighths inches wide, three inches long; upper surface yellowish-green late in the season; margin very finely serrate, with small glands; petiole with from one to six glands usually on the stalk; blooming season early; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across; borne in clusters on lateral spurs, in threes or fours; pistil longer than the stamens.
Fruit early, about one and one-quarter inches in diameter, roundish-cordate, dull red, with medium thick bloom; flesh deep yellow, tender and melting, sweet next the skin, but slightly astringent near the pit; poor in quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, oval or roundish, turgid, with rough surfaces.
MAYNARD
_Prunus triflora_ × _Prunus simonii_
=1.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:226. 1899. =2.= _Nat. Nur._ =11=:5. 1903. =3.= _Oregon Nur. Cat._ 24. 1903. =4.= _Can. Hort._ =28=:285. 1905.
The habit of the tree of Maynard is commendable and the plums are very acceptable to those who care for the Triflora fruits. The season follows Climax, a period when there is a dearth of Triflora plums. Maynard has been so widely advertised that it is hardly necessary to say that it is worthy of trial. The variety was first fruited in 1897 by Burbank after which it was tested by him for five years and was then sold to the Oregon Nursery Company by whom it was introduced in 1903. It was named by the originator in honor of Professor T. S. Maynard, then in charge of horticulture in the Massachusetts Agricultural College.
Tree large, vigorous, upright, open-topped, productive; branchlets thick, dark chestnut-red; leaves obovate, one and one-half inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thin; margin finely serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole slender, glandless or with one or two small glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Fruit early; about one and three-eighths inches in diameter, roundish-truncate, dark red, changing to purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; flesh reddish, with a tinge of yellow near the pit, fibrous, tender and melting, sweet, aromatic; good to very good; stone semi-clinging, three-quarters inch by five-eighths inch in size, broadly oval, turgid, blunt at the base and apex, with pitted surfaces; ventral suture prominent, with deep furrows and with a narrow, blunt wing; dorsal suture acute or with an indistinct groove.
McLAUGHLIN
[Illustration: McLAUGHLIN]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Horticulturist_ =1=:195 fig. 54. 1846. =2.= Cole _Am. Fr. Book_ 209 fig. 1849. =3.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 332. 1849. =4.= _Mag. Hort._ =16=:456, 457 fig. 28. 1850. =5.= Hovey _Fr. Am._ =2=:47, Pl. 1851. =6.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 36, 55. 1852. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 231. 1854. =8.= _Cultivator_ =6=:52 fig. 1858. =9.= _Flor. & Pom._ 200. 1870. =10.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:137, fig. 69. 1866-73. =11.= _Am. Gard._ =14=:299 fig. 1893. =12.= Gaucher _Pom. Prak. Obst._ 97, Col. Pl. 95. 1894. =13.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:189. 1897. =14.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:242, 246. 1899. =15.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 115, 116 fig. 1901. =16.= _Va. Sta. Bul._ =134=:43. 1902. =17.= _Mass. Sta. An. Rpt._ =17=:159. 1905.
M’Laughlin 2. McLaughlin’s Gage Plum 9. MacLaughlin 12. _MacLanglin_ 12.
McLaughlin stands well up with the best of plums in quality and when well grown is very attractive in appearance. Its flesh is sweet and yet not so sweet as to cloy the appetite; in flavor it is rich and delicate and while somewhat like that of Reine Claude, is different, so that the variety has a taste quite of its own; though the juice is abundant, the flesh is not watery; the texture is neither too coarse nor too fine, too fibrous nor too mealy, but in a fruit rightly matured is most pleasantly melting. There are few other plums in which the characters pleasing to the taste exist in such nice proportions. McLaughlin is a little smaller than some other plums of its group, but is quite large enough for a dessert plum. Unless at its best, it is not as attractive in color as Jefferson, Washington, Reine Claude and some others of its type, but at its very best, it is unsurpassed by any other plum in coloring; it has in perfection the delicate yellow skin which belongs to the Reine Claudes upon which is marbled tints of white, yellow and crimson, the blending of which the illustration shows but poorly. The fruit of McLaughlin has its imperfections, however. The flesh clings tenaciously to the stone, is too melting to keep or ship well and rots badly on the tree. These defects debar the variety in America, with present market demands, from commercial plantations. The tree is above the average in size and vigor and is as hardy as any, more so than most of the Reine Claude varieties. It comes in bearing early and is rather productive. The place for this plum, from the summary of its characters, is apparent at once—in the home orchard and in the collection of the fruit connoisseur.
McLaughlin was raised by James McLaughlin of Bangor, Maine, first fruiting about 1840. The parentage of the variety is disputed, but no one doubts that it contains Reine Claude blood, though the tree is too vigorous to have been raised from the Reine Claude self-pollinated. Judging from the tree-characters, it may have sprung from the Washington or Imperial Gage fertilized by the Reine Claude. The American Pomological Society, in 1852, placed the McLaughlin with the plums that promised well, and at the next meeting added it to the recommended list.
Tree of medium size, variable in vigor, spreading, open-topped, hardy, medium to productive; branches stocky, ash-gray, smooth, with small, indistinct lenticels; branchlets few, thick, short, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-drab, lightly pubescent, with numerous, small lenticels; leaf-buds above medium in size, long, pointed, appressed; leaf-scars swollen.
Leaves oval, two inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick; upper surface dark green, glossy, covered with fine hairs; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base acute, margin crenate, with small, black glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, tinged red, with one or two small, globose, yellowish glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Season of bloom intermediate, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, fifteen-sixteenths inch across, white, with yellow tinge near the apex of the petals; borne on lateral spurs and buds, singly or in pairs; pedicels one-half inch long, thick, very pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, pubescent; calyx-lobes narrow, obtuse, sparingly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, reflexed; petals obovate, crenate, tapering below to short, broad claws; anthers yellowish; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous except at the ovary, longer than the stamens.
Fruit early, season short; one and five-eighths inches by one and seven-eighths inches in size, roundish-oblate, compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex flattened or depressed; color greenish-yellow, blushed and mottled with red, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, light colored; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit, surrounded at the cavity by a fleshy ring; skin tough, slightly adhering; flesh light yellow, juicy, sweet, mild and pleasant; very good; stone clinging, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, irregular broad-oval, very blunt at the base and apex, heavily wrinkled and deeply pitted; ventral suture narrow, distinctly furrowed, winged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
MIDDLEBURG
[Illustration: MIDDLEBURG]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ =31=:60. 1886. =2.= _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 288. 1889. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:189. 1897. =4.= _Ont. Fr. Exp. Sta. Rpt._ 119. 1898. =5.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:242, 246. 1899. _Ibid._ =187=:77, 79. 1901.
Middleburgh 1.
It is somewhat remarkable that so good a plum as Middleburg should have so long escaped the attention of fruit-growers and even of pomologists. Not even Downing has recorded it, though he lived not more than a hundred miles from the place of its origin, which must have taken place in his time. The fruits may be surpassed somewhat by other purple plums in appearance but few of them are better in quality, either for dessert or for cooking. It is especially valuable too, because it ripens late, hangs well to the tree and ships and keeps well, in the latter respect equalling the best of the prunes. Out of a collection of about three hundred sorts on the Station grounds, this would undoubtedly be chosen as the favorite purple plum of its season. The trees, while of only medium size, are robust, healthy, hardy and usually productive. In Schoharie County, eastern New York, where this variety originated and has long been grown, black-knot is usually epidemic and Middleburg and Palatine are said to be the sorts most free from the disease—so free that neither is much troubled by it. From its behavior here it is certain that, belying the looks of either fruit or tree, Middleburg will improve upon acquaintance and that when well known it will be wanted in home collections at least and more than likely some commercial fruit-growers will find it profitable.
Middleburg came from Middleburg, Schoharie County, New York, where it was found as a chance seedling. Mr. S. D. Willard, of Geneva, first called attention to the variety in 1886 at a meeting of the Western New York Horticultural Society. Its origin is much older than the date given, as it has been extensively grown in Schoharie County for a half-century or more.
Tree above medium in size, vigorous, round and open-topped hardy, productive; branches ash-gray, smooth, with small lenticels; branchlets of medium thickness and length, with long internodes, greenish-red, changing to brownish-red, overspread with light bloom, dull, somewhat pubescent, with few, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, pointed, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, oval, one and one-half inches wide, three and one-half inches long, rather thick, stiff; upper surface dark green, sparingly pubescent on the grooved midrib and larger veins; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex and base acute, margin doubly serrate, with a few, small, dark glands; petiole eleven-sixteenths inch long, pubescent, tinged red, glandless or with from one to three small, globose, greenish-brown glands on the stalk or base of the leaf.
Blooming season early to medium, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white, borne in scattering clusters on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels three-quarters inch long, overspread with fine, short pubescence, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent at the base; calyx-lobes obtuse, thinly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, somewhat reflexed; petals roundish or obovate, entire, with short, abrupt claws; anthers yellowish; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length, with a large, pubescent ovary.
Fruit very late, season long; one and five-eighths inches by one and one-half inches in size, distinctly oval, compressed, halves equal; cavity very shallow, narrow, flattened; suture usually lacking; apex roundish; color varies from light to deep purplish-red, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem one inch long, thinly pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, slightly sour, separating readily; flesh light yellow, rather juicy, somewhat coarse, firm, sprightly when first mature, becoming sweetish, strongly aromatic, pleasant flavored; very good; stone semi-free or free, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregular-oval, with pitted surfaces, slightly acute at the base and apex; ventral suture narrow, winged, faintly ridged; dorsal suture acute or with a shallow, narrow groove.
MILLER SUPERB
_Prunus domestica_
Of the two hundred and more varieties of plums which have fruited on the Station grounds, Miller Superb is one of the finest for dessert. The variety is of the Reine Claude group and is fully up with the best of these plums—all noted for high quality. In size and appearance, the plums resemble those of the well-known Bavay though usually larger. This plum originated with Colonel Charles Miller of Geneva, New York, when, is not known. About 1889, M. F. Pierson of Stanley, New York, secured cions of the plum from Colonel Miller and named the variety Miller Superb. It has never been introduced and is grown locally only to a very limited extent. Its large size, productiveness and superior quality should recommend it strongly for more general cultivation.
Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, open-topped, productive; branches rough as they approach the rough trunk; leaf-scars enlarged; leaves flattened, oval, two inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long; margin serrate or crenate, with few, small, dark glands; petiole long, thick, reddish, pubescent, with from one to three glands usually at the base of the leaf; blooming season of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch or more across, white with yellowish tinge; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; one and three-quarters inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, roundish-oval or roundish-ovate, golden-yellow, mottled and splashed with green and sometimes with a blush on the exposed cheek, overspread with thin bloom; dots conspicuous; flesh light golden-yellow, juicy, firm but tender, sweet, pleasant in flavor; very good; stone clinging or semi-clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, ovate or oval, somewhat flattened, usually winged; dorsal suture grooved.
MILTON
_Prunus munsoniana_ × ?
=1.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 287. 1887. =2.= _Ibid._ 393. 1892. =3.= _Ibid._ 334. 1894. =4.= _Neb. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 201. 1897. =5.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:24, 48. 1897. =6.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 40. 1899. =7.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:280. 1900. =8.= _Ala. Col. Sta. Bul._ =112=:178. 1900. =9.= Terry _Cat._ 6. 1900. =10.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 187. 1901. =11.= _Can. Exp. Farm. Bul._ =43=:31. 1903. =12.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 445. 1903. =13.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:277. 1904. =14.= _Miss. Sta. Bul._ =93=:15. 1905. =15.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:256, 257. 1905. =16.= _Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 420. 1905.
The special merits of Milton, as compared with other native varieties, are that it blooms late and ripens early. It thus escapes frosts, when, for example, its parent, Wild Goose, might be injured; and its early ripening prolongs the season for native plums. The fruits are large, of very good quality, though a little too juicy for pleasant eating or to ship well, very attractive in appearance, and, more important than all else for the regions in which it is likely to be grown, it is comparatively free from rot. Unfortunately, the flesh clings most tenaciously to the stone even after cooking. In its fruit-characters, Milton strongly resembles one of the Mineri plums, but the tree is very much like that of Wild Goose, its known parent. In New York, Milton is one of the best of the native plums but it is hardly so considered in the Middle West, where these plums are most grown, judging from the discussions of it in the references given above.
Milton, a seedling of Wild Goose grown by H. A. Terry, Crescent, Iowa, first fruited in 1885. The originator believed that the other parent was an Americana, but from the characters of the tree it was more likely one of the Mineri plums. The American Pomological society added Milton to its fruit catalog list in 1899.
Tree of medium size and vigor, round and dense-topped, symmetrical, hardy at Geneva, productive, healthy; branches brash, rough, thorny, dark brownish-gray, with numerous, large, narrow and much elongated lenticels; branchlets very slender, willowy, medium to long, with internodes of average length, greenish-red, changing to dull reddish-brown, thinly pubescent, with numerous, conspicuous, small, slightly raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves folded upward, broadly lanceolate or oblanceolate, peach-like, one inch wide, three inches long, thin; upper surface smooth, with a grooved midrib; lower surface thinly pubescent on the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed; base slightly acute, margin serrate or crenate, with numerous, minute, dark glands; petiole seven-sixteenths inch long, slender, reddish, lightly pubescent, glandless or with from one to four small, globose, yellowish-brown glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across, the buds creamy when opening, changing to white, odor disagreeable; borne in thin clusters on lateral spurs and buds, singly, in pairs, or in threes; pedicels three-quarters inch long, very slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, slightly obtuse, pubescent within, with dark colored glands and marginal hairs, erect; petals oval, entire or deeply indented, tapering below to long, narrow claws margined with few scattering hairs near the base; anthers yellow with a faint trace of red; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil slender, glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit very early, season short; one and three-sixteenths inches by one inch in size, oval, slightly compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt, regular; suture a distinct line; apex roundish or slightly pointed; color dark red, covered with thin bloom; dots very numerous, medium to large, russet, conspicuous; stem slender, seven-eighths inch long, adhering fairly well to the fruit; skin thin, tough, astringent, separating readily; flesh yellowish, the juice given off readily leaving a tough, fibrous pulp, sweet next the skin, but rather acid at the center, of pleasant flavor; fair to good; stone adhering, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size, long-oval, slightly elongated at the base and apex, somewhat flattened, surface broken into irregular ridges; ventral suture blunt, faintly ridged; dorsal suture a narrow, shallow groove.
MINER
_Prunus hortulana mineri_
=1.= _Horticulturist_ =22=:332. 1867. =2.= _Am. Jour. Hort._ =5=:145. 1869. =3.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 931. 1869. =4.= _Ia. Agr. Soc. Rpt._ 332. 1871. =5.= _Gard. Mon._ =13=:347, 348. 1871. =6.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 152. 1873. =7.= _Ibid._ 90. 1874. =8.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 36. 1875. =9.= _Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 81. 1882. =10.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:55, 56, 58, 81, 86. 1892. =11.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =118=:54. 1895. =12.= _Guide Prat._ 163, 359. 1895. =13.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =10=:99, 103. 1897. =14.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 491. 1897. =15.= _Colo. Sta. Bul._ =50=:41. 1898. =16.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 173. 1901. =17.= _Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 208. 1901. =18.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:278. 1904. =19.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:25, 57 fig. 1905.
_Chicasaw Chief_ 4, 10, 14. _General Jackson_ 4, 10, 14. _Gillett_ 3, 14. _Hinckley_ 3, 6, 10, 14. Hinckley 5, 7. _Isabel_ 3, 14. Minner 12. _Old Hickory_ 4, 10, 14. _Parsons_ ?10, 14, 16. _Robinson_ 3, 14. _Townsend_ 3, 6, 14. _William Dodd_ 4, 10, 14.
Miner has the distinction of being the first of the native plums to be named and of being the typical plum in the sub-species to which its name has been given. Though lacking but a few years of having been in the hands of civilization a century (the Indians from whom it appears to have been taken had possibly cultivated it longer), Miner is still a standard variety and while not the best of the group of which it is the type, it is one of the best. This variety has the further distinction of being, after Wild Goose, the parent of more cultivated offspring than any other of our native plums and must be credited with having transmitted its characters, those of the tree being especially good, to a high degree. Miner is one of the parents of more than two score of named native plums in nearly all of which the resemblances to each other and to the parent are very marked. The variety is not grown, so far as is known, in New York and the trees on the grounds of this Station not being in bearing, it was impossible to illustrate the fruit in _The Plums of New York_ though to do so was greatly desired. In the Middle West, Miner is probably as widely disseminated and as largely grown as any other plum, being particularly adapted to the northern limits of the cultivation of its species. The tree of this variety is robust, healthy, probably better in habit of growth for orchard management than any other of the native plums, and usually productive. The fruits are good in quality, attractive in appearance, comparatively curculio-proof and are especially suited for culinary uses. The variety is unproductive unless cross-fertilized.
Several accounts are given of the origin of Miner, none of which can be accurately verified at this late date. When all of the data is compared and that which is reliable is put together, the history of the variety runs about as follows: In 1813 William Dodd, an officer under General Jackson, found this plum growing in a Chicasaw Indian plantation at a place called Horse Shoe Bend, on the Tallapoosa River, Alabama. The plums were so attractive in size and excellent in quality that he saved seeds of the variety and in 1814 planted them in Knox County, Tennessee. When the trees came in bearing and their merits were discovered, the new plum was at once in demand and was rather widely distributed in Knox and neighboring counties under the names “Old Hickory” and “General Jackson.” In 1823 or 1824, Dodd moved to Springfield, Illinois, taking sprouts of this plum with him. Dodd’s young trees did not thrive and he asked a brother in Tennessee who was moving to Illinois, to bring more sprouts of the new plum. The brother, instead of going to Springfield, went to Galena, Illinois, taking with him the sprouts of Old Hickory. These fell into the hands of Judge Hinckley, who distributed them among his friends, one of whom, a Mr. Townsend, propagated the variety rather extensively. At Galena, from the circumstances just noted, the variety was called “Hinckley” and “Townsend.” Meanwhile, the trees which the first Mr. Dodd had taken to Springfield came into bearing and the variety was propagated and distributed in the neighborhood as “William Dodd” and “Chicasaw Chief.” A relative of the Townsends, at Galena, took trees of this plum to Lancaster, Wisconsin, where they were propagated by a man named Joel Barber. Barber named the plum after his father-in-law, a Mr. Miner, and this name, out of the dozen or more that have been given it, is the one under which the plum is now universally known. During the process of dissemination the variety received several other local names as Isabel, Gillett, Robinson and Parsons.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, hardy at Geneva, unproductive unless cross-pollinized; branches smooth, reddish-brown, thorny; branchlets slender, long, with long internodes, greenish-red, changing to brownish-red, glossy, glabrous, with numerous, small, grayish lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, appressed.
Leaves falling late, long-oval or obovate, peach-like, one and five-eighths inches wide, four inches long, thick; upper surface roughish, glabrous except for a few hairs on the narrowly grooved midrib; lower surface very thinly pubescent; apex acuminate, base abrupt and nearly acute, margin serrate, with small glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, pubescent on the upper surface, often tinged red, with from two to four reniform or globose, dark amber glands usually on the stalk.
Flowers late, often self-sterile, medium to large.
Fruit somewhat late; medium in size, roundish-ovate or roundish-oblong; cavity shallow, narrow, regular; suture indistinct; apex pointed; color dull, dark red, appearing some time before maturity, covered with thin bloom; dots numerous, minute, yellowish, conspicuous at first, becoming duller; stem slender, long, adhering strongly to the fruit; skin thick, tough, somewhat astringent; flesh pale amber yellow, juicy, nearly tender, mild, aromatic; good in quality; stone adhering, small to medium, roundish-oval, flattened, pointed at the base and apex, with nearly smooth surfaces.
MIRABELLE
_Prunus insititia_
=1.= Merlet _Abrege des bons fruits_ 1675. =2.= Rea _Flora_ 207. 1676. =3.= Quintinye _Com. Gard._ 68, 70. 1699. =4.= Langley _Pomona_ 93, Pl. XXIII fig. VIII. 1729. =5.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ =3=:1754. =6.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:95, Pl. XIV. 1768. =7.= Knoop _Fructologie_ =2=:52, 58. 1771. =8.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 149. 1831. =9.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:76. 1832. =10.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1=:1846. =11.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 282 fig. 110. 1845. =12.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 330. 1849. =13.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 518. 1859. =14.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 371. 1866. =15.= _Jour. Hort._ N. S. =15=:359. 1868. =16.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 14. 1871. =17.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:13, fig. 7. 1866-73. =18.= Oberdieck _Deut. Obst. Sort._ 425. 1881. =19.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 431, 432. 1889. =20.= Gaucher _Pom. Prak. Obst._ 93, Pl. 69. 1894. =21.= _Guide Prat._ 163, 361. 1895. =22.= _Garden_ =50=:364. 1896. =23.= _U. S. D. A. Div. Pom. Bul._ =10=:11. 1901. =24.= Baltet _Cult. Fr._ 489, 492 fig. 326, 503. 1908.
_Aprikosenartige Mirabelle_ 16, 19, 20, 21. _Damascena Armeniacea_ 21. _Damascena Armeniaca_ 19. _Damas Vert_ 7. _De Mirabelle_ 21. _Gelbe Mirabelle_ 16, 17, 21. Gelbe Mirabelle 18, 19, 20. Geperlte Mirabelle 19. Green Damask? 3. _Kleinste Mirabelle_ 19. _Kleine Mirabelle_ 19, 20, 21. _La Mirabelle_ 9, 19, 20, 21. _Lerchenei_ 19, 20. _Little Mirabelle_ 9, 19, 20. _Mirababelle_ 20. Mirabel 3. _Mirabelle abricotée_ 16, 19, 20, 21. _Mirabelle_ 14, 17, 19, 21. Mirabelle Blanche 7. _Mirabelle Blanche_ 14, 16, 19, 20, 21. _Mirabelle de Metz_ 15, 19, 20, 24. _Mirabelle de Vienne_ 14, 16, 19, 20, 21. _Mirabelle Jaune_ 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21. _Mirabelle Perle_ 14, 20. _Mirabelle Perlée_ 7, 16, 19, 20, 21. _Mirabelle Petite_ 8, 9, 11, 13, 17, 19, 21. _Mirabelle précoce_ 16, 17, 19, 20?, 21?. Mirabelle Petite 14. _Mirabelle Simple?_ 7. _Mirabelle Verte_ 16, ?21. Mirabelle Verte ?7. _Petit Drap d’Or_ 9, 19, 20. _Petite Mirabelle_ 9, 16, 19, 20. Petite Mirabelle 16, 17, 21, 24. _P. Damascena Armeniacea_ 16. _Prune de Mirabelle_ 9, 17, 19. Prune de Mirabelle 10. Small Mirabelle 9. _Small Mirabelle_ 19, 20. _Syrische Pflaume_ 19, 20. The Green Damosine Plum ?2. _White Mirabelle_ 14, 16, 19, 21. White Mirable 4. _Wiener Mirabelle_ 19, 20.
Mirabelle, though described in an American fruit book as early as 1832 and mentioned in nearly every pomology since, is hardly known in America. In Europe, especially in France, it is one of the favorite varieties and is in great demand for canning, preserves, compotes, tarts and prunes. The trees of this variety on the grounds of this Station grow very well, producing fine crops of fruit, as it is probable they would do wherever the Damsons can be grown. The small, round, yellow fruits are attractive in appearance, and the sweet, pleasant flavor of the variety should fit it admirably in this country for the purposes for which it is so largely grown by the French. The trees are small but vigorous and healthy, the last two qualities having suggested in Europe their use as stocks, to which purpose they are sometimes put in France when a dwarfing stock is needed. European writers say that the variety may be reproduced from seed.
Mirabelle is a very old plum; it was noted by the pomological writers in the latter part of the Seventeenth Century and since that date it has held a conspicuous place in all of the European plum literature. This variety, though probably sparingly introduced in America at different times, has never been widely cultivated and is not now offered for sale by any of the nurserymen whose catalogs have been consulted for _The Plums of New York_.
Tree small, round and open-topped, hardy; branches dark ash-gray, smooth, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets slender, of medium length, dull brownish-red, thorny, glabrous, with numerous, small, indistinct lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical, free.
Leaves falling early, one and one-half inches wide, three inches long, folded upward, oval, rather thin; upper surface medium green, smooth, with few hairs scattered along the grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex acute, base abrupt, margin crenate, with small, black glands; petiole one-half inch long, tinged red along one side, glandless or with from one to three small, globose glands usually on the stalk.
Flowers appearing in mid-season, after the leaves, seven-eighths inch across, white with a yellow tinge as the buds unfold; borne on lateral spurs and buds, in twos or threes; pedicels three-quarters inch long, slender, thickly pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, broadly obconic, glabrous except at the base; calyx-lobes of medium width, obtuse, glandular-serrate, pubescent on both surfaces; reflexed; petals oval, crenate, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellow with a tinge of red; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit mid-season, period of ripening of medium length; seven-eighths inch in diameter, roundish-oval, slightly necked, swollen on one side, compressed, halves equal; cavity very shallow and narrow, abrupt; suture indistinct; apex roundish or depressed; color light golden-yellow, sometimes blushed and mottled with red on the exposed cheek, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, whitish, inconspicuous, clustered at the apex; stem slender, three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering poorly to the fruit; skin thin, tough, not astringent, separating readily; flesh light yellow, not very juicy, firm, but tender, sweet, mild, but pleasant; good to very good; stone free, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, oval, blunt, broadly ridged along one edge, roughish.
MIRACLE
_Prunus insititia_ × _Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Rural N. Y._ =62=:594. 1903. =2.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 25. 1904. =3.= _Rural N. Y._ =64=:280. 1905. 4. _Oregon Nur. Cat._ =4.= 1906. =5.= DeVries _Pl. Br._ 228. 1907.
Unfortunately, so far as is known, this much-talked-of plum has not been fruited in New York. About 1887, Luther Burbank imported from a French nurseryman a tree of the Prunier San Noyeau or Stoneless plum known as a curiosity in Europe for at least three centuries. With this fruit he crossed several of the best European varieties, producing hybrids which first fruited in 1893. Although there were several stoneless fruits in this lot, none were of any value and it was not until 1899 that one appeared worthy of consideration. In this seedling, developed from Agen pollen, the stone is represented by a small, hard scale near the base of the kernel. Burbank sold the new plum in 1903 to the Oregon Nursery Company by whom it was introduced in 1906. The following description is compiled:
Tree somewhat dwarfish, producing a roundish, compact head, very productive. Fruit larger than Agen, oblong, dark blue covered with thick bloom; cavity medium; stem short; flesh yellow, sweet, juicy; good; stone lacking, the kernel lying naked in the flesh.
MONARCH
[Illustration: MONARCH]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Gard. Chron._ =19=:815. 1883. =2.= _Rev. Hort._ 252, Pl. 1892. =3.= _Guide Prat._ 163, 360. 1895. =4.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:181 fig. 40 V, 189. 1897. =5.= _Rural N. Y._ =57=:670, 671 fig. 310. 1898. =6.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:242, 247. 1899. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 39. 1899. =8.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 116. 1901. =9.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ =4=:158 fig. 956. 1901. =10.= _Garden_ =62=:298. 1902. =11.= _Gard. Chron._ =36=:282. 1904. =12.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:242 fig., 256, 257. 1905.
Monarque 3. Prune Monarque 2.
No plum of recent introduction has so quickly attained popularity as the Monarch. Of the great number of plums imported from the Old World, this is one of the few which has proved worthy of a place with the best American varieties for American conditions, an illustration of the importance of testing all foreign fruits. The plate shows the fruit of this variety well, though the plums look smaller in the illustration than in nature—an illusion always accompanying the reproduction in exact size of the photograph of a round object. The nicely turned form and the rich purple color of this plum make it a handsome fruit. While the quality is not of the best, Monarch ranks high among purple plums as a dessert fruit, few plums of this color being especially palatable to eat out of hand. The variety is not remarkable for any of its tree-characters, yet they average well with other plums and, with those of the fruit, make a variety quite above the average and give it a place among the best commercial sorts. Monarch is now so widely disseminated and so largely grown in New York, that we shall know shortly whether it is to hold the high place it has so quickly taken among market plums in this State.
Monarch, a seedling of the Autumn Compote, was grown by Thomas Rivers, Sawbridgeworth, England and was introduced by the originator in 1885. English publications described and figured this variety in 1883 but there are no notices of it in American pomological literature until 1897. Two years later it was placed on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society catalog and recommended for the north-eastern section of the United States. Notwithstanding the fact that the variety is relatively new, it is now offered for sale by nearly every nurseryman in this country.
Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, open-topped, hardy at Geneva, usually productive; branches ash-gray, smooth, with small lenticels; branchlets of medium thickness and length, with internodes of average length, greenish-red, changing to brownish-drab, dull, thickly pubescent, with obscure, small lenticels; leaf-buds large, long, pointed, appressed; leaf-scars somewhat swollen.
Leaves broadly oval, wide, medium in length, thick, somewhat stiff; upper surface rugose, covered thinly with hairs; lower surface pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, margin serrate or crenate, eglandular; petiole short, thick, heavily pubescent, lightly tinged red, glandless or with one or two large, reniform or globose, greenish-brown glands usually on the stalk.
Season of bloom intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing with the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white; pedicels three-quarters inch in length, thick, pubescent, green; calyx-tube greenish, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, thickly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals oval, crenate, tapering to short and very broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil pubescent, longer than the stamens.
Fruit late; two inches by one and three-quarters inches in size, roundish-oval, halves unequal; cavity deep, medium to narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, often a line; apex roundish or flattened; color dark purplish-red, often with russet flecks scattered over the surface, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, reddish-brown, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tender, slightly astringent, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, somewhat fibrous, tender, sweet next to the skin, pleasantly tart towards the center, aromatic; good; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, long-oval, turgid, roughened and pitted, pointed at the base, blunt at the apex; ventral suture rather wide, shallowly furrowed, blunt; dorsal suture with a wide, shallow groove.
MONROE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 189, 210. 1856. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 389. 1857. =3.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 356. 1867. =4.= Barry _Fr. Garden_ 414. 1883. =5.= _Guide Prat._ 163, 364. 1895. =6.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:189. 1897. =7.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 116. 1901. =8.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ =2=:320. 1903.
Monroe Egg 1, 6. _Monroe Egg_ 2, 7, 8. _Monroe Gage_ 1, 2, 5, 7, 8. Monroe Gage 4. Reine-Claude de Monroe 5.
The fruit of Monroe is small and the trees produce well only in alternate years, defects that its high quality cannot overcome. Monroe originated with a Miss Durham, Penfield, Monroe County, New York, about the middle of the last century. At one time it was quoted by nearly all nurserymen but the variety is fast disappearing.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, productive; branchlets covered with fine pubescence; leaves oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick, rugose; margin finely serrate; petiole tinged red, pubescent, with from one to three small glands.
Fruit matures in mid-season; one and three-eighths inches by one and one-quarter inches in size, oval, sometimes necked, golden-yellow, often mottled on the sunny side with red, overspread with thin bloom; stem adhering poorly to the fruit; flesh golden-yellow, tender, sweet, mild; of very good quality; stone semi-free or free, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size, long and slightly irregular-oval, acute at the base and apex, with nearly smooth surfaces; ventral suture prominent, blunt.
MOREMAN
_Prunus hortulana_
=1.= _Montreal Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 91. 1885. =2.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:49, 86. 1892. =3.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =123=:20. 1895. =4.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =11=:285. 1898. =5.= Bailey _Ev. Nat. Fruits_ 177, 206. 1898. =6.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 40. 1899. =7.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:280. 1900. =8.= _Kan. Sta. Bul._ =101=:135, 137. 1901, =9.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:256, 257. 1905.
Mooreman 1.
Moreman is the hardiest of the Hortulana plums and possibly worthy of keeping before plum-growers for this reason. Its fruit-characters are not as satisfactory as those of several other varieties of its species. Dr. Wayland of Cadiz, Kentucky, according to T. V. Munson, grew a lot of seedlings from pits of wild plums found in his vicinity and either from this lot or from a seedling from them, came the Moreman. The variety was introduced by W. F. Heikes in 1881. It was listed in the catalog of the American Pomological Society in 1899. The following description is compiled.
Tree vigorous, spreading, hardy, productive; leaves of medium size, coarsely serrate; petiole usually glandless. Fruit late; small, roundish, bright red, bloomless; stem long, slender; dots numerous, yellow; flesh firm, yellow, pleasant in flavor; quality fair; stone small, roundish, clinging.
MOROCCO
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Parkinson _Par. Ter._ 576. 1629. =2.= Rea _Flora_ 207. 1676. =3.= Ray _Hist. Plant._ =2=:1528. 1688. =4.= Langley _Pomona_ 91, Pl. XX fig. III. 1729. =5.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ =3=:1754. =6.= Knoop _Fructologie_ 56. 1771. =7.= Abercrombie _Gard. Ass’t_ 13. 1786. =8.= Forsyth _Treat. Fr. Trees_ 19. 1803. =9.= _Pom. Mag._ =3=:103. 1830. =10.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 145, 146, 150. 1831. =11.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:82. 1832. =12.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 306. 1845. =13.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 282, 382. 1846. =14.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 338. 1849. =15.= Loudon _Enc. Gard._ 921. 1834. =16.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 28. 1876. =17.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 714. 1884. =18.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 430. 1889.
Black Morocco 7. _Black Morocco_ 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18. _Black Damask_ 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18. _Black Damascus_ 13. _Damas Noir_ 5. Damas Noir Hâtif 6, 10. Damas Hâtif 10. _Damas noir hâtif_ 11. Early Damask 5, 8. _Early Black Damask_ 9, 10, 13. Early Damson 10. _Early Morocco_ 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18. _Early Damask_ 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18. Early Black Damask 11. _Early Black Morocco_ 12, 18. Frühe Schwarze Pflaume 18. _Frühe Platte Damascene_ 18. _Italian Damask_ 12 incor., 14. Mogul 16. _Morocco_ 16, 18. _Marokko Pflaume_ 18. Morocco Plumb 4. _Morocco_ 5, 8, 9. _Noire Hâtif_ 18. _Saint Cyr_ 11.
This variety is not popular in New York nor does it deserve to be, as there are many better plums of its season. Its faults are small size, an insipid flavor and poor keeping qualities. Morocco is one of the oldest of the cultivated plums. It has been known in Europe for three centuries at least and is undoubtedly much older, its early history not having been written. It is not known when the variety was introduced into this country but it has been grown in the Southern States for many years under the name Mogul. About 1894, it was reintroduced from England by the W. & T. Smith Nursery Company of Geneva, New York, under the name Mogul.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, rather tender to cold, productive; branchlets covered with heavy pubescence; leaves oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, three inches long; margin finely serrate or crenate; petiole short, thick, with one or two globose glands usually at the base of the leaf; blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white or creamy as the buds unfold; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit late, ripening period short; below medium in size, round to oval or obovate, purplish-black, covered with thick bloom; dots conspicuous; flesh light golden-yellow, rather dry, moderately firm, sweet next to the skin, but rather acid near the center; poor; stone clinging, medium to small, oval or ovate, flattened, with rough surfaces.
MOTTLED PRUNE
_Prunus domestica_
This plum is placed among the leading varieties only that a full description of it may be put on record. The fruit is attractive in color but is inferior in quality. These defects are so prominent that the variety can hardly become popular. The Mottled Prune originated in Waterloo, New York, as a chance seedling in 1887; it was introduced by E. Smith & Sons, Geneva, New York.
Tree large, round and open-topped, very productive; branches stocky; branchlets heavily pubescent; leaves folded backward or flattened, oval or obovate, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick and leathery, rugose; margin crenate, with few, small, dark glands; petiole thickly pubescent, dull dark red, glandless or with from one to three smallish glands usually on the stalk; blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white; borne in scattering clusters on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels very pubescent.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; one and three-quarters inches by one and one-half inches in size, ovate, dark purplish-red, somewhat mottled, covered with thick bloom; dots numerous, conspicuous; flesh pale yellow, juicy, firm, sweet, mild; of fair quality; stone free, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, oval, flattened, strongly roughened; ventral suture deeply furrowed, often with a short wing; dorsal suture with a narrow, shallow groove.
MYROBALAN
_Prunus cerasifera_
=1.= Parkinson _Par. Ter._ 576, 578. 1629. =2.= Gerard _Herball_ 1498, 1500. 1636. =3.= Rea _Flora_ 209. 1676. =4.= Ray _Hist. Plant._ =2=:1528. 1688. =5.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:111, Pl. XX fig. 15. 1768. =6.= Knoop _Fructologie_ 55, 56. 1771. =7.= Forsyth _Treat. Fr. Trees_ 20. 1803. =8.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ =3=:1807. =9.= Coxe _Cult. Fr. Trees_ 232. 1817. =10.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 144, 150. 1831. =11.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:80. 1832. =12.= Hoffy _Orch. Comp._ =2=:1842. =13.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 294. 1845. =14.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 285. 1846. 15. Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ 1. 1846. =16.= _Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc._ N. S. =15=:360. 1868. =17.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 690. 1884. =18.= _Gard. & For._ =1=:178. 1888. =19.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 448. 1889. =20.= _Cal. State Board Hort._ 112, 113. 1891. =21.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:66. 1892. =22.= _Rev. Hort._ 204. 1894. =23.= _Neb. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 177. 1895. =24.= _Guide Prat._ 157, 353. 1895. =25.= Bailey _Ev. Nat. Fruits_ 190 fig. 27, 209. 1898. =26.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:211, 212, 215. 1899. =27.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:66. 1905.
_Arabische Kirsche_ 19. _Asiatische Kirsche_ 19. American Cherry Plum 11. _Cerisette_ 11, 18, 19. _Cerizette_ 11. _Ciriselle_ 6. Cerisette 6, 11. Cerisette Blanche 6. _Cerise_ 19. _Cherry_ 1, 11. _Cherry Plum_ 7, 8, 11, 16, 19, 20. Cherry 13, 14, 17. Cherry Plum 9, 10, 18. _De Virginie_ 10, 13, 14. Damasine 24. _D’Amerique Rouge_ 10, 13, 14. _Early Scarlet_ 10, 11, 13, 17, 19. _European Cherry Plum_ 11. Muscadine ?1. _Kirschpflaume_ 18, 19. _Kleine Kirschpflaume_ 24. Mirobalan 2. Mirabilon 3. Mirabolan 5. _Myrobolan_ 13. _Mirabolanenpflaume_ 19. Myrobalans 7. _Mirabolane_ 19. _Mirobalan_ 9, 11. _Myrobalane_ 19. _Mirabolan_ 14. _Myrobalan_ 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 19. _Mirabelle Rouge_ 24. Mirabelle Rouge 10. _Miser Plum_ 19. _Miser_ 12, 13, 14, 17. _Prune d’Amerique Rouge_ 19. _Prune Cerise_ 11. Prune Cerizette 8. _Prunus Myrobalana_ 11, 14, 19, 23. _Prunus Cerasifera_ 10, 11, 13, 14, 19. _Prune Ceriset_ 11. _Prune de Virginie_ 19. Prunier Myrobolan 15, 22. _Prune Cerisette_ 15. _Prunus Cerasifera fructu majore_ 19. _Prunus Myrobolana_ 13. _Queene Mother_ ?1. Red Mirobalane 1. Rote Kirschpflaume 19. Red Mirabelle 12. _Rothe Mirabelle_ 24. _Stambul Erik oder Irek_ 19. _Türkische Kirsche_ 19. _Virginian Cherry_ 10, 13, 14, 17, 19. White Mirobalane 1. The Myrobalane Plum 4.
Myrobalan is a group name rather than a varietal one. Plums of this group are grown from seeds and many varieties have appeared during the last three centuries, differing in color, shape, stone and in many minor characters. The red and reddish-purple plums and the round ones are apparently the most numerous though there are frequent references to the White Myrobalan and to heart-shaped fruits in this group. For a further discussion of these plums see _Prunus cerasifera_. The Myrobalan plums are used largely as stocks in the propagation of plums and closely allied plants; occasionally they are used for culinary purposes though with rather poor results.
NECTARINE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Pom. Mag._ =3=:148. 1830. =2.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 150. 1831. =3.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._ 264. 1832. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 306. 1845. =5.= _Horticulturist_ =1=:115. 1846. =6.= _Cole Am. Fr. Book_ 215. 1849. =7.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 518. 1859. =8.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 448. 1889. =9.= _Guide Prat._ 162, 365. 1895.
_Bradshaw_ 6. _Caledonian_ 1, 2, 3. _Calvel’s Pfirschenpflaume_ 8. _Goliath of some_ 8. _Howel’s_ 3. _Howell’s Large_ 1, 2, 4, 7, 8. _Jenkin’s Imperial_ 2, 4, 7, 8, 9. _Louis Phillipe_ 4. _Louis Philippe_ 6, 7, 8, 9. _Large Early Black_ 6. _Nectarine_ 1, 8, 9. Nectarine Plum 3, 7. _Peach Plum_ 4, 7, 9. _Peach_ 2, 8. _Prune Pêche_ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8. _Pêche de Calvel_ 8. _Prune d’Abricot_ 8. _Pêche_ of some 9. Rothe Nectarine 9. Rote Nectarine 8. The Nectarine Plum 1.
Much confusion has existed regarding the identity of the Nectarine, Peach and Goliath plums. These names have been interchanged indiscriminately for the three plums and it is now difficult to separate the varieties, especially as they are very similar. The Goliath, however, may be separated from the other two by its pubescent shoots, which the others do not have. The Peach plum is the largest of the three and has a reddish cast whereas the Nectarine and Goliath are dark purple. The earlier writers knew a Nectarine as a synonym of Peach but it was not until 1830 that the Nectarine was finally described as a separate variety. Nectarine is of unknown origin. The following description is compiled.
Tree vigorous, round-topped, productive; leaves large, oval; branches glabrous. Fruit early; large, roundish, flattened at the ends, dark purple with thin bloom; flesh greenish-yellow, tinged red at maturity, rather coarse, sprightly; fair to good; stone of medium size, compressed, oval, semi-clinging.
NEWARK
_Prunus domestica_
This fruit has little to recommend it to the commercial plum-grower; it is small in size and unattractive in color; the quality, however, is very good and the variety is worth planting for home use. Newark originated in Newark, New York, and in 1895 was bought by E. Smith & Sons of Geneva, New York, who disseminated it two years later.
Tree medium in size and vigor, upright-spreading, rather open, very productive; branches rough; branchlets marked by scarf-skin, leaf-scars prominent; leaves flattened, somewhat drooping, oval or obovate, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick, rugose; margin coarsely serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole thick, pubescent, glandless or with one or two smallish glands usually on the stalk; blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch or more across, white with yellowish tinge at the apex of the petals; borne singly or in pairs; anthers yellow with a trace of red.
Fruit early, season short; one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, oval, dull yellow mottled with red at full maturity, covered with thin bloom; dots numerous, conspicuous; flesh light greenish-yellow, rather dry, firm, sweet, mild; good to very good; stone free, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size, irregular-oval, flat, with finely pitted surfaces; ventral suture usually winged; dorsal suture with a shallow, narrow, indistinct groove.
NEWMAN
[Illustration: NEWMAN]
_Prunus munsoniana_
=1.= _Horticulturist_ =22=:271. 1867. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 934. 1869. =3.= _Am. Jour. Hort._ =5=:142. 1869. =4.= _Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 39. 1874. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 36. 1875. =6.= Barry _Fr. Garden_ 418. 1883. =7.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 286. 1887. =8.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:63, 86. 1892. =9.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =123=:20. 1895. =10.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:49. 1897. =11.= _Me. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:66. 1896. =12.= Bailey _Ev. Nat. Fruits_ 200 fig., 201. 1898. =13.= _Rural N. Y._ =59=:450. 1900. =14.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:282. 1900. =15.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:256, 257. 1905.
_Warren?_ 8.
Newman is one of the oldest but still one of the standard varieties of its species. Its fruits are characterized by a firm, meaty flesh, which fits it well for shipping and storing; the plums are also attractive in shape and color but are too small and too low in quality to make the variety a first-rate one. The trees are large and vigorous and in all respects very satisfactory orchard plants. Both fruits and trees are usually reported as fairly free from diseases and insects. While the variety is gradually going out it still has some value for its crops and ought to make a good parent from which to breed a race of vigorous, firm-fleshed Munsonianas.
The origin of this plum is uncertain. In 1867 a Mr. Elliott of Cleveland, Ohio, reported in the _Horticulturist_ that he had received samples of the “Newman Plum” from D. L. Adair, Esq., of Hawesville, Kentucky, and gave a brief description of the fruit which seems to tally with that of the variety under discussion. The American Pomological Society added this plum to its fruit catalog list in 1875 and removed it in 1891.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, low and flat, dense-topped, hardy at Geneva, productive, subject to attacks of shot-hole fungus, the trunk shaggy; branches dark ash-gray, rough and shaggy, thorny, zigzag, with numerous, rather inconspicuous, large, elongated lenticels; branchlets very slender, twiggy, with internodes of average length, greenish-red, changing to dark brown, glabrous, with few, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, plump, nearly free.
Leaves lanceolate, peach-like, one and one-quarter inches wide, four inches long, thin; upper surface smooth, glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface glabrous except along the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed, base acute, margin finely crenate, with small, amber glands; petiole slender, seven-eighths inch long, lightly pubescent along one side, reddish, glandless or with from one to four very small, globose, yellowish-red glands on the stalk.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across, in the buds tinged yellow, changing to white on expanding, odor disagreeable; borne in clusters on lateral spurs and buds, in twos or in threes; pedicels eleven-sixteenths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes small, narrow, slightly obtuse, pubescent on the inner surface, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, erect; petals ovate or oval, crenate, tapering at the base into long, narrow claws; anthers yellow, tinged with red; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil slender, glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period very long; one inch by seven-eighths inch in size, strongly oval, not compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture a distinct dark red line; apex depressed; color bright currant-red, with thin bloom; dots grayish, rather conspicuous, clustered near the apex; stem very slender, seven-eighths inch long, glabrous, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, very tough, astringent, separating readily; flesh deep yellow, juicy, tender and melting, sweetish next to the skin, but tart at the center; fair in quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, long-oval, turgid, necked at the base, blunt-pointed at the apex, with finely pitted surfaces; ventral suture narrow, inconspicuous; dorsal suture with a narrow, shallow groove.
NEW ULM
[Illustration: NEW ULM]
_Prunus americana_
=1.= _Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 126. 1890. =2.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:49 fig., 50. 1897. =3.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 111. 1899. =4.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 37. 1899. =5.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:282 fig. 1900. =6.= _Waugh Plum Cult._ 158. 1901. =7.= _Ont. Fr. Gr. Assoc._ 143. 1901. =8.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:26. 1905. =9.= _Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 422. 1905. =10.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =114=:141. 1910.
Snooks 10.
New Ulm is worthy of attention because of its large, handsome, well-formed fruits. The plums are further distinguished by a peculiar flavor, somewhat suggesting that of the mandrake, pleasant to some but disagreeable to others. The flesh is a little too juicy for pleasant eating but the fruits ship well, the tough, thick skin firmly holding its contents. The fruits, however, do not keep well, for, despite the thick skin, the spores of the brown-rot find entrance and thrive so that the variety rots badly. The trees are hardy and productive but ill-shaped and hard to manage in either the orchard or the nursery for which reason the culture of the variety is discouraged by nurserymen and it is now almost impossible to buy New Ulm trees. The illustration of this variety shows well the characters of the western type of _Prunus americana_ in leaf, fruit and stone.
New Ulm was raised from seed of a wild variety that grew in the neighborhood of the originator and introducer, C. W. H. Heideman, New Ulm, Minnesota. The fruit was exhibited at the Minnesota State Fair in 1890 where it attracted much attention, being the largest plum of fifty varieties exhibited. In 1899 the American Pomological Society placed the variety on its fruit catalog list. The Minnesota State Horticultural Society, in spite of the fact that this plum has gained a good reputation for its size and productiveness, removed it from its recommended fruit list in 1904 because of the difficulty of growing the trees in the nursery.
Tree of medium size, spreading and drooping, irregular, low and dense-topped, undesirable in habit of growth, hardy, usually productive, subject to attacks of shot-hole fungus; branches very rough and shaggy, zigzag, thorny, dark ash-gray, with large lenticels; branchlets thick, long, willowy, with long internodes, green, with a faint yellow tinge, changing to light and dark, dull reddish-brown, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, pointed, strongly appressed.
Leaves drooping, folded upward, oval or ovate, two inches wide, four and three-eighths inches long, thin; upper surface dark green, changing to reddish-yellow late in the season, glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface silvery green, lightly pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt, margin coarsely and doubly serrate, eglandular; petiole slender, five-eighths inch long, pubescent, tinged with red which deepens in color at the base, glandless or with from one to three globose, greenish-brown glands usually on the stalk.
Flowers intermediate in time and length of blooming season, appearing after the leaves, showy on account of the numerous pure white petals, one and one-sixteenth inches across, white; borne in dense clusters on lateral spurs and buds, usually in threes; pedicels seven-sixteenths inch long, thick, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube red, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes long, narrowly obtuse, lightly pubescent on the inner surface, thickly pubescent along the glandular-serrate margin, erect; petals oval, entire or incised, tapering below to narrow claws of medium length and with reddish base; anthers yellow; filaments seven-sixteenths inch in length; pistil glabrous, much shorter than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, intermediate in length of ripening period; about one and three-eighths inches in diameter, roundish-ovate, halves equal; cavity markedly shallow, very narrow; suture a line; apex roundish or slightly pointed; color carmine over a yellow ground, overspread with thin bloom; dots very numerous, russet; stem five-eighths inch long, glabrous, adhering somewhat to the fruit; skin thick and tough, astringent, adhering strongly; flesh golden-yellow, very juicy and fibrous, granular, tender and melting, sweet with a strong aromatic flavor; good; stone adhering, seven-eighths inch by nine-sixteenths inch in size, oval, slightly flattened, blunt at the base, pointed at the apex, with smooth surfaces; ventral suture distinctly winged; dorsal suture narrow, shallow, grooved.
NICHOLAS
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 61. 1887. =2.= _Kan. Sta. Bul._ =101=:121, 124 fig. 1901. =3.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 327. 1903.
_Arab No. 2 Bielaya Nicholskaya_ 1. White Nicolas 1. White Nicholas 2, 3.
Although a fairly good early dessert plum it is doubtful if Nicholas has any commercial value as it is inferior in most characters of fruit and tree to standard varieties; in particular it drops badly as it begins to ripen. “White,” as formerly and usually now put in the name, is a misnomer, as the fruit is red; how it came to be applied to this fruit does not appear. Nicholas was imported from Dr. Regel of St. Petersburg, Russia, by Professor J. L. Budd of the Iowa Experiment Station in the winter of 1881-82 and in 1888 was sent out for testing under the name Arab No. 2.
Tree of medium size, round-topped, productive; trunk rough; branches smooth except for the raised lenticels and longitudinal cracks in the bark; branchlets slender; leaves falling early, folded upward, obovate or oval, one and five-eighths inches wide, three and three-eighths inches long, rugose; margin serrate, with few, small, dark glands; petiole pubescent, tinged red, sometimes with several small glands; blooming season intermediate in time, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch or more across, white, tinged with yellow near the apex of the petals; borne on lateral buds and spurs, in scattering clusters, singly or in pairs.
Fruit early, one and three-eighths inches by one inch in size, long-oval, dark red, covered with thick bloom; stem adhering poorly to the fruit; flesh light yellow, juicy, fibrous, tender, sweet, mild; good; stone free, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, flattened, oval, somewhat obliquely acute at the base, with granular surfaces; ventral suture prominent, rather narrow, blunt; dorsal suture with a narrow, shallow groove.
OCCIDENT
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Rural N. Y._ =57=:653. 1898. =2.= _Am. Gard._ =19=:826. 1898. =3.= Burbank _Cat._ 1899. =4.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:229. 1899. =5.= _Rural N. Y._ =60=:658 fig., 662. 1901. =6.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 320. 1903. =7.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =68=:11, 37. 1905. =8.= _Rural N. Y._ =65=:730. 1906.
_Burbank’s Sultan_ 6. Garnet 1. _Garnet_ 2. _Occident_ 8. Oval Blood (unpublished). Sultan 2, 3, 5, 8. _Sultan_ 4, 7.
Occident differs little from Apple in horticultural characters and need not be discussed at length as the reader can readily turn to the color-plate and description of the last named variety. At best this sort can hardly be called more than a curiosity, though an interesting one, of use, if at all, only for cooking and as a long-keeping, rot-resistant plum. It will add novelty to any amateur’s collection because of the size, shape, color, flavor and red flesh of the fruits.
This variety was grown by Burbank and introduced by him in 1899 under the name Sultan. H. E. Van Deman, in the _Rural New Yorker_ (References, 1), says that Occident is a cross between Wickson and Satsuma and that the name Garnet which he suggested, owing to the color of its flesh and skin, had been accepted by Mr. Burbank. About two months later the Division of Pomology of the United States Department of Agriculture called attention to the fact that “Garnet” had been previously given to another variety and the name was changed to Sultan. Waugh in 1899 substituted “Occident” for Sultan as the latter is the name of a European plum; Waugh’s name has been accepted by all recent writers. Occident undoubtedly contains Satsuma blood but it has but few characters that suggest Wickson, and if a cross, which is likely, the other parent is undeterminable. The following description is compiled:
Tree vigorous, slow of growth, straggling, somewhat variable in habit, late in coming into bearing, productive; leaves numerous, large.
Fruit ripens with Burbank, keeps and ships unusually well, resistant to rot; large, roundish; cavity of medium depth; suture shallow, distinct; color dark red over a greenish ground; dots many, yellowish; stem thick, short, adhering to the fruit; skin somewhat thin, tough, slightly astringent; flesh dark red, firm, sweet, rather acid, changing to subacid as maturity advances, sprightly; good to very good; stone free or semi-clinging, of medium size, roundish, turgid, winged, rough.
OCHEEDA
_Prunus americana_
=1.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:41. 1892. =2.= _Wis. Sta. An. Rpt._ =11=:344. 1894. =3.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ =34=:112. 1899. =4.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 37. 1899. =5.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 159. 1901. =6.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ =43=:31. 1903. =7.= _Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 420. 1905. =8.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:28. 1905.
Ocheda 7.
This variety is generally regarded as one of the valuable native plums but in New York it is surpassed by a number of other plums of its species in size of fruit and color though the quality is very good. We must rank it in this State as second rate among Americanas. Ocheeda was found by P. L. Hardow in 1872 growing wild on the banks of Ocheeda Lake, Minnesota, and in 1892 was introduced by H. J. Ludlow of Worthington, Minnesota.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, unproductive; branches shaggy, thorny, with large lenticels; branchlets willowy, pubescent; leaves folded upward, oval, nearly two inches wide, three and one quarter inches long; margin coarsely and doubly serrate; petiole densely covered with short hairs; blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, seven-eighths inch across, dull white; borne in scattering clusters almost entirely on one-year-old wood, many lateral buds remaining undeveloped, the bare limbs carrying tufts or clusters of blossoms, in threes or fours; petals long-obovate, nearly three times as long as wide, tapering to long claws, reddish at the base; stigma distinctly reddish when the flowers first open.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; one inch by seven-eighths inch in size, ovate or roundish-ovate, slightly oblique, dull light to dark carmine over a yellow ground, somewhat mottled, overspread with thick bloom; skin slightly astringent; flesh dark golden-yellow, tender, melting, sweet, aromatic, pleasant in flavor; fair to good; stone dark colored, nearly free, three quarters inch by one-half inch in size, roundish-oval, turgid with smooth surfaces; ventral suture markedly winged.
OCTOBER
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =106=:58. 1896. =2.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort._ 52. 1897-98. =3.= _Am. Gard._ =20=:162 fig. 1899. =4.= _Rural N. Y._ =59=:104, 690. 1900. =5.= _Am. Gard._ =21=:36, 660. 1900. =6.= _Nat. Nur._ =8=:109, 123. 1900. =7.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 139. 1901. =8.= _Rural N. Y._ =62=:756. 1903. =9.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:250 fig., 256, 257. 1905. =10.= _Mass. Sta. An. Rp._ =17=:160. 1905.
October Purple 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10. _October Purple_ 7.
There are but few late plums in _Prunus triflora_ worth cultivating and one of the needs of horticulture is a late plum of superior quality in this species. At present October is the nearest approach to the plum desired but because of several faults it falls considerably short of filling the need. The fruits are large, attractive-looking, fairly suitable for dessert, very good for culinary purposes, hang well to the tree and keep and ship much better than the average Triflora variety; but still they are not far enough from mediocrity to make the variety especially desirable. The trees are well shaped, usually robust and healthy and the fruit is well borne on lateral spurs distributed over the old wood; but in New York, at least, the trees are very tardy in coming in bearing and cannot be depended upon to bear satisfactory crops regularly—a fatal fault in a Triflora plum. October might be sparingly planted in New York to the pleasure of the amateur and possibly to the profit of the commercial fruit-grower who has a good local market.
October is said to be a cross of Satsuma and a seedling Triflora plum; it was first fruited by Luther Burbank in 1892 and was introduced by Stephen Hoyt’s Sons, New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1897. The variety was named October Purple by Burbank but “Purple” has been dropped in accordance with the rules of the American Pomological Society.
Tree variable in size and vigor, upright-spreading, open-topped, hardy for a Triflora, not uniform in productiveness, healthy; branches rough, dark, dull ash-gray, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets slender, long, with internodes of average length, greenish-red changing to dull reddish-brown, often with a green tinge on the winter shoots, glabrous; lenticels numerous, small; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves falling early, sparse, folded upward, oval or obovate, one and three-eighths inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long, thin and leathery; upper surface slightly rugose, with a broad groove on the lightly pubescent midrib; lower surface very thinly pubescent; apex and base acute, margin glandular, doubly serrate or crenate; petiole one-half inch long, hairy along the upper side, green, with from one to three small, globose, yellowish glands variable in position.
Blooming season early to medium, of average length; flowers appearing before the leaves, thirteen-sixteenths inch across, white; borne in dense clusters on lateral spurs and buds, in pairs; pedicels one-half inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, glandular-serrate, with numerous hairs along the edge, pubescent, somewhat erect; petals broadly ovate, entire, tapering to short, blunt claws; anthers yellow; filaments three-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season or later, ripening period long; one and seven-eighths inches in diameter, roundish-cordate or slightly oblate, halves unequal; cavity deep, wide, flaring, with streaks radiating from the cavity; suture shallow or a line; apex roundish to slightly pointed; color dark red over a yellowish-green ground, with bloom of medium thickness; dots numerous, large, russet, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem somewhat slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tough, sour, separating readily; flesh light yellow frequently tinged with red, very juicy, slightly fibrous, variable in firmness, sweet, mild, lacking the strong characteristic Triflora flavor; good; stone clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, roundish-oval, blunt but with a small tip, somewhat rough, ridged along the ventral, grooved on the dorsal suture.
OGON
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 29. 1886. =2.= _Ibid._ 35, 58. 1888. =3.= _Ibid_. 53, 99. 1889. =4.= _Col., O., Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 81. 1892. =5.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =62=:27, 28 fig. 1894. =6.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt_. 95. 1895. =7.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =106=:59. 1896. =8.= _Ibid._ =131=:194. 1897. =9.= _Ibid_. =139=:45. 1897. =10.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 26. 1897. =11.= _Rural N. Y._ =57=:562. 1898. =12.= _Colo. Sta. Bul._ =50=:43. 1898. =13.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:242, 249. 1899. =14.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =175=:138 fig. 1899. =15.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =113=:157. 1899. =16.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 139. 1901. =17.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =68=:6 32. 1905. =18.= _Miss. Sta. Bul._ =93=:15. 1905.
_Ogan_ 5. Ogden 1. _Ogon_ 5. _Shiro Smomo_ 6. _Yellow Nagate_ 2.
Ogon, the Japanese for gold, is the name for one of the comparatively few varieties of _Prunus triflora_ having a yellow color. This variety is further distinguished by being the only freestone sort of its species under cultivation in America. Ogon also has a flavor quite distinct, resembling somewhat that of the apricot, which is agreeable to some and not so to others; as the variety grows on the grounds of this Station it cannot be considered of high quality even for an early plum. The fruits crack rather badly on the tree and seem to be unusually susceptible to the attacks of curculio. In some of the references given, it is reported as making a poor tree and as having a weak constitution, and practically all agree that the variety is unproductive. These faults preclude its use in commercial plantations. The variety is distinct and interesting not only in its fruits but in its flowers which bear comparatively few stamens, many of which are abortive and show all degrees between perfect stamens and perfect petals.
Ogon was imported from Japan by H. H. Berger and Company, San Francisco, California. It was first mentioned as the Ogden in the Georgia Horticultural Society Report for 1886 and in the 1888 report of the same Society it was described as a new fruit. In 1897, the American Pomological Society added Ogon to its fruit catalog list.
Tree medium to large, vigorous, vasiform, dense-topped, hardy at Geneva, unproductive; branches slender, roughened by numerous spurs, sparingly thorny, dark gray, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets sometimes swollen at the tips, of medium thickness and length, with internodes of average length, dark brown often with some green, partly overspread with gray scarf-skin, glossy, glabrous; lenticels medium in number and size, raised; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, plump, free.
Leaves few, oblanceolate, peach-like, variable in size, averaging one and one-eighth inches wide, four inches long, thin; upper surface light green, shining, glabrous, narrowly grooved along the midrib; lower surface light yellowish-green, glabrous except at the base of the veins; margin finely crenate, with small, dark amber glands; petiole one-half inch long, glandless or with from one to four globose, greenish glands on the stalk.
Blooming season early and of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, thirteen-sixteenths inch across, white; borne in clusters on lateral spurs and buds, in threes or in fours; pedicels five-sixteenths inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, slightly glandular-serrate, faintly pubescent, erect; petals broadly ovate, entire, tapering below to short claws; anthers yellowish, with a little pink; filaments three-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit early, season short; one and one-quarter inches by one and three-quarters inches in size, roundish-oblate, oblique, halves equal; cavity narrow, regular, flaring; suture variable in depth, prominent; apex roundish or slightly flattened; color lemon-yellow, with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, whitish, inconspicuous; stem slender, one-half inch long, glabrous, separating readily; skin thin, tough, astringent, inclined to crack, slightly adhering; flesh pale or amber-yellow, not as juicy as many of the Trifloras, firm and meaty, sweet, mild; of fair quality; stone free, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, roundish-oval, turgid, blunt but with a small short tip, oblique, slightly pitted; ventral suture faintly ridged and furrowed; dorsal suture not grooved.
ORANGE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 150. 1831. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 282. 1845. =3.= Cole _Am. Fr. Book_ 214. 1849. =4.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:25. 1866-73. =5.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 442. 1889. =6.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 320. 1903.
_Orange_ 5. _Orange Gage_ 2, 5, 6. Pomeranzen Zwetsche 5. Wager 5, 6.
Orange belongs to the Reine Claude group. Taking its characters all in all it cannot compete with even the average varieties of the plums with which it should be compared. This variety was introduced by A. J. Downing who secured it from a Mr. Teller of Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York. Although Rhinebeck is probably its place of origin, it is not likely that Teller first grew the variety since it was quite generally disseminated in that vicinity at the time of its introduction. It is fast passing from cultivation.
Tree large, vigorous, upright, productive; branches roughened by the raised lenticels; branchlets numerous, pubescent; leaves oval or slightly obovate, two inches wide, four inches long, thick; margin crenate or serrate, with small grands; petiole tinged red, pubescent, with from two to three globose glands.
Fruit matures in mid-season; about one and one-half inches in diameter roundish-truncate, light amber-yellow with a blush, overspread with thin bloom; stem slender, adhering strongly to the fruit; flesh pale yellow, firm, sweet; of good quality; stone free or nearly so, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, obovate, acute at the apex, blunt at the base, with thickly pitted surfaces; ventral suture wide, usually blunt but sometimes distinctly winged; dorsal suture with a deep groove.
OREN
[Illustration: OREN]
_Prunus americana_
=1.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:285 fig. 1900. =2.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 174. 1901. =3.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 299. 1903.
_Bartlett_ 1. _Bingaman_ 1.
Waugh places Oren with the “Miner-like” plums but as the variety grows here it is a typical western Americana—the characters of this species in leaf, fruit and stone being well shown in the accompanying plate. It is one of the best of the Americanas in both fruit and tree. The fruits are large and of good shape, perhaps a little dull in color and not quite as good in quality as a few other Americanas but still averaging very well in all fruit-characters. The flesh is very nearly free from the stone. The trees are typical of the species, shaggy of trunk and limb, straggling and unkempt in growth of top, but hardy, robust, healthy and reliable in bearing. It would seem as if this variety is rather too good to be allowed to pass out of cultivation until there are more Americanas that are better.
Oren was taken from the wild in Black Hawk County, Iowa, about 1878, by J. K. Oren. Mr. Oren grew trees of this plum on his farm and permitted all who came to take sprouts, cions and seed until the variety was very generally disseminated locally. Who introduced it to the trade and when is not known.
Tree small, spreading, low, dense-topped, hardy, often unproductive; branches roughish, slightly zigzag, thorny, dark ash-brown, with small lenticels; branchlets slender, long, twiggy, with internodes of average length, green changing to dark chestnut-brown, glabrous, with large, conspicuous, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves falling early, oval or obovate, two inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long; upper surface dark green changing to golden-yellow late in the season, smooth and shining, with a narrow, grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, lightly pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt, margin coarsely serrate, the serrations ending in sharp points, eglandular; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, tinged red, thinly pubescent, glandless or with one or two prominent, greenish-brown glands.
Blooming season late and of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white; borne in clusters on lateral spurs and buds, in pairs or in threes; pedicels five-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, green, tinged with red; calyx-tube red, campanulate, enlarged at the base, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, somewhat obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces and on the margin, reflexed; petals ovate, somewhat crenate or fringed, tapering below to long, narrow claws, sparingly hairy along the edge of the base; anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; one and three-sixteenths inches in diameter, roundish, usually truncate and slightly oblique, compressed, halves equal; cavity very shallow, flaring; suture a line; apex roundish or flattened; color dull light or dark red over a yellow ground, mottled, with thick bloom; dots numerous, very small, light russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous; skin tough, astringent, adhering; flesh dark golden-yellow, juicy, fibrous, soft and melting, sweet; fair to good; stone semi-free, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregularly roundish or ovate, flattened, blunt at the base and apex, with smooth surfaces; ventral suture strongly winged; dorsal suture acute, with a narrow and shallow groove.
ORLEANS
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Quintinye _Com. Gard._ 68. 1699. =2.= Langley _Pomona_ 91, Pl. XX fig. 4. 1729. =3.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ =3=:1754. =4.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb._ Fr. =2=:78, Pl. VII. 1768. =5.= Knoop _Fructologie_ =2=:52, 55, 56, 57. 1771. =6.= Forsyth _Treat. Fr. Trees_ 19. 1803. =7.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:32, Tab. 179 fig. 1. 1796. =8.= Brookshaw _Pom. Brit._ Pl. XI. 1817. =9.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 145, 150. 1831. =10.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:62, 67, 85. 1832. =11.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1=:1846. =12.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 289, 290, 383. 1846. =13.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 339. 1849. =14.= _Elliott Fr. Book_ 428. 1854. =15.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 519. 1859. =16.= Downing _Fr Trees Am._ 935. 1869. =17.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:37, fig. 19. 1873. =18.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 36. 1875. =19.= Oberdieck _Deut. Obst. Sort._ 414. 1881. =20.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 435. 1882. =21.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 715. 1884. =22.= _Guide Prat._ 156, 360. 1895.
_Anglaise Noire_ 16, 17, 20, 21, 22. _Angloise Noire_ 5. Brignole? 1. Brugnole? 1. _Brignole Violette_ 17, 20, 22. Brignole Violette? 5. _Common Orleans_ 10, 16, 17, 20. _Damas Rouge_ 10. Damas Rouge 5, 9. _Damas Violet?_ 5. _De Monsieur_ 17, 22. Die Herrnpflaume 7. _English Orleans_ 10, 16, 17, 20. _French Orleans_ 8. _Hernnpflaume_ 17. Herrnpflaume 19. _Herrnpflaume_ 22. _Herzog von Orleans_ 20, 22. _Italian Damask_ of some 14. _Large Red Orleans_ 10. _Late Monsieur_ 10, 16, 17, 20. Monsieur 4, 9, 10, 12, 17, 22. _Monsieur_ 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21. _Monsieur Ordinaire_ 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22. _Old Orleans_ 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22. _Orleans_ 17, 20, 22. _Orleans Red Damask_ 20. _Prune de Monsieur_ 10, 16, 20. Prune de Monsieur 11. _Prune d’Orleans_ 16, 17, 20, 21. _Prunelle?_ 5. _Prune Monsieur_ 7. Red Damask 10. _Red Damask_ 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22. _Red Orleans_ 10, 16, 17, 20. Red Orleans Plum 6.
In Europe Orleans is one of the most renowned of the plums cultivated. A proof of its popularity is the great number of names, as shown in the synonymy given above, under which it passes in England and on the continent. This variety, however, is almost unknown in America though described by all of the older American pomologists and probably introduced time and again during the last hundred years in our orchards. The French fruit books say that the variety thrives better in southern than northern France and nearly all of the European writers state that it does best in high, dry, light, warm soils. It is likely that our climate, and the soils in which plums are generally grown in America, are not suited to this sort. Unfortunately this Station has no trees of this variety and the brief description given is a compilation.
The Orleans has been cultivated for more than two hundred years. Langley said of it in 1729 “The Orleans Plumb tho a common, is yet a very valuable Plumb, as well for its fine firm juicy Pulp when well ripened, as its being a constant and plentiful bearer.” The Red Damask and the Brugnole mentioned by Quintinye in 1699 are probably the Orleans; but the Prune de Monsieur of Knoop and the Monsieur of Tournefort, which are yellow, are distinct. The variety is evidently of French origin. Mas in his _Pomologie Generale_, 1873, states that it first bore the name Brignole Violette, but later was given the name it now bears in honor of Monsieur, Duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. Damas Rouge is an old synonym, though Duhamel described it as a distinct variety. Herrnpflaume is the common name of the Orleans in Germany and Austria, while in France, it is often called the Monsieur. It has never been common in America, yet it was entered on the American Pomological Society catalog list in 1875.
Tree large, vigorous, hardy, productive, bearing annually; branches grayish, pubescent; leaves large, ovate, with crenate margins; flowers large, blooming early; petals roundish, imbricated.
Fruit early mid-season; medium in size, roundish-truncate, sides unequal; cavity usually shallow, wide; suture distinct; apex flattened; color dark or purplish-red, overspread with thin bloom, with a sprinkling of pale reddish dots; stem thick, short; skin tender; flesh yellowish, juicy, usually melting when properly matured, sweet near the skin but sprightly toward the center, pleasant-flavored; good; stone free, small, oval, flattened, with roughish surfaces.
OULLINS
[Illustration: OULLINS]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 374. 1866. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 935. 1869. =3.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 15. 1871. =4.= _Mas Le Verger_ =6=:43. 1866-73. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 38. 1877. =6.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_ 366. 1887. =7.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 446. 1889. =8.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 117. 1901. =9.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ =4=:158. 1901.
_Massot_ 6, 7. _Monstrueuse d’Oullins_ 2, 7. _Ouillin’s Gage_ 2, 7. Oullins Golden 1. Oullin’s Golden 2, 9. _Oullin’s Golden_ 3, 4, 6, 7. _Oullin’s Golden Gage_ 2, 7. Oullins Golden Gage 5. _Oullin’s Green Gage_ 8. _Prune-Massot_ 3. _Reine-Claude d’Oullins_ 1, 2, 7, 9. Reine-Claude D’Oullins 3, 4, 6. _Reine-Claude Prêcoce_ 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9. Reine-Claude von Oullins 7. _Roi-Claude_ 3, 7.
Oullins came to America with the best of recommendations from European growers but it has fallen so far short of its reputation in Europe that it was dropped from the fruit list of the American Pomological Society and is gradually disappearing from cultivation. The fault is in the fruit which is but indifferent in quality for a plum of the Reine Claude group. In Europe the variety is rated as one of the best dessert sorts; in America it is hardly second-rate in quality. This difference may be due to differences in climate and soil; more probably, it is due to the greater number of better Reine Claude varieties grown in America with which it must compete. Hand, Jefferson, Washington, McLaughlin, Yellow Gage, Spaulding and Imperial Gage, the cream of the Reine Claude plums, are all Americans similar to Oullins but much better in quality. Oullins is hardly surpassed by any of its group in tree-characters and might well be used for breeding purposes as there are so few sorts of its kind having satisfactory trees.
This variety, probably a Reine Claude seedling, was found at Coligny, France, on the estate of M. Filliaud; it was propagated by M. Corsaint, gardener to the Baron de Toisy, near Cuiseaux (Department of Saone-et-Loire) and was introduced at Oullins (Department of Rhone) by M. Massot, nurseryman. The name is seldom spelled correctly in American fruit books, being either written with an apostrophe and s or with both left off, these spellings coming from the supposition that the name comes from that of a man, a mistake as the history shows. Oullins was placed on the American Pomological Society catalog fruit list in 1875 but was dropped when the catalog was revised in 1897.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; branches ash-gray, somewhat rough, with numerous, large, raised lenticels; branchlets stout, the bark rough, medium to above in thickness, short, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, dull, lightly pubescent, overspread with faint bloom, with numerous, small lenticels; leaf-buds large, long, pointed, free; leaf-scars swollen.
Leaves oval or obovate, two inches wide, four and one-quarter inches long, thick; upper surface dark green, covered with fine hairs, the midrib grooved; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex acute or abruptly pointed, base acute, margin serrate or crenate, with small black glands; petiole three-quarters inch long, thick, pubescent, tinged red, with from two to four globose, greenish-brown glands variable in size, usually on the stalk.
Blooming season medium to late, of average length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-quarter inches across, white, with a faint yellowish tinge; arranged on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels eleven-sixteenths inch long, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals broadly obovate, crenate, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit early, season short; medium to below in size, roundish, halves equal; cavity shallow, below medium in width, abrupt; suture an indistinct line; apex flattened or depressed; color greenish-yellow changing to dull light yellow, overspread with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, whitish, inconspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem of medium thickness and length, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, slightly astringent, separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow or pale yellow, somewhat dry, firm, sweet, not high in flavor; good; stone half-free or free, three-quarters inch by five-eighths inch in size, broadly oval, flattened, roughened and pitted, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture rather narrow, furrowed, with a distinct but not prominent wing; dorsal suture broadly and deeply grooved.
PACIFIC
[Illustration: PACIFIC]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 292. 1893. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 150. 1895. =3.= _Oregon Sta. Bul._ =45=:31. 1897. =4.= _Oregon Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 474. 1898. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 40. 1899. =6.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 117. 1901. =7.= _Oregon Agriculturist_ =17=: No. 24, 370. 1908.
_Pacific_ 3. Pacific Prune 2, 3. Willamette 4, 5, 7. Willamette Prune 3.
No part of America is so well adapted to plum culture as the Pacific Coast and especially the inter-mountain valleys in Oregon. From the last-named State, though fruit-growing is a very recent development, a number of meritorious plums have been added to pomology. One of the best of these, as they grow in New York, is the Pacific, the fruits of which are well shown in the color-plate. Few purple plums are more beautiful than this in color and shape, few equal it in size and very few of its color excel it in quality. The trees are unusually robust, perfectly hardy and productive. In Oregon the Pacific has not proved a good prune-making plum but is reported as standing eastern shipment very well, which, if true, indicates that this plum would succeed as a market fruit in New York. Pacific is well worth trying in New York as a commercial variety.
This plum is hopelessly confused with the Willamette. The following is an abridged account of the two fruits as written us by H. M. Williamson, Secretary of the Oregon State Board of Horticulture, and one of the leading authorities on fruit-growing on the Pacific Coast.
“About 1875 Jesse Bullock of Oswego, Oregon, sent to Germany for pits of the Italian or Fellenberg prune, and planted the pits received in a nursery row. When the trees from these began to bear, Mr. C. E. Hoskins went to Mr. Bullock’s place, examined the fruit and selected trees which seemed promising, giving to each tree a number. From at least six of these trees he took scions, propagated them, and named them Bullock No. 1, Bullock No. 2, etc. He finally decided that only two of these, Bullock No. 1 and Bullock No. 6, were of sufficient value to justify their further propagation. Bullock No. 1 was named Champion and Bullock No. 6, Willamette. Mr. Hoskins told me these names were given by the State Horticultural Society, but I find no record of this action. He propagated and sold a good many trees of both varieties, but more of the Willamette than of the Champion.
“Mr. Hoskins was strongly of the opinion that the Pacific is identical with the Willamette. I am as strongly of the opinion that they are distinct varieties. I base my opinion, first, upon the history of the origin of the Pacific given me by Henry Freeboro, Portland, Oregon, who introduced it; and, second, upon what appear to me to be marked differences in the two prunes. A number of years ago I went to Mr. Freeboro’s place when prunes were ripe and obtained from him a supply of Pacific prunes grown on trees propagated by him from scions taken from the original Pacific tree. I took these prunes to Springbrook and compared them with the Willamette grown on Mr. Hoskins’ place. I was thoroughly convinced that the two were decidedly different in character, but Mr. Hoskins did not think so. I noticed first a marked difference in the habits of growth of the trees. The Pacific trees were of unusually vigorous growth and had a decided upright tendency. The Willamette trees were very similar to the Italian in vigor and had the rather spreading habit of growth of the Italian. The Pacific prunes are larger in size than the Willamette and vary much more in size. One of the most decided indications of difference is the far greater tendency to brown-rot of the fruit of the Pacific than is the case with the fruit of the Willamette. This has been observed when scions of the Willamette and of the Pacific have been grafted on the same tree for the purpose of comparison. I have never seen a well dried specimen of the Pacific, but this may have been the fault of the men who dried the specimens I have seen. The Willamette dries easily for a prune of its size and gives a larger percentage of dried to fresh fruit than the Italian, according to Mr. Hoskins.
“I believe the Willamette is well worthy of more attention in the Willamette Valley, whereas the Pacific, on account of its extreme susceptibility to the brown-rot, does not appear to be a safe variety here, although when perfect it is a magnificent prune for eating fresh, and one of the very largest known. I am told that in eastern Oregon where climatic conditions keep out the brown-rot, the Pacific is proving one of the best varieties for shipping fresh. At the present time the two varieties are much confused. When the Pacific prune was introduced, Mr. Hoskins and other recognized authorities, pronounced it the Willamette, and nurserymen therefore obtained scions from Willamette trees and sold the propagated trees as Pacifies, and in a more limited way the reverse was done. The greater part of the trees supposed to be Pacifics are in fact Willamettes.”
At this Station we have the two plums under discussion, the Pacific having been obtained from Fred E. Young, nurseryman, Rochester, New York, and the Willamette, under the name Pacific, from the Oregon Wholesale Nursery Company, Salem, Oregon. The differences between the two plums in New York are essentially those given by Mr. Williamson as distinguishing characters in Oregon.
Tree of medium size, upright-spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; branches ash-gray, smooth, with small, raised lenticels; branchlets above medium in thickness, short, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, covered with heavy bloom and sparingly pubescent, with indistinct small lenticels; leaf-buds plump, of medium size and length, obtuse, free.
Leaves obovate, two inches wide, four inches long, the oldest thick and leathery; upper surface dark green, covered with fine hairs, with a widely and deeply grooved midrib; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex acute or obtuse, base acute, margin crenate, with small dark glands; petiole seven-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, tinged red, with from two to four large, globose, yellowish-green glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and three-sixteenths inches across, white; borne on lateral spurs and buds, singly or in pairs; pedicels five-sixteenths inch long, thick, pubescent; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent only at the base; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, lightly pubescent on both surfaces but heavily pubescent along the serrate margin, reflexed; petals oval, dentate, tapering to short, broad claws; stamens inclined to develop into rudimentary petals; anthers yellow; filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; two inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, ovate, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture shallow, indistinct; apex bluntly pointed; color bluish, overspread with thick bloom; dots small, brown, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem thick, one-half inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tough, separating readily; flesh pale golden-yellow, juicy, firm, sweet, spicy; good; stone free, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, flattened, irregularly broad-oval, obliquely contracted at the base, blunt at the apex, with rough and pitted surfaces; ventral suture narrow, with numerous deep furrows, usually blunt; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
PALATINE
_Prunus domestica_
This plum, scarcely known outside of two counties in New York, is of distinctly good quality and if all accounts are true is fairly immune to black-knot. In size and appearance the fruits are superior to many other Reine Claude plums, with which it must be compared, so much so that the variety is probably worth growing outside the region where the following interesting history shows it has been cultivated for nearly a century and a half.
Palatine, according to Mr. Washington Garlock of New York, originated in 1760 when a family of Palatines by the name of Best came from Germany to the United States and settled in Livingston Manor (East Camps) now Columbia County, New York. They brought with them plum pits which they planted and from them secured one tree. In 1762 they moved to Schoharie County, New York, taking with them the seedling tree. In their new home they propagated the variety, which they named Palatine, and disseminated it so industriously that it became thoroughly established throughout Montgomery and Schoharie counties and attained great popularity because of its apparent freedom from black-knot. That this popularity is merited is attested by the fact that after one hundred and fifty years it is still extensively grown in that vicinity.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, dense-topped, productive; branches thick; branchlets lightly pubescent; leaves flattened, slightly drooping, obovate, one and five-eighths inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long, thick, rugose; margin coarsely crenate, eglandular or with few, small glands; petiole pubescent, glandless or with one or two small glands; blooming season intermediate in time, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, more than one inch across, white with yellow tinge at the apex of the petals; borne singly; calyx-lobes thickly pubescent on both surfaces, strongly reflexed.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; about one and one-half inches in diameter, roundish or roundish-oval, dull yellowish-green becoming greenish-yellow at full maturity, mottled and indistinctly blushed on the sunny side, overspread with thin bloom; skin thin, slightly sour; flesh light golden-yellow, juicy, fibrous, firm, sweet, pleasant in flavor; good to very good; stone dark colored, free or nearly so, seven-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, oval, with thickly pitted surfaces; ventral suture blunt or with a short, narrow wing; dorsal suture wide, shallow.
PAUL EARLY
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _N. Y. Exp. Sta. Rpt._ =12=:611. 1893. =2.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ =42=:83. 1897.
_Paul’s Earliest_ 1, 2.
This variety seems to be under test only at this Station where it has fruited for a number of years. It is so similar to Early Rivers, a variety of small account in America, as to be an almost worthless addition to the list of plums. Paul Early originated with and was sent out by J. M. Paul, North Adams, Massachusetts, about 1888.
Tree very large, vigorous, round-topped, dense, very productive; branches covered with numerous fruit-spurs; branchlets twiggy, thickly pubescent; leaf-buds strongly appressed; leaves flattened, obovate or oval, two and three-eighths inches wide, four inches long; margin crenate, with few, small, dark glands; petiole reddish, pubescent, glandless or with one or two large glands; blooming season intermediate in time, short; flowers appearing before the leaves, one inch across; borne in scattering clusters, usually in pairs; pedicels very thick and pubescent; anthers tinged red.
Fruit very early, season short; one and three-eighths inches by one and one-quarter inches in size, roundish-oval, dark purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; skin tender, slightly sour; flesh greenish-yellow becoming yellowish, tender, sweet near the surface but sour next the pit, mild; good; stone clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregular-oval, with roughened and thickly pitted surfaces; ventral suture prominent, seldom winged; dorsal suture with a narrow, shallow groove.
PEACH
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _N. E. Farmer Dict._ 266. 1797. =2.= Prince _Treat. Hort._ 27. 1828. =3.= Prince _Pom. Man_. =2=:106. 1832. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 307. 1845. =5.= _Horticulturist_ =1=:113, 114 fig. 34, 147. 1846. =6.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1=:1846. =7.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 335, 336 fig. 262. 1849. =8.= _Horticulturist_ =6=:132. 1851. =9.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 422. 1854. =10.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 367. 1857. =11.= Hooper _W. Fr. Book_ 250. 1857. =12.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 86. 1862. =13.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 375. 1866. =14.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:73. Pl. XXXVII. 1866-73. =15.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 7. 1871. =16.= _Gard. Chron._ N. S. =17=:144. 1882. =17.= _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 466. 1883. =18.= Wickson _Cal. Fruits_ 353. 1891. =19.= _Wash. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 136. 1893. 20. _Guide Prat._ 156, 361. 1895. =21.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_ 462 fig. 1906.
_Apricot Plum_ 5 incor. _Caledonian_ 15, 20. _Calvels Pfirschenpflaume_ 14, 20. _D’Abricot (of Streets of Paris)_ 20. _Duane’s Purple_ 5 incor, 6, 11. _Howells Large_ 15, 20, 21. _Jenkin’s Imperial_ 15, 20. _Large Peach_ 16. Large Peach Plum 3. _Nectarine_ 15, 20. _Nectarine Rouge_ 21. _Peach_ 15, 20. _Peach Plum_ 3, 5, 14, 20. Peach Plum 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 17. Pêche 14, 15, 20, 21. _Pêche de Calvel_ 20. _Prune Pêche_ 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, 18. Prune Pêche 4, 5, 6, 20. _Prune-Pêche De Calvel_ 14. _Reine-Claude De Berger_ 13, 16. _Rothe Nektarine_ 15, ?20.
Peach, the largest early plum, is not high in quality but is justly esteemed where it can be grown for its earliness, large size and handsome appearance. Unfortunately this variety is capricious beyond most other plums as to climate and soils and refuses to thrive unless its needs are very well supplied in the matter of environment. In America it seems to find congenial soil and climate only on the Pacific Coast, and even then refuses to bear well except on strong, rich soils. In New York, even when grown upon soils similar to those upon which it does well elsewhere, the fruits are few and lacking in quality, though the trees are large, vigorous and about all that could be desired in a good plum tree. It may be possible to grow Peach in favorable locations in the East; in which case, a plum of its appearance and quality, coming as early in the season as it ripens, would make a most desirable addition to the list of plums. From its behavior elsewhere the situation that would suit it best in New York is a sunny exposure with a warm, rich, clay loam.
The origin of the Peach is unknown. Poiteau was unable to find any reference to it in the Eighteenth Century European literature and thought, therefore, that it must have been unknown to this period. Samuel Deane mentions a Peach plum in New England in 1797. It is doubtful, however, whether it is the Peach of this discussion, the name having been applied indiscriminately to several varieties, the Goliath, Nectarine and Apricot in particular. Prince, in 1832, described a Large Peach Plum which he said “had been introduced a few years since” but as his variety is oval and a clingstone, it is not the same as the Peach of Poiteau, the one discussed here, this plum being nearly round and a freestone. Judge James C. Duane of Schenectady, New York, seems to have first imported the Peach plum, with several others, from France, in 1820. The name of this variety was lost during the shipment and as the invoice called for an Apricot Plum, the names Apricot and Duane’s Plum became locally applied to what afterwards turned out to be the Peach. C. H. Tomlinson of Schenectady and A. J. Downing in 1846 made a careful study of these imported plums and showed conclusively that this Apricot or Duane’s Plum was the Peach of the French. In 1862, the American Pomological Society added Peach to the fruit catalog list and recommended it for the eastern and western sections of New York.
Tree large, very vigorous, spreading, round or flat-topped, hardy, medium in productiveness; branches stocky, smooth, dark ash-brown, with lenticels of medium number and size; branchlets thick, with internodes one inch long, light brown, covered with short, heavy pubescence; leaf-buds large, of medium length, conical.
Leaves large, oval, of average thickness; upper surface dark green; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex obtuse, margin doubly crenate, with small glands; petiole three-quarters inch long, thick, pubescent, with a trace of red, usually with two, small, globose, greenish glands at the base of the leaf.
Fruit early; thick-set, without a neck, one and seven-eighths inches in diameter, roundish, slightly angular, halves equal; cavity deep, wide, compressed; suture shallow, distinct; apex flattened or depressed; color dark purplish-red, overspread with thin bloom; dots numerous, large, conspicuous; stem eleven-sixteenths inch long, glabrous, adhering well to the fruit; skin tough, adhering; flesh golden-yellow, medium juicy, firm, subacid, mild; good; stone free, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, roundish-oval, flattened, with rough and pitted surfaces, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture wide, prominent, often distinctly winged; dorsal suture with a wide, deep groove.
PEARL
[Illustration: PEARL]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Burbank _Cat._ 5. 1898. =2.= _Am. Gard._ =21=:36. 1900. =3.= _Waugh Plum Cult._ 118. 1901.
One can grow seedlings of some plums with considerable certainty of getting respectable offspring—plums worth having in an orchard—but the chances of growing a variety of superior qualities are small indeed. It is a piece of good luck, a matter almost wholly of luck, when, as in this case, but one parent is known, to secure as fine a fruit as the Pearl plum. The variety now under notice is one to be pleased with if it came as a chance out of thousands; its rich, golden color, large size, fine form, melting flesh and sweet, luscious flavor, place it among the best dessert plums. In the mind of the writer and of those who have assisted in describing the varieties for _The Plums of New York_, it is unsurpassed in quality by any other plum. The tree-characters, however, do not correspond in desirability with those of the fruits. The trees, while of medium size and seemingly as vigorous and healthy as any, are unproductive. In none of the several years they have been fruiting at this Station have they borne a large crop. If elsewhere this defect does not show, the variety becomes at once one of great value. The fruits of Pearl are said to cure into delicious prunes—to be readily believed by one who has eaten the fresh fruits. This variety ought to be very generally tried by commercial plum-growers and is recommended to all who grow fruit for pleasure.
Pearl is a recent addition to the list of plums and though its history is well known its parentage is in doubt. In 1898, Luther Burbank introduced the variety as a new prune grown from the seed of the well-known Agen. The male parent is not known but from the fruit and tree, one at once surmises that it was some variety of the Reine Claude group, its characters being so like those of the plum named that no one could suspect that it came from the seed of a plum so far removed from the Reine Claude as the Agen.
Tree of medium size, vigorous, vasiform, dense-topped, hardy, unproductive; branches ash-gray, with numerous, small, raised lenticels; branchlets twiggy, thick, long, with long internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, very pubescent early in the season becoming less so at maturity, with numerous, small, raised lenticels; leaf-buds large, above medium in length, conical, appressed; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves broadly oval, one and seven-eighths inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, rugose, covered with fine hairs, with a grooved midrib; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base abrupt, margin serrate or crenate, with small, black glands; petiole seven-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, tinged red, glandless or with from one to three small, globose, brownish glands on the stalk.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, showy on account of their size, averaging one and five-eighths inches across, white, with a tinge of yellow at the apex of the petals; borne on lateral spurs and buds, usually singly; pedicels one-half inch long, thick, strongly pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, strongly reflexed; petals obovate or oblong, entire, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments nearly one-half inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; one and three-quarters inches by one and one-half inches in size, roundish-oval, compressed, halves unequal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture a line; apex depressed; color golden-yellow, obscurely striped and splashed with dull green, mottled, overspread with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, whitish, inconspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, thickly pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin tough, separating readily; flesh deep yellow, juicy, a little coarse and fibrous, firm but tender, very sweet, with a pleasant, mild flavor, aromatic; very good to best; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, long-oval, slightly necked at the base, bluntly acute at the apex, with rough surfaces; ventral suture broad, blunt; dorsal suture with a wide, shallow groove.
PETERS
[Illustration: PETERS]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Prince _Pom. Man._ 27. 1828. =2.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 151. 1831. =3.= _Cultivator_ =8=:52 fig. 1860. =4.= Thomas Am. _Fruit Cult._ 375 fig. 392. 1867. =5.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 937. 1869. =6.= _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 289. 1889. =7.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =103=:35. 1894. =8.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:190 fig. 45, 194. 1897. =9.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 118 fig. 1901. =10.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 321, 322 fig. 1903.
Peter’s Large Yellow 1, 2. _Peter’s Yellow Gage_ 10. Peters’ Yellow Gage 3, 4, 6, 7. Peter’s Yellow Gage 5, 8. _Peters Yellow Gage_ 9.
Peters is an excellent old plum probably ranking in quality with the best varieties in the group to which it belongs—a sufficient recommendation to make it desirable in any home collection of fruit. This variety, however, is not equal in appearance to any one of several other sorts in its group, lacking size and color. The trees are large, hardy, robust and healthy, surpassing in these respects most of the other Reine Claude sorts. The tree-characters have made this variety a prime favorite in western New York for two generations, one pomologist after another recommending it for this section. The fruits are not sufficiently attractive to sell well, however, and the variety is now going out of cultivation except for the amateur. While a very good plum it does not appear to be worth growing in competition with Hand, Washington, McLaughlin, Jefferson, Spaulding and the latest comer among these high-quality plums, Pearl.
Of the origin of this old plum we have no certain information. William Prince, the first pomologist to mention it, gave a brief description of the variety in his “A Short Treatise on Horticulture” published in 1828 but says nothing in regard to its history. In 1831 the London Horticultural Society listed it in its fruit catalog but otherwise the variety is not mentioned in the European pomologies.
Tree very large, vigorous, round and dense-topped, hardy, productive; branches thick, ash-gray, smooth except for the numerous, rather large, raised lenticels; branchlets thick, short, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brownish-drab, dull, pubescent throughout the season, with numerous, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds medium in size and length, pointed, free.
Leaves flattened, obovate or oval, two inches wide, four inches long; upper surface covered with numerous hairs, with a shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery-green, heavily pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base rather abrupt, margin slightly crenate, eglandular or with few, small, dark glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, thick, tinged red, pubescent, glandless or with one or two small, globose or reniform, greenish-brown glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing with the leaves, one and one-eighth inches wide, white, creamy at the apex; borne on lateral spurs or buds, singly or in pairs; pedicels about one inch long, below medium in thickness, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with fine marginal hairs, reflexed; petals roundish-oval or obovate, dentate to slightly crenate; anthers yellow, with a slight trace of red; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit late, season rather short; about one and one-half inches in diameter, roundish, compressed, halves equal; cavity very shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex flattened or depressed; color dull yellowish-green, often blushed or mottled on the sunny side, covered with thick bloom; dots numerous, large, whitish, conspicuous; stem one and one-eighth inches long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tough, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, somewhat fibrous, firm but tender, sweet next the skin but sour near the center, with pleasant flavor; very good; stone clinging, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, oval, turgid, somewhat acute at the base and apex, with pitted surfaces; ventral suture wide, indistinctly furrowed, often with a short wing; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
POND
[Illustration: POND]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 151. 1831. =2.= _Mag. Hort._ =9=:165. 1843. =3.= _Horticulturist_ =6=:560 fig. 1851. =4.= _Gard. Chron._ =13=:228. 1853. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 214. 1856. =6.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ 9, fig. 1857. =7.= _Cultivator_ =8=:52 fig. 1860. =8.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 343. 1867. =9.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 937 fig. 1869. =10.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 2. 1871. =11.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:5, fig. 3. 1886-73. =12.= _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 466. 1883. =13.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 717. 1884. =14.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort. Rpt._ 292. 1885-86. =15.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 442. 1889. =16.= _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 465. 1893. =17.= _Guide Prat._ 155, 366. 1895. =18.= _Oregon Sta. Bul._ =45=:29 fig. 1897. =19.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:190. 1897. =20.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 92. 1899. =21.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =113=:160, Pl. XVI fig. 1899. =22.= _Va. Sta. Bul._ =134=:44. 1902. =23.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 322. 1903.
_Chili_ (Kerr unpublished). _Diamant_ 15 incor. _Diamantpflaume_ 17 incor. _Dorr’s Favorite_ 12. English Pond’s Seedling 3. _Farleigh Castle_ 13, 15. _Fonthill_ 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 23. _Gros Prune_ 14. _Grosse Prune d’Agen_ 18, 20. Hungarian 18. _Hungarian_ 20. _Hungarian Prune_ 16, 19. Hungarian Prune 14. _Oswego_ 20. Oswego 19. Plum de l’Inde ?3. _Plum de l’Inde_ 9, 15. _Pond’s Purple_ 9, 10, 13, 15, 17. _Pond’s Seedling_ (English) 11, 14, 17. Pond’s Seedling 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 21. Pond’s Seedling 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 23. Pond Seedling 20. Pond’s Samling 15, 17. _Pourprée de Pond_ 10, 15, 17. _Pride of Waterloo_ 20. _Semis de Pond_ 10, 15. Semis de Pond 17.
Pond is preeminent among plums for its large size. It is distinguished also by its form and its color, both being pleasing as well as distinctive. The three characters, size, form and color make this one of the handsomest of all plums. Despite the efforts of the color-plate makers, the peculiar red of this plum is not well shown in the illustration—to the disparagement of the fruit. At one time Pond was very largely grown in New York but the fruits are not as perfect, grown here, as on the Pacific Coast and the trees are not regular in bearing. The eye is pleased with Pond but the palate is sadly disappointed; at best it is not even second-rate. The fruits, however, ship and keep well, as is demonstrated by the large quantities of this variety annually sent from California to the East for sale on fruit-stands where its showiness perennially beguiles the uninformed fruit-buyer. There is a fine opportunity for some one to cross this splendid-appearing plum with one of good quality in the hope of getting an offspring as handsome but of better quality.
This variety was obtained from seed by Mr. Pond, an English amateur grower of fruits, concerning whom there seems to be no further information. The London Horticultural Society mentioned the variety as long ago as in 1831. Another Mr. Pond, a nurseryman in Massachusetts, grew a variety very similar in appearance to the English plum and permitted his name to be given it to the great confusion of the nomenclature of the two. The Hungarian prune of the Pacific Coast is Pond, why so-called does not appear; with this as with several other plums the Pacific Coast fruit-growers persist in using a name known to have been wrongly applied to an old and well-known variety elsewhere called rightly. Oswego, a supposed seedling grown in Oswego, New York, is identical with the Pond as tested by this Experiment Station and by local growers. The American Pomological Society placed this fruit on its catalog list in 1856.
Tree of medium size, vigorous, upright, hardy, variable in productiveness; branches light gray, smooth, with small, raised lenticels; branchlets of medium thickness and length, with internodes of average length, greenish-red changing to brownish-drab, dull, sparingly pubescent, with inconspicuous small lenticels; leaf-buds large, long, conical, free; leaf-scars plump, often much enlarged at the apex of the twigs.
Leaves somewhat folded backward, oval, two and one-quarter inches wide, four inches long, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, finely pubescent, rugose, with a grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base abrupt, margin crenate or serrate, with small dark glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, tinged red, with one or two globose, yellowish glands variable in size, usually on the stalk.
Season of bloom intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and five-sixteenths inches across, white; borne in thin clusters on lateral spurs and buds, singly or in pairs; pedicels thirteen-sixteenths inch long, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, lightly pubescent on both surfaces, margins with few glands and hairs, reflexed; petals roundish, crenate, tapering to short, broad claws; filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to or shorter than the stamens.
Fruit late, season short; two inches by one and three-quarters inches in size, obovate or oval, frequently with a slight neck, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture very shallow, often a line; apex roundish; color varies from reddish-purple to purplish-red, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, reddish-brown, obscure, larger in size but fewer in number towards the base; stem thick, seven-eighths inch long, heavily pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin tough, separating readily; flesh attractive golden-yellow, not very juicy, fibrous, firm, of average sweetness, mild, not highly flavored; fair in quality; stone semi-free to free, one and one-sixteenths inches by nine-sixteenths inch in size, long-oval, flattened, the surfaces roughened and deeply pitted, tapering towards the base and apex; ventral suture heavily furrowed, with a distinct but not prominent wing; dorsal suture usually widely and deeply grooved.
POOLE PRIDE
_Prunus munsoniana_
=1.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 108. 1885. =2.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:50. 1892. =3.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 334. 1894. =4.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:24, 53. 1897. =5.= _Ibid._ =87=:15. 1901. =6.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 186. 1901. =7.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 299. 1903. =8.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:245 fig., 256, 257. 1905.
Kroh 1, 6. _Kroh_ 3, 7. Poole 2, 7. _Poole_ 6. Poole’s Pride 3, 4, 5. _Poole’s Pride_ 2, 6, 7.
As compared with other native plums growing on the grounds at this Station, Poole Pride has considerable merit. It is very attractive in appearance, it seems to have all the characters of a long-keeping and a good-shipping sort of its species and the trees are large, vigorous, hardy, healthy and productive. It is, however, lacking in the very important character of flavor though the texture of the flesh is all that could be desired. Its very peculiar flavor, incomparable with any other plum or fruit, while disagreeable to the writer, might be liked by some. The flesh of this plum is so transparent that the pit can be readily seen when the skin is removed. To those growing native plums, Poole Pride is recommended for trial.
This variety was raised by P. H. Kroh, Anna, Illinois, and was exhibited by him under the name Kroh at the American Pomological Society meeting in 1885. Three years later the same plum was introduced by Stark Brothers, Louisiana, Missouri, under the name of Poole’s Pride. The latter name has been so much more widely used that it has been retained even though the former is correct according to the rule of priority.
Tree large, vigorous, open and round-topped, hardy, productive, healthy; branches rough, zigzag, with few thorns, dark ash-gray, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets twiggy, slender, above medium in length, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to light chestnut-red, glabrous, with numerous, very conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, plump, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, ovate or obovate, peach-like, one and three-eighths inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thin and leathery; upper surface dull red late in the season, smooth, glossy, with a narrow groove on the midrib; lower surface lightly pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base rather abrupt, margin finely crenate, with small dark glands; petiole seven-eighths inch long, slender, hairy, light purplish-red, with from one to four small, globose, reddish-brown glands on the stalk.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, five-eighths inch across, white; borne in clusters on short lateral spurs and buds; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, very slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, obtuse, heavily pubescent within and along the margin which is serrate and covered with reddish glands, erect; petals small, ovate or roundish, crenate, tapering into long pubescent claws; anthers yellowish; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit early, season very long; one inch in diameter, roundish-oval, not compressed, halves equal; cavity very shallow and narrow; suture a distinct line; apex roundish; color clear, dark, currant-red, with thin bloom; dots few, large, light russet, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous, but overspread with a grayish bloom, adhering to the fruit; skin thin, tough, separating from the pulp; flesh semi-transparent, dark amber-yellow, very juicy, fibrous, tender and melting, sweet, with a strong, peculiar flavor not pleasant; of fair quality; stone adhering, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, long-oval, slightly flattened, compressed at the base, pointed at the apex, roughish; ventral suture blunt, faintly ridged; dorsal suture acute, entire.
POTTAWATTAMIE
[Illustration: POTTAWATTAMIE]
_Prunus munsoniana_
=1.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 287. 1887. =2.= _Pop. Gard._ =3=:27 fig. 1887. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:64. 86. 1892. =4.= _Mich Sta. Bul._ =123=:20. 1895. =5.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =31=:346. 1895. =6.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:53. 1897. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 25. 1897. =8.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =113=:156. 1899. =9.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:287. 1900. =10.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 199 fig. 1901. =11.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:279. 1904.
The plum under notice is possibly of greater cultural value than any other of its species especially for northern latitudes. It is of high quality for a native plum, the texture of the fruit being especially pleasing in eating, and though melting and juicy it keeps and ships very well because of a tough skin. It escapes both the curculio and the brown-rot to a higher degree than most of its kind. The trees, though dwarfish at maturity, are vigorous, productive and among the hardiest of the Munsoniana plums, growing without danger of winter injury to tree or bud as far north as the forty-fourth parallel. Pottawattamie is deservedly one of the best known of the native plums and if varieties of its species are to be grown in New York, is as desirable as any.
Pottawattamie, according to the most authoritative accounts, was taken from Tennessee to Iowa with a lot of Miner trees. It came under the notice of J. B. Rice, Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1875, and was introduced by him and named after one of the counties of his State.
Tree medium in size, strong and vigorous when young becoming spreading and somewhat dwarfish when older, round-topped, hardy at Geneva, usually productive; branches dark brown, zigzag, thorny, roughened by the numerous, raised lenticels of various sizes which are often narrow and much elongated; branchlets slender, long, with internodes of medium length, greenish-red changing to dark chestnut-red, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves flat or folded upward, lanceolate, peach-like, one and one-eighth inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long, thin; upper surface light green, reddish late in the season, smooth, glossy, with a grooved midrib; lower surface pale green, lightly pubescent along the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt, margin finely serrate or crenate, with small, reddish glands; petiole one inch long, slender, tinged red, thinly pubescent, glandless or with from one to five very small, globose, reddish-yellow glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, five-eighths inch across, creamy-white as the buds unfold changing to whitish, with a disagreeable odor; borne in clusters from lateral buds, in threes, fours or fives; pedicels five-eighths inch long, very slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, broadly obconic, glabrous, calyx-lobes narrow, somewhat acute, pubescent on the inner surface, serrate, with reddish glands and hairy margin, erect; petals small, oval, slightly toothed, narrowly clawed; anthers yellowish; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit early, season of medium length; variable in size ranging from seven-eighths inch to one and one-eighth inches in diameter, roundish-oval, slightly compressed, halves equal; cavity very shallow and narrow, abrupt; suture indistinct; apex roundish or depressed; color clear currant-red, with thin bloom; dots few, medium to large, whitish, somewhat conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem very slender, three-quarters inch long, glabrous, adhering poorly to the fruit; skin tough, cracking under unfavorable conditions, separating readily; flesh deep yellow, juicy, fibrous, tender and melting, sweet next the skin but sour at the center, of pleasant flavor; fair to good in quality; stone clinging closely, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, narrow, long-oval, turgid, smooth, flattened and necked at the base, abruptly sharp-tipped at the apex; ventral suture acute, inconspicuous; dorsal suture blunt, faintly grooved.
PURPLE GAGE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Pom. Mag._ =3=:129, Pl. 1830. =2.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 152, 153. 1831. =3.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 308 fig. 127. 1845. =4.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1.= 1846. =5.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 339. 1849. =6.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 54. 1852. =7.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ =3=:71, Pl. 1855. =8.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 519, Pl. 1. 1859. =9.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 377. 1866. =10.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 9. 1871. =11.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:3 fig. 2. 1866-73. =12.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_ 367. 1887. =13.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 452. 1889. =14.= _Guide Prat._ 155, 364. 1895.
_Blaue Reine-Claude_ 10, 11, 13 incor., 14. _Die Violette Königin Claudia_ 13. _Die Violette Königin Claudie_ 1. _Die Violette Köning Claudie_ 3. _Die Violette oder blaue Renoclode_ 10, 14. _Die Violette oder Blaue Reneclode_ 11, 13. _Purple Gage_ 2, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Prune Reine Claude Violette 4, 10. _Reine-Claude Alex. Dumas_ 14. Reine-Claude Violette 2, 7, 8, 11, 12, 14. _Reine-Claude Violette_ 1, 3, 5, 9, 13. _Violet Queen Claude_ 3, 5. _Violet Gage_ 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14. Violette Reine-Claude 13. Violet Gage 2. _Violette Queen Claude_ 13. _Violet oder Blaue Reneclode_ 13.
Purple Gage is worthy of attention as one of the best flavored of all purple plums. In all but color of fruit it is a true Gage, to say which is a sufficient characterization as to quality. In size it averages larger than most of the Gages or Reine Claude plums, and in color is a rich dark purple as attractive as any of the purple plums. Another good quality of the fruit is that of hanging to the tree until it shrivels at which time it is richest in flavor. Unfortunately the trees, while averaging very well in other respects, are not productive and the variety cannot be recommended for money-making though it well deserves a place in home orchards.
Purple Gage is a European variety of unknown origin, though in the _Catalogue descriptif des fruits adoptes par le Congres pomologique_ for 1887, it is said to have been raised by M. Galopin of Liege, Belgium. As it was not mentioned by Duhamel in his _Traite des Arbres Fruitiers_ in 1768, it is thought to have been unknown at that date. English and American authors generally apply the name Purple Gage to this variety but in continental countries the name Reine Claude Violette is most common. It was imported into America early in the last century and in 1852 was added to the recommended list of fruits in the American Pomological Society catalog.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, hardy, not very productive; branches numerous, light ash-gray, with few, small, raised lenticels; branchlets thick, above medium in length, with rather short internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, marked with much scarf-skin, glabrous throughout the season, with few, small, slightly-raised lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical, appressed; leaf-scars greatly enlarged.
Leaves folded upward, oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick, stiff; upper surface dark green, distinctly rugose, lightly pubescent, with a shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery-green, covered with thick pubescence; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base rather abrupt, margin serrate or crenate, eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole three-quarters inch long, thick, greenish, pubescent, glandless or with one or two rather large, globose, yellowish-green glands variable in position.
Blooming season late, of medium length; flowers appearing with the leaves, nearly one and one-quarter inches across, white; borne from lateral buds, usually singly; pedicels five-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, obtuse, lightly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals obovate or oval, crenate, short-clawed; anthers yellow; filaments nearly one-half inch long; pistil glabrous except at the base, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, roundish or ovate, slightly compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture very shallow, often a line; apex variable in shape; color dark purple or purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, russet, conspicuous when the bloom is removed, clustered about the apex; stem five-eighths inch long, thinly pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, separating readily; flesh dull yellow, juicy, somewhat fibrous, firm but tender, sweet, of pleasant flavor; very good; stone semi-clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregular-oval, flat, often contracted at the base into a long narrow neck, blunt at the apex, with markedly rough and pitted surfaces; ventral suture swollen, rather wide, distinctly furrowed, often with a prominent wing; dorsal suture with a wide and deep groove.
QUACKENBOSS
[Illustration: QUACKENBOSS]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 393. 1857. =2.= _Cultivator_ =6=:269 fig. 1858. =3.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 345. 1867. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 941. 1869. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 24. 1871. =6.= Mas. _Pom. Gen._ =2=:151, fig. 76. 1873. =7.= Barry _Fr. Garden_ 415. 1883. =8.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =103=:34, fig. 6. 1894. =9.= _Ont. Fr. Exp. Sta. Rpt._ 52. 1895. =10.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:191, fig. 40 II. 1897. =11.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 119. 1901. =12.= _Va. Sta. Bul._ =134=:44. 1902.
Quackenbos 9, 12.
Though not a leading variety, Quackenboss is a prominent one in the list of commercial sorts for New York. Its fruits possess to a high degree the characters which make a good market plum; they are of large size, averaging nearly an inch and a half in diameter; round-oval, a better shape for the markets than the prune shapes; very prepossessing in color—a handsome, dark purple with heavy bloom; the flesh is tender and juicy with a sweet, pleasant flavor making it one of the good purple plums, though not one of the best in quality. The tree is large, vigorous, hardy, with a round and spreading top. This gives it great bearing capacity but though productive in the Station orchard, the variety does not have the reputation of being fruitful and fails chiefly as a commercial sort for this reason. It is a late-maturing variety and comes on the market at a time when plums are wanted for home canning, the demand for this purpose, for which it is most suitable, helping greatly its sale. The variety has two peculiarities; the petals are comparatively distinct from each other giving the flower, or a tree in flower, an odd appearance; and the leaves are remarkably variable in size.
It is not quite certain when or where this variety first came to notice. C. Reagles, a competent authority, of Schenectady, New York, in describing the Quackenboss for _The Cultivator_ in 1858, says “There is a seedling tree of this identical sort in the garden of Mr. S. C. Groot of this city, which is about thirty years old.” If true, this puts its origin in Schenectady at about 1828. But beyond question a Mr. Quackenboss of Greenbush, New York, introduced the variety, though some years later, and it has taken his name. In 1871, the American Pomological Society placed the Quackenboss on its recommended fruit list.
Tree very large and vigorous, round-topped, hardy, productive; branches numerous, ash-gray, the trunk rough but the limbs smooth, with smallish raised lenticels; branchlets thick, with long internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-drab over red, dull, pubescent, with numerous, small lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, pointed, free.
Leaves flattened, obovate or oval, variable in size averaging one and seven-eighths inches wide by three and five-eighths inches long; upper surface very dark green, nearly glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex obtuse, base tapering, margin finely serrate, with small black glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, pubescent, faintly tinged red, glandless or with from one to four small, globose, greenish-yellow glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white, with a yellow tinge at the tips of the opening buds; scattered on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels three-quarters inch long, above medium in thickness, finely pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, lightly pubescent, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals obovate, crenate, with broad claws of medium length; anthers yellow with a reddish tinge; filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous except on the ovary, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit late, season short; one and five-eighths inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, roundish-oval, compressed slightly, halves equal; cavity narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, often lacking; apex roundish or depressed; color bluish-black, with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, yellowish-brown, inconspicuous; stem three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin tender, somewhat astringent; flesh deep yellow, juicy, tender, sweet, of pleasant, mild flavor; good; stone semi-free, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, flattened, irregular-oval, tapering to a long, narrow neck at the base, bluntly acute at the apex, with rough and pitted surfaces; ventral suture prominent, heavily furrowed, distinctly ridged; dorsal suture acute, often with a narrow, indistinct, shallow groove.
RED APRICOT
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Knoop _Fructologie_ =2=:52, 54. 1771. =2.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:27, Tab. 172 fig. 1. 1796. =3.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:72. 1832. =4.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1.= 1846. =5.= Goodrich _N. Fr. Cult._ 83. 1849. =6.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:127, fig. 64. 1873. =7.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 720. 1884. =8.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 447. 1889. =9.= Lucas _Vollst. Hand. Obst._ 474. 1894.
Abricot Rouge 1. _Abricote Rouge_ 3. Apricot Plum 5. Abricotée Rouge 6. _Abricot Rouge_ 6, 7, 8. _Abricotée Rouge_ 7, 8. Die Aprikosenpflaume 2. _Fürstenzeller Pflaume_ 8. _Fürstenzeller Reine-Claude_ 6. _Prune d’Abricot Rouge_ 1, 8. _Prune d’Abricos_ 2. Prune d’Abricot rouge 1. Prune Abricotée Rouge 4. Red Apricot Plum 3. _Rothe Aprikosenpflaume_ 6. _Red Apricot_ 6, 8. Rote Aprikosenpflaume 8. Rote Aprikosenzwetsche 9.
This plum, well known in Europe, is probably not now grown in America and it may not deserve recognition here except for its historical interest. Red Apricot is probably an inferior off-shoot of the Apricot plum although no definite record of its lineage is obtainable. It does not seem to have been known until nearly one hundred and fifty years after the Apricot was brought to notice. Kraft figured and described a long prune-like red plum under this name but because of its shape his plum was undoubtedly spurious. The variety was rejected by the American Pomological Society in 1856. It is described as follows:
Tree vigorous, shoots glabrous; fruit mid-season, large, roundish; color red over yellow; suture shallow; cavity small; stem an inch long, stout; flesh yellow, dryish, inferior in flavor; poor; freestone.
RED DATE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Parkinson _Par. Ter._ 576. 1629. =2.= Rea _Flora_ 208. 1676. =3.= Ray _Hist. Plant._ =2=:1529. 1688. =4.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:43, Tab. 196 fig. 2. 1796. =5.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 147. 1831. =6.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 447. 1889.
_A Fleur Double_ 5. _Dattel Pflaume_ 6. _Dattel Zwetsche_ 6. Die grosse rothe Feigenpflaume 4. Figue Grose Rouge 5. _Figue Grosse Rouge_ 6. _Früh Zwetsche_ 6. _Grosse Rote Feigen Pflaume_ 6. _Lange Violette Dattel Zwetsche_ 6. _Lange Violette Dattel Pflaume_ 6. _Prune figue grosse rouge_ 4. _Prune d’Autriche_ 6. _Prune Figue_ 6. _Prune Datte_ 6. _Purpur Pflaume_ 6. Red Date-plum 3. Rote. Dattelzwetsche 6. _Rote Feigen Pflaume_ 6. _Turkische Zwetsche_ 6. _Ungarische Zwetsche_ 6. _Wilmot’s Russian_ 5. _Zucker Zwetsche_ 6.
Red Date is an interesting variety because of its very peculiar shape which is that of an elongated curved date. Its flavor is agreeable and all of the characters of fruit and tree are as good as in the average variety; yet it can probably be counted as nothing more than an interesting curiosity. Parkinson described the Red Date as long ago as 1629 and it seems to have maintained a place in horticulture since then. The variety was imported from France in 1901 by the United States Department of Agriculture from which source trees were obtained by this Station.
Tree of medium size, upright-spreading, dense-topped, productive; branches thorny; branchlets developing many laterals on the new wood at right angles to the direction of growth, thickly pubescent; leaf-buds free; leaves folded backward, obovate, one and one-half inches by three and one-quarter inches long; margin crenate, with small dark glands; petiole pubescent, rather long, glandless or with from one to three small glands; blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, seven-eighths inch across; borne in scattering clusters on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit mid-season; one and five-eighths inches by one inch in size, long irregular-oval, enlarged on the suture side, dark purplish-red, with thick bloom; flesh golden-yellow, rather dry, firm, sweet, mild; of fair quality; stone free, one and one-eighth inches by one-half inch in size, very long and narrow, somewhat oblique, acute and oblique at both base and apex; ventral suture blunt; dorsal suture with a long, narrow, deep groove.
RED DIAPER
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Quintinye _Com. Gard._ 67, 68, 69. 1699. =2.= Miller _Gard. Kal._ 184. 1734. =3.= Knoop _Fructologie_ =2=:57. 1761. =4.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:102, Pl. XX fig. 12. 1768. =5.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:36, Tab. 185 fig. 2. 1796. =6.= Willichs _Dom. Enc._ 300. 1803. =7.= _Pom. Mag._ =1=:6, Pl. 1828. =8.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:69, 90. 1832. =9.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 298. 1845. =10.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 285, 287, 288, 383. 1846. =11.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1=:1846. =12.= _Horticulturist_ =3=:29. 1848. =13.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 335, fig. 261. 1849. =14.= _Horticulturist_ =4=:195. 1849. =15.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ 75 Pl. 1853. =16.= Bridgeman _Gard. Ass’t_ 128, 129, 130. 1857. =17.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 10. 1871. =18.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:135, fig. 68. 1873. =19.= _Le Bon Jard._ 339. 1882. =20.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 697. 1884. =21.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_ 345. 1887. =22.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 447. 1889. =23.= _Guide Prat._ 158, 365. 1895.
_Amalia Pflaume_ 22, 23. _Bunte Herzformige Pflaume_ 17, 22. _Cyprische Pflaume_ 22, 23. _Diaprée de Roche Corbon_ 22. _Dame Aubert Rouge_ 22, 23. _Diademe Imperial_ 22. _De Chypre_ 23. _Diademe Imperiale_ 23. Diaper 1, 10. Die Blutfarbige Pflaume 5. Diaprée Rouge 3, 4, 9, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. _Diaprée Rouge_ 5, 8, 10, 13, 16, 18, 22. _Diapre Rouge_ 8, 22, 23. Die Rothe Eierpflaume 14. _Diaper Rouge_ 16. _Diaper_ 17, 20, 22. _Die Blutfarbege Pflaume_ 17. _Diaprea rubra_ 17. _Diademe_ 19. _De Briancon_ 21. _Gluhende Kohle_ 22. _Hoheits Pflaume_ 22, 23. _Imperial Diadem_ 8, 9, 13, 20, 22. Imperial Diadem 10, 16. _Imperial Diademe_ 17, 21. _Imperatrice_ 19. _La Roche-Corbon_ 22. _La Courbon_ 17. Mimms 10, 16. _Mimms_ 9, 13, 17, 20. _Mimms Plum_ 10, 16, 22. Mimms Plum 7, 8. _Mimms Pflaume_ 22. _Matchless_ 22. Prune Diaprée Rouge 11. Prune Imperatrice 15. _Prune Diademe_ 15. _Prune de Briancon_ 17. _Prune de Chypre_ 22. _Prinzessin Pflaume_ 22, 23. _Roche-Carbon_ 22. Rote Diaprée 22. _Rouge Corbon_ 22. Rote Eier Pflaume 22. _Rote Cyprische Pflaume_ 22. _Rote Marunke_ 22. _Rote Osterei_ 22. _Rote Masche_ 22. _Rote Ross Pflaume_ 22. Rothe Eierpflaume 23. _Rothe Marunke_ 23. Roche Corbon 1. Roche Courbon 2. _Roche Corbon_ 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22. Roch-courbon 6. _Red Diaper_ 6, 10, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22. _Roche Courbon_ 8. _Red Egg Plum_ 14. _Reine de Chypre_ 14. _Red Imperial_ 16. _Rothe Diaprée_ 17. _Rothe Violen Pflaume_ 17. _Red Diaper Plum_ 17. _Rothe Eierpflaume_ 17. _Rothe Süsse Pflaume_ 17. _Rothe Diapre_ 18. _Virginische Pflaume_ 17.
Red Diaper is of historical value only, as it is now rarely found. It does not seem to have been known as long as Violet Diaper and may be an off-shoot of the older variety. It probably originated in France, one of its synonyms, Roche Corbon, having been derived from a small village near Tours. The Mimms plum said to have been raised from a stone of the Blue Perdrigon about 1800 by Henry Browne, North Mimms Place, Hertfordshire, England, and the Imperial Diadem said to be a seedling of about the same date raised at Duckenfield, near Manchester, England, are identical with Red Diaper in spite of their supposed separate origin. The Chypre, or Prune de Chypre, thought by some to be a synonym of this variety, is undoubtedly distinct, as it is a clingstone and is earlier. The following description is compiled.
Tree of slow growth in the nursery, hardy, vigorous and productive in the orchard. Fruit mid-season; large, obovate; cavity slight; stem one-half inch in length; skin brownish-red; bloom thin; dots very numerous, brownish, conspicuous; flesh greenish-yellow, firm, fine-grained, sweet; good; stone small, free.
RED JUNE
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 106. 1891. =2.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =62=:28. 1894. =3.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 95. 1895. =4.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =106=:60. 1896. =5.= _Ala. Col. Sta. Bul._ =85=:444. 1897. =6.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =139=:45. 1897. =7.= _Rural N. Y._ =56=:615. 1897. =8.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 26. 1897. =9.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:242, 243, 249, 250. 1899. =10.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =175=:136. 1899. =11.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 386. 1901. =12.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 140. 1901. =13.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 324. 1903. =14.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ =43=:37. 1903. =15.= _Mass. Sta. Ann. Rpt._ =17=:160. 1905. =16.= _Md. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 85. 1905. =17.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =68=:5, 32. 1905.
_Botan_ 14. _Hytankayo_ 11. _Long Fruit_ 3. _Nagate no Botankyo_ 10, 11, 17. Red Nagate 1, 2, 3, 6, 9. _Red Nagate_ 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 17. _Red June_ 2, 3. _Shiro Smomo_ 2, 4, 7, 11, 12, 14. Shiro Smomo 9.
Red June is variously estimated by fruit-growers and pomologists. A concensus of the opinions of those who have had actual experience with the variety shows that it closely follows Abundance and Burbank in popularity among the Trifloras. The variety is distinguished from all other plums by its fruit-characters; the plums are distinctly cordate in shape with a deep cavity and a very pointed apex; the color is a mottled garnet-red overlaid with thin but very distinct and delicate bloom; the flesh is a light yellow, firm enough to endure transportation well, peculiarly aromatized, sweetish and not wholly agreeable in flavor and ranking rather low in quality; the stone adheres tightly to the flesh. The trees are large, vigorous, spreading, hardy, healthy and productive—very good for the species to which the variety belongs. Other good qualities of the variety are that it blooms late for a Triflora, and that the fruits are comparatively immune to curculio and brown-rot and hang to the trees exceptionally well for an early plum. This is one of the Trifloras that varies in season of ripening, a peculiarity of several of the varieties of this species, but usually the fruits ripen a week or more before Abundance. Red June is reported to be somewhat self-sterile and in need of cross-pollination. This variety ought to have value as an early market plum in New York.
Red June was imported from Japan by H. H. Berger and Company, San Francisco, California, under the name Shiro Smomo, about 1887. Stark Brothers, Louisiana, Missouri, obtained the variety in 1892 and introduced it as the Red June in 1893. In 1897 it was added to the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society. The nomenclature of this variety is much confused. The true Japanese Red Nagate (Red Nagate is one of the synonyms of Red June) has red flesh while this one has not; this variety, to which the name Shiro Smomo is most often applied, is not a Smomo plum nor is it white, (Shiro is the Japanese for white) affording another instance of the confusion in the American application of the Japanese names of the Triflora plums.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, productive, healthy; branches rough, thorny, dark brown, with numerous lenticels of medium size; branchlets slender, long, with short internodes, dark brown, marked with considerable scarf-skin, glabrous, with numerous large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, medium in length, conical, free.
Leaves folded upward, oblanceolate, one inch wide, two and three-quarters inches long, thin; upper surface glabrous, with a lightly grooved midrib; lower surface light green, thinly pubescent along the midrib and larger veins which are tinged red; apex taper-pointed, base acuminate, margin finely serrate, with small glands; petiole one-half inch long, slender, tinged red, slightly hairy along one side, with from one to three small, brown glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing before the leaves, white; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in twos or in threes; pedicels of medium length and thickness, glabrous except for occasional hairs, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, obtuse, sparingly glandular, with marginal hairs, glabrous on the outer side, thinly pubescent on the inner side, erect; petals oval, entire, tapering at the base to short claws; anthers light yellow; filaments short; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit early, one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, roundish-ovate to roundish-cordate, sides unequal; cavity large, deep, narrow, regular, abrupt; suture deep, distinct; apex very pointed; color garnet-red, mottled; bloom thin; dots numerous, small, russet; stem one-half inch long, adhering to the fruit; skin above medium in thickness, tender, slightly astringent, separating easily; flesh light yellow, fibrous, somewhat meaty, sweet except near the center; good; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, irregular-oval, slightly flattened, pointed at both ends, with pitted surfaces; ventral suture prominently winged, narrow; dorsal suture not grooved.
RED MAGNUM BONUM
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Parkinson _Par. Ter._ 576, 577. 1629. =2.= Rea _Flora_ 208. 1676. =3.= Langley _Pomona_ 92, Pl. XX fig. V. 1729. =4.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:98, Pl. XV. 1768. =5.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:31, Tab. 178 fig. 1. 1796. =6.= Willichs _Dom. Enc._ =4=:300. 1803. =7.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:59. 1832. =8.= Hoffy _Orch. Com._ fig. 1841. =9.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 292. 1846. =10.= _Horticulturist_ =4=:194. 1849. =11.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ 99, Pl. 1853. =12.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 428, 429. 1854. =13.= Noisette _Man. Comp. Jard._ =2=:499. 1860. =14.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 943. 1869. =15.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:139, fig. 70. 1873. =16.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 721. 1884. =17.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 61. 1887. =18.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 445, 448. 1889. =19.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 87. 1890. =20.= _Guide Prat._ 158, 358. 1895.
_Askew’s Purple Egg_ 12, 14, 16, 18. _Blaue Kaiserpflaume_ 15, 18, 20 incor. _Blaue Eier Pflaume_ 18 incor. _Bockshoden_ 18, 20. _Bocksdutten_ 18, 20. _Bonum Magnum_ 18 incor., 20. _Blue Imperatrice_ 7 incor., 8. _Copper Plum_ 8. Die Kaiserliche veilchenfarbige Pflaume 5. Die Rothe Kaiserpflaume 10. Dame Aubert 13. _Dame Aubert Violette_ 14, 16, 18, 20. _Die Rothe Eierpflaume_ 14. _Dame Aubert Rouge_ 17. Dame Aubert Rouge 19. _D’Oeuf Violette_ 20. _Early Forcing_ 12. _Florence_ 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. _Frühe Treib Zwetsche_ 18. _Frühe Treibzwetsche_ 20. _Great Imperial Plum_ 18, 20. _Grosse Früh Zwetsche_ 18 incor. _Grosse Ungarische Zwetsche_ 18 incor. Imperiall 1. Imperial 3, 6. _Impériale Violette_ 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 16, 18, 20. Impériale Violette 4, 15, 20. Imperial Violet 7. _Impériale_ 7, 14, 16, 18, 20. _Imperiall_ 9. _Imperial_ 9, 14, 18. _Impériale Rouge_ 10, 14, 16, 18. _Imperial Rouge_ 12, 18. _Imperial Violet_ 14, 18. _Impériale Hâtive_ 18, 20. Impériale rouge 20. _Large Orlean_ 7. _Mogul Rouge_ 16, 18. _Oeuf Rouge_ 16, 18. _Prune d’Oeuf Violette_ 18. _Prinzessinpflaume_ 15. _Prune-figue_ 13. Prune Impériale Violette 11. _Prune d’oeuf_ 7, 14, 18. _Purple Egg_ 7, 12, 14, 16, 18. _Prune-oeuf_ 7. _Purple Magnum Bonum_ 12, 14, 18. _Red Magnum Bonum_ 8, 12, 20. _Red Magnum_ 6. _Red Imperiale_ 7, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. _Red Bonum Magnum_ 3, 7, 18, 20. _Red Egg Plum_ 10. Red Egg 12. Red Imperial 12. _Red Egg_ 14, 16, 18. Red Aubert 17. _Rote Eier Pflaume_ 18. Rote Kaiserpflaume 18. _Rote Kaiser Zwetsche_ 18. 116 _Riga_ 19. _Rothe Kaiserpflaume_ 20. _Rothe Kaiserzwetsche_ 20. _Shepler_ ?14, ?18. _Sainte-Catherine_ (Belgien) 18, 20. The Imperial Plum 2. _Violette oder Blaue Kaiserpflaume_ 15.
Once popular, Red Magnum Bonum is now but of historical interest. Three centuries ago this variety was cultivated in England by John Tradescant under the name Imperiall. It was mentioned by all of the early horticultural writers and it seems clear that the variety was well established in Europe at least as early as the beginning of the Seventeenth Century. As all plums at that time were propagated from seed, a large number of sub-varieties of this sort were produced and as these became established the nomenclature of the variety became much involved. In 1729 Langley called it the Red Magnum Bonum, a name it has since retained. It is not known when the variety was introduced into this country but its first appearance in American literature was in 1803. After its introduction nurserymen sold any large red plum as Red Magnum Bonum and it became difficult to find the true variety. Professor J. L. Budd apparently reintroduced this plum in 1881-1882 under the name Dame Aubert Rouge. Although very extensively grown in America at one time it has never been a favorite because of its poor quality. The American Pomological Society rejected it in 1858 from a list of candidates for its catalog. The following description is compiled.
Tree hardy, vigorous, productive; young shoots glabrous. Fruit mid-season; large, oval, deep red in the sun, pale red in the shade, covered with thin bloom; stem one inch long; flesh greenish, firm, slightly coarse, dry, brisk subacid; of fair quality; stone oval, free.
REINE CLAUDE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Quintinye _Com. Gard._ 67, 68, 69. 1699. =2.= Langley _Pomona_ 93, Pl. XXIII fig. 7. 1729. =3.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:89, Pl. XI. 1768. =4.= Knoop _Fructologie_ =2=:62. 1771. =5.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ 28, Tab. 173 fig. 2, 41, Tab. 193 fig. 2. 1796. =6.= Forsyth _Treat. Fr. Trees_ 20. 1803. =7.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ =3.= 1807. =8.= Coxe _Cult. Fr. Trees_ 237, fig. 14. 1817. =9.= Phillips _Com. Orch._ 306. 1831. =10.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 147, 148. 1831. =11.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:48. 1832. =12.= Gallesio _Pom. Ital._, Pl. 1839. =13.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 276 fig. 106. 1845. =14.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 283, 382, 419. 1846. =15.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1=:1846. =16.= _Horticulturist_ =2=:178, 179, fig. 30, 291. 1847. =17.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 326 fig. 253, 329. 1849. =18.= Hovey _Fr. Am._ =2=:69, Pl. 1851. =19.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 54. 1852. =20.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 410. 1854. =21.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 517. 1859. =22.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 917. 1869. =23.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:55, fig. 28. 1866-73. =24.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 5. 1871. =25.= Oberdieck _Deut. Obst. Sort._ 434. 1881. =26.= Lauche _Deut. Pom._ 20, Pl. IV 20. 1882. =27.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 703. 1884. =28.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 433. 1889. =29.= _Guide Prat._ 154, 363. 1895. =30.= Bailey _Sur. Unlike_ 176, 243. 1896. =31.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:186. 1897. =32.= _Botanical Gazette_ =26=:423. 1898. =33.= _Gard. Chron._ 3rd Ser. =24=:465. 1898. =34.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 22, 106, 107 fig. 1901.
_Abricot Verd_ 5, 9. _Abricot Vert_ 3, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29. Abricotée Sageret ?22, 28. _Aloise’s Green Gage_ 22, 24, 27, ?28, 29. _Blanche Grosse Espece_ 10. _Bonne Verte_ 5. _Bradford Gage_ 13, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29. _Bradford Green Gage_ 27, 28. _Bradford Queen Gage_ 24, ?29. _Brugnon Green Gage_ 10, 18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Brugnon Gage_ 20, 22, 28, 29. _Bruyn Gage_ 13, 17, 18 incor., 20, 22, 28, 29. _Burgnon Gage_ 13, 24. _Cant’s Late Green Gage_ 22, 28. Claudia 12. _Damas Gris_ 24, 28, 29. _Damas Verd_ 9. _Damas Vert_ 7, 10, 13, 18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Dauphine_ 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29. Die grosse Königin Claudiapflaume, die grüne Abrikose 5. Die Königin Klaudia 5. Dauphine 3. _Dauphiny_ 6. _Drap d’Or_ of some 10, 18, 28, 29. _Echte Grosse Reine-Claude_ 28, 29. _Gage Verte_ 28, 29. _Great Green Damask_ 22, 27, 28. _Great Green Damaski_ 24, 29. _Great Queen Claudia_ 11. Green Gage 2, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 30, 31, 33, 34. _Green Spanish_ 14, 18. _Gros Damas Vert_ 11, 22, 28, 29. Grosse Königin Claudiapflaume 5. _Green Gage_ 7, 9, 23, 24, 28, 29, 32, 34. _Goring’s Golden Gage_ 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Grosse Reine_ 10, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Grosse Grüne Reine-Claude_ 25, 28. Grosse Reine-Claude 7, 25, 26, 28. _Grosse Reine-Claude_ 3, 5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29. Gros Reine-Claude 14. _Grüne Aprikose_ 5, 28, 29. _Grüne Abrikose_ 5. _Grüne Reineclaude_ 25. _Gute Grüne_ 28, 29. _Huling’s Reine-Claudia_ 22, 28. _Huling’s Reine Claude_ 11. _Ida Gage_ 22. Ida Green Gage 16. _Ida Green Gage_ 20, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Isleworth Green Gage_ 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. Isleworth Green Gage 10. _King of Plums_ 20. _Königin Claudia_ 28, 29. Königin Klaudia 5. _Large Queen Claude_ 11. _La Grosse Reine-Claude_ 11. Large Queen Claudia 6. _Large green claudia_ 11. _Livingston Manor_ 22, 28. Louis Brun ?22, ?28. _Mammola_ 12. _Mirabelle Vert Double_ 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Murray’s Reine Claudia_ 22, 28. _Murray’s Reine Claude_ 11, 14, 22, 27. Prune de Reine Claude 15. Prunus Domestica Cereola 32. _Prunus Domestica var. cereola_ 33. _Prunus Domestica var. Claudiana_ 32. _Queen Claude_ 2. _Queen Claudia_ 11, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Reine-Claude Ancienne_ 23, 24, 28, 27. _Reine-Claude Blanche Grosse Espece_ 10. _Reineclaude d’oree_ 29. _Reine-Claude Blanche La Grosse_ 11, 22. _Reine-Claude_ 8, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 33. Reine Claud 1. Reine-Claudia 2. _Reine-Claude Blanche_ 10. _Reine-Claude Dorée_ 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29. _Reine-Claude Dore_ 18, 22. _Reine-Claude Grosse_ 27, 28. _Reine-Claude Verde Perdrigon_ 5. _Reine-Claude Verte_ 23, 29. _Rensselaer Gage_ 20, 22. _Rensselvar Gage_ 24, 29. _Rensselaar Gage_ 27, 28. _Reine-Claude Verte Tiquetée_ 28, 29. _Reine-Claudia Blanche La Grosso_ 22, 28. _Royal Green Gage_ 28, 29. _Schuyler Gage_ 20, incor. 22, 24, 27. _Schuyler’s Gage_ ?13, 20, 28, 29. _Sucrin Vert_ 10, 11, 13, 18, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Sultaneck Erik_ ?28, 29. _Susina Regina_ 12. _Triomphe Garcon_ 24, 28, 29. _Triomphe Valet_ 24, 28, 29. _Trompe Garcon_ 22, 27, 28, 29. _Tromp-Valet_ 7. _Trompe Valet_ 22, 27, 28, 29. _Verdacia_ 27, 28. _Verdacchia rotonda_ 12. _Verdoch_ 27, 32, 34. _Verdochia_ 32. _Verdochio_ 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Verducia_ 22. _Verte Bonne_ 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29. _Vert Bonne_ 13, 22, 27. _Verte d’Espagne_ 23, 28, 29. _Verte Tiquetée_ 22, 24, 27, 28, 29. _Vilmot’s Green Gage_ 29. _Vilmot’s Late Green Gage_ 29. _Wilmot’s Green Gage_ 10, 11, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28. Wilmot’s Late Green Gage 11, 18, 20, 21, 22. _Wilmot’s Late Green Gage_ 10, 13, 18, 20, 21, 22, 28, 29. _Wilmot’s New Green Gage_ 10, 11, 13, 18, 20, 22, 28, 29. _Waterloo_ 20.
In the pomological literature since Quintinye in 1699, Reine Claude has been the standard in quality for plums. For the qualities that gratify or assist in gratifying the sense of taste,—richness of flavor, consistency and texture of flesh, abundance of juice and pleasant aroma,—the Reine Claude is unsurpassed. It is, however, now probably equalled in quality by several of the great number of similar varieties which have originated in America and for which American plum-growing is justly distinguished. Under ordinary cultivation the Reine Claude is not a remarkably handsome plum but when grown on thrifty trees, the crop thinned, foliage and fruit kept free from pests and the fruits sufficiently exposed to the sun to color well, it is a beautiful fruit, its size, form and color all adding to its beauty. The tree is only of moderate size in the orchard and in the nursery is so small and wayward that nurserymen hesitate to grow it. The trees, though small, are productive and bear regularly, the chief defect being the susceptibility to sunscald whereby the bark on the trunk is killed and the beginning of the end is marked. The short life of the trees of this variety is largely due to this injury to the bark and has led to top-working on Lombard and other stocks, an operation successful only when done early in the life of the stock. Another serious fault is that the fruit cracks badly if showers occur at ripening time. Reine Claude is still one of the most profitable plums grown in New York and whether for the commercial or home plantation deserves a place in the plum orchard.
For a complete history of this variety the reader is referred to the discussion of the Reine Claude group of plums. The Bavay, a distinct variety, is called the true Reine Claude by many nurserymen and horticultural writers. Green Gage is a synonym of the Reine Claude and is preferred by some writers for this plum but since “Reine Claude” is as well known and much older it has been retained in _The Plums of New York_. The American Pomological Society placed this variety on its fruit catalog list in 1852.
Tree of medium size and vigor, round-topped, hardy, productive; trunk and branches of medium thickness and smoothness; branches ash-brown, with few lenticels; branchlets short, with short internodes, reddish-brown, lightly pubescent; leaf-buds large, long, conical or pointed, free; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves four and one-half inches long, two inches wide, oval, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, smooth, covered with fine, scattering hairs; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex acute, margin often doubly crenate, glandular; petiole three-quarters inch long, tinged red, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish glands variable in position.
Fruit mid-season; one and three-quarters inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, roundish-oval, halves equal; cavity narrow, regular, abrupt; suture shallow, broad; apex pubescent, roundish or slightly depressed; color yellowish green, indistinctly streaked with green, becoming golden-yellow at full maturity, sometimes mottled on the sunny side with red, overspread with thin bloom; dots very numerous, small, grayish, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, pubescent; skin tough, adhering to the pulp; flesh greenish-yellow or golden-yellow, juicy, firm, sweet, mild; very good; stone semi-clinging, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, oval, turgid, tapering at the base, blunt at the apex, with thickly pitted surfaces; ventral suture wide, distinctly furrowed, often with a short wing; dorsal suture with a very wide and deep groove.
ROBINSON
[Illustration: ROBINSON]
_Prunus munsoniana_
=1.= _Ind. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 134. 1883. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 151. 1891. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:64, 86. 1892. =4.= _Me. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:67. 1896. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 89. 1897. =6.= _Wis. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 137. 1899. =7.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =87=:15. 1901. =8.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 199. 1901. =9.= _Kan. Sta. Bul._ =101=:131. 1901. =10.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:280. 1904. =11.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:256, 257. 1905.
Robinson has long been one of the best known of its species though it is probably inferior in fruit-characters at least to several other Munsoniana sorts. The plums are attractive in coloring but small in size and comparatively low in quality. The trees are capricious in growth and not as hardy as some others of the species but where they can be grown are always productive. The variety is rated by some authors among those that need cross-pollination to insure large crops. Robinson may be worth growing in the South and in the States of the Plains but it cannot be recommended for any purpose in New York.
This variety is a seedling grown by a Mr. Pickett of Putnam County, Indiana, from a seed brought with him from North Carolina about 1835. In 1879, Dr. J. H. Robinson read a paper before the Indiana Horticultural Society on Chicasaw plums, and gave a very flattering description of this plum, which he had been growing since 1872. Later it was named by the Putnam County Horticultural Society in honor of Dr. Robinson. This name was used as a synonym of Miner by Downing in 1869 but at the present time that usage has almost disappeared in plum literature.
Tree variable in size, often large, vigorous, spreading, not uniform in habit, somewhat open and flat-topped, hardy, medium to productive; trunk shaggy; branches very rough, zigzag, thorny, dark ash-gray, with numerous, large, narrow and strongly elongated, raised lenticels; branchlets slender to medium, with internodes medium to below in length, greenish-red changing to dull, dark chestnut-red, glabrous, with numerous very conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves folded upward, lanceolate, peach-like, one and five-sixteenths inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thin; upper surface dark green, glabrous, with deeply grooved midrib; lower surface glabrous except along the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed, base obtuse, margin very finely serrate, with small, dark red glands; petiole slender, five-eighths inch long, reddish, lightly pubescent along one side, glandless or with from one to seven small, globose, reddish-brown glands on the stalk and on the base of the leaf.
Blooming season medium to late, long; flowers appearing with the leaves, eleven-sixteenths inch across, whitish, somewhat self-fertile; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in twos, threes or fours; pedicels seven-sixteenths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, narrow-campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, slightly obtuse, glandular, pubescent and with marginal hairs, erect; petals ovate or oval, small, narrow, slightly crenate, tapering below to long, narrow claws; anthers yellowish; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous, slightly shorter than or equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit early, season very long; less than an inch in diameter, roundish or roundish-oval, halves equal; cavity of medium depth and width, abrupt; suture a line; apex roundish; color clear currant-red, overspread with thick bloom; dots scattering, large, russet, conspicuous, clustered around the apex; stem slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous, adhering to the fruit; skin tough, bitter, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, very juicy, somewhat fibrous, tender and melting, sweet next the skin, with some astringency near the center, of mild but pleasant flavor; fair in quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, oval, turgid, very slightly flattened and necked at the base, abrupt-pointed at the apex, roughish; ventral suture blunt, slightly ridged; dorsal suture with a rather broad groove of medium depth.
ROLLINGSTONE
_Prunus americana_
=1.= _Rural N. Y._ =44=:645. 1885. =2.= _Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 279. 1885. =3.= _N. J. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 186. 1885. =4.= _Wis. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 32. 1885. =5.= _Minn. Sta. Bul._ =10=:73 fig. 1890. =6.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:41, 86. 1892. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 24. 1897. =8.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:56, 58 fig. 28. 1897. =9.= _Colo. Sta. Bul._ =50=:45. 1898. =10.= _Ohio. Sta. Bul._ =113=:153. 1899. =11.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 162. 1901. =12.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:280. 1904. =13.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:256, 257. 1905.
_Minnesota_ 2. Rolling Stone 3, 4.
Rollingstone is an old Americana sort which has been kept in cultivation chiefly because it is of very good quality for one of its species. The fruit is rather dull in color and small but not unattractive in appearance; the plums are little troubled by either the brown-rot or the plum curculio and ship very well because of the tough skin. The tree is dwarfish with a crooked trunk, shaggy bark, unkempt top and very twiggy—a typical Americana and most difficult to grow into a good orchard plant. The variety is characterized by long, conspicuous stamens, stigmas frequently defective and by very large leaves. The variety has little or no value in New York.
Rollingstone was found near an old Indian camping ground on the Rollingstone Creek, Winona County, Minnesota, by Mr. O. M. Lord,[220] Minnesota City, about 1852. Mr. Lord planted trees of this plum in his garden and found that they improved greatly under cultivation, so much so that they soon became very popular in the local market. About 1882 he introduced the Rollingstone to fruit-growers in general. Mr. H. M. Thompson of St. Francis, according to the Minnesota Horticultural Society Report for 1885, sent this plum out under the name Minnesota but fortunately it has not been distributed under its synonym widely enough to cause much confusion. In 1897 the American Pomological Society added Rollingstone to its fruit catalog list.
Tree dwarfish, variable in vigor, spreading, flat-topped, hardy, productive, healthy; trunk shaggy; branches dark ash-gray, thorny, rough, zigzag, with numerous, rather large lenticels; branchlets slender, twiggy, medium to short, with internodes of average length, greenish turning to dark brown, glossy, glabrous, with conspicuous, small, raised lenticels; leaf-buds medium in size and length, appressed.
Leaves falling early, folded upward, obovate or long-ovate, one and one-half inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thin; upper surface smooth, glabrous, with a narrow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery green, lightly pubescent, the veins prominent; apex taper-pointed, base rather acute, margin coarsely and doubly serrate, eglandular; petiole slender, five-eighths inch long, tinged red, sparingly pubescent, glandless or with one or two small, globose, reddish glands on the stalk.
Blooming season late and short; flowers appearing after the leaves; three-quarters inch across, the buds creamy-white changing to white as the flowers expand; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in threes or in fours; pedicels seven-sixteenths inch long, below medium in thickness, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish-green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, eglandular, glabrous on the outer surface but lightly pubescent within, heavily pubescent on the margin and with irregular deep serrations, erect; petals oval or slightly ovate, dentate, tapering below into narrow claws reddish at the base; stamens conspicuous; anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length; stigma often abortive.
Fruit mid-season or earlier, ripening period short; about one inch in diameter, roundish, halves equal; cavity shallow, flaring, marked before maturity with light-colored, radiating streaks; suture a line; apex roundish; color dark purplish-red, with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, light russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, nine-sixteenths inch long, adhering poorly to the fruit; skin thick, tough, semi-adherent; flesh orange-yellow, juicy, slightly fibrous, tender and melting, sweet, strongly aromatic; good; stone semi-free, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, roundish-oval, flattened, smoothish, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture acute, faintly ridged; dorsal suture acute, with a narrow, shallow, indistinct groove.
ROYAL TOURS
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:81, Pl. XX fig. 8. 1768. =2.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:35, Tab. 184 fig. 2. 1796. =3.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 313. 1845. =4.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 423. 1854. =5.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:53, fig. 27. 1866-73. =6.= Lange _Allgem. Garten._ =2=:420. 1879. =7.= _Le Bon Jard._ =2=:341. 1882. =8.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_ 368. 1887. =9.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 438. 1889. =10.= _Guide Prat._ 160, 365. 1895. =11.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 120, 121. 1901.
_Damas de Tours_ 7. Die königliche Pflaume von Tours 2. _Diel’s Königspflaume_ 9 incor. _Diels Königpflaume_ 10. _Frühe Herrn Pflaume_ 9 incor., 10. Kings plum of Tours 6. _Königspflaume von Tours_ 5, 10. Königspflaume von Tours 9. _Königliche Pflaume von Tours_ 9, 10. _Königs Pflaume_ 9 incor., 10. _Königliche Grosse Pflaume_ 9, 10. _Königin von Tours_ 9, 10. _Moroccopflaume_ 10. _Morocco_ 9 incor. _Prune Royale de Tours_ 5, 9. _Rothe Königspflaume_ 10. _Roi_ 10. _Royale_ 8, 10. Royale de Tours 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10. _Royale de Tours_ 2, 4, 9, 10, 11. _Royal Tours_ 3, 4, 9. Royal of Tours 4. _Royal red Plum_ 8, 10. _Worth_ 11.
This excellent variety should be grown generally in America for home use, at least, if it proves nearly as desirable as it is rated in Europe. Royal Tours is an old French sort supposed to have originated in the neighborhood of Tours, France. Although highly esteemed in Europe, it has not gained favor in this country and is rarely found here. Waugh states that in 1899 he secured specimens of it from North Carolina where it was grown locally under the name Worth. The following description is compiled.
Tree strong, vigorous; branches thick, short, smooth; fruit early mid-season; of medium size, irregularly roundish, swollen on one side, dark reddish-purple covered with thick bloom; cavity deep; suture prominent; stem short, thick; skin thick, firm; dots conspicuous; flesh greenish-yellow, firm, sweet; very good; stone large, oblong, rough, clinging.
RUTLAND PLUMCOT
_Prunus triflora_ × _Prunus armeniaca_
=1.= Burbank _Cat._ 13 fig. 1901. =2.= De Vries _Pl. Br._ 218. 1907. =3.= _Fancher Creek Nur. Cat._ 10 fig. 1909.
Plumcot 1, 2.
One of the interesting novelties of recent plum-breeding is the Plumcot grown by Luther Burbank[221] from a cross between the plum and the apricot. Not having seen the fruit of this remarkable cross we are unable to judge of its value to the plum-grower. Out of a large number of extremely variable seedlings of this cross Burbank selected this, the Rutland Plumcot, named in honor of an Australian admirer of the fruit. The variety was introduced by the Fancher Creek Nursery in 1906 and 1907. The following description is partly compiled.
Tree vigorous, spreading, open, not a heavy bearer; branches thorny; branchlets rather slender, with short internodes, dull red; leaves folded upward, oval, one and five-eighths inches wide, two and seven-eighths inches long, rather stiff; margin finely and doubly crenate, glandular; petiole greenish-red, with from one to four globose glands.
The fruit in California attains a large size; suture and cavity deep; skin fuzzy like an apricot, purple; flesh deep red, subacid; quality fair; stone large, broad-oval.
SAINT CATHERINE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Quintinye _Com. Gard._ 67, 68, 69. 1699. =2.= Langley _Pomona_ 94, Pl. 24 fig. 6. 1729. =3.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ =3.= 1754. =4.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:97, Pl. XX fig. 5, 109, Pl. XIX. 1768. =5.= Knoop _Fructologie_ =2=:55. 1771. =6.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 153. 1831. =7.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:76, 103. 1832. =8.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._ 267. 1832. =9.= Gallesio _Pom. Ital._ =2=: Pl. 1839. =10.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 283 fig. 112. 1845. =11.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 298, 383. 1846. =12.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1=:1846. =13.= _U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt._ XXX. 1854. =14.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ 65, Pl. 1855. =15.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 520. 1859. =16.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 86. 1862. =17.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 23. 1871. =18.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:89, fig, 45. 1866-73. =19.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 724. 1884. =20.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 431. 1889. =21.= Wickson _Cal. Fruits_ 356 fig. 1891. =22.= _Guide Prat._ 161, 365. 1895. =23.= _Oregon Sta. Bul._ =45=:33 fig. 1897.
_Bricet_ 7. _Bricette_ 4, 7, 12. _Bricette_ 7, 19. _Brisette_ 20, 22. Catherine (Prune de Ste.) 5. _Catharinenpflaume_ 18, 20, 21. _De Sainte-Catherine_ 22. Gelbe Catharinenpflaume 20. _Gelbe Catharinenpflaume_ 18, 22. _Gelbe Katharinenpflaume_ 17, 22. _Gute Kathe_ 20. _Mirabelle Tardive_ 7. _Petite Bricette_ 7. _Pruneau de Tours_ 18. _Prune de Sainte Catherine_ 7, 17, 20. Prune Sainte Catherine 13. _Prune Sainte-Catherine_ 18. _Prune Sainte-Catherine Jaune_ 18. Prunier Sainte-Catherine 14. _Pruneaux de Tours_ 13. St. Catharine 1, 2, 7, 8, 16, 19, 23. _Saint Catherine_ 7. _Sainte Catherine_ 11, 20. Sainte-Catharine 3, 4, 12, 17, 18, 22. _Sainte-Catherine de Tours_ 17, 20, 22. _Sainte-Catherine jaune_ 20, 21. _Sainte-Catherine ordinaire_ 17, 20, 22. St. Katharine 1. _Späte Mirabelle_ 20 incor., 22. Susina Di Santa Caterina 9. _Torlo d’Ovo_ 9. _Torlo d’Uovo_ 9. _Yellow St. Catharine_ 7.
This plum is grown only on the Pacific Coast in America and even there is to be found but locally and is now passing from cultivation. It is, however, one of the well-known sorts in Europe, especially in France where it is used for prune-making. It appears to be of the Reine Claude group in which group America has so many plums of surpassing merit that this one has no place on this side of the Atlantic. It is included in _The Plums of New York_ largely because of its historic interest and because there seems to be no complete description of it made from trees and fruits grown on this continent.
The origin of this old plum is unknown. It was first mentioned by Quintinye in 1699. Wherever it originated, it is now grown most extensively in France and is known to commerce as the Prune of Tours. The people in Northern Italy cultivate it under the name Torlo d’Ovo (References, 9). The Belgians have used Saint Catherine incorrectly for the Imperiale Violette (References, 14). In America, according to Kenrick, it was not uncommon around Boston in 1832 but it evidently did not receive much recognition, for the United States Patent Office reimported it from France in 1854 and distributed it in the northeastern part of this country. The American Pomological Society added it to its fruit catalog list in 1862 and dropped it in 1899.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, usually hardy, productive; branches sparingly thorny, light ash-brown, smooth except for the few raised lenticels; branchlets thick, long, with long internodes, greenish-red changing to dark reddish-brown, marked with scarf-skin, nearly glabrous throughout the season, with few, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical or pointed, broad at the base, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, oval, one and one-half inches wide, three inches long; upper surface lightly pubescent, with a grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex and base acute, margin crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole three-quarters inch long, thick, with a red tinge, pubescent, glandless or with from one to three conspicuous, globose, bright yellow glands variable in size, usually on the stalk.
Season of bloom intermediate, long; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white, the buds tinged yellow as they open; borne on lateral spurs, in twos or in threes; pedicels nearly one inch long, slender, with thin pubescence, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes small, narrow, acute, pubescent on the inner surface, erect; petals oval, entire, not clawed; anthers yellow with a tinge of red; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length, often abortive.
Fruit late, intermediate in length of ripening season; small, obovate or oval, slightly necked, truncate at the base, compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture varies from shallow to deep, often prominent; apex depressed; color dull green, changing to golden-yellow, overspread with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, gray, inconspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem slender, very long, often one and one-eighth inches in length, glabrous, adhering well to the fruit; skin thick, tough, clinging slightly; flesh light golden-yellow, juicy, fibrous, sweet, mild, pleasant, not high in flavor; good; stone clinging, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size, oval, flattened, slightly acute at the base and apex, with roughened surfaces; ventral suture finely grooved, blunt; dorsal suture with a wide, shallow groove.
SAINT JULIEN
_Prunus insititia_
=1.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ =3.= 1754. =2.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 153. 1831. =3.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:73. 1832. =4.= Noisette _Man. Comp. Jard._ =2=:500. 1860. =5.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 946. 1869. =6.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 725. 1884. =7.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 449. 1889. =8.= _Rev. Hort._ 438. 1892. =9.= _Trait. Prat. Sech. Fruits_ 170. 1893. =10.= _Bot. Gaz._ =26=:425. 1898.
Common Saint Julian 3. _Common Saint Julien_ 5, 7. _French St. Julien_ 3, 5, 7. _Gros Saint-Julien_ 3. Gros Saint-Julien 4. _Kleine Blaue Julians Pflaume_ 7. Large Saint Julien ?3. Petit Saint Julien 4. _Petit Saint Julien_ 3, 5, 7. _Prunus Insititia var._ 7. Prunus Domestica Juliana 10. Prunier Saint-Julien 8. St. Julien 6. _St. Julian_ 3. _Saint Julien_ 3. Saint Julien Petit ?2. _Saint-Julien Petit_ 3, 5, 7. The St. Julian Plum 1. _Weichharige Schlehen Damascene_ 7.
The Saint Julien plums, as we now use the name, constitute a division of _Prunus insititia_ used as propagating stocks. Whether the name was ever applied to a specific variety can not be said. Miller, in 1754, described a “St. Julian” and gave its chief use as a stock for plums, peaches and Bruxelles Apricot. Later writers recommend them chiefly, if not only, as stocks though in France it is said the fruits are dried and sold by the pharmacists and herbalists under the name _Prunus medicines_ (medicinal prunes). Carrière, in _Revue Horticole_ 1892, speaks very highly of these plums as stocks and describes them as follows:
“Tree vigorous, with branches spreading-straggling, relatively short, branched at the extremity. Leaves numerous, slightly roughened by the prominence of the numerous nerves on the lower surface, short, oblong, usually rounded at the apex, attenuated at the base, where are found a few very small glands; petiole about two centimeters long, yellowish, lengthening out into a prominent midrib; buds short, oval, pointed, deep reddish-brown; dark green above, pale green below, bordered regularly with very close, short, slightly inclined teeth.
Fruits very abundant, pedunculate, spherical or oblong, peduncle a little bent, rather strong, nearly three centimeters long, inserted in a very small cavity, regularly rounded. Skin strongly attached to the flesh, even, glossy, purplish-black, more or less glaucous; flesh free from the seed, pulpy, very juicy, soft, greenish, sweet, leaving a taste a little strong, but not disagreeable; seed short oval, elliptical, flattened, ten millimeters in width, nearly fifteen to sixteen millimeters in length, with grayish-red surface roughened by small, regular projections. Matures from July to September.”
SAINT MARTIN
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 144, 153. 1831. =2.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:74. 1832. =3.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 295 fig. 119. 1845. =4.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ 1. 1846. =5.= _Mag. Hort._ =14=:151 fig. 15. 1848. =6.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 336 fig. 260, 337. 1849. =7.= Elliott _Fr. Book._ 423. 1854. =8.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 515. 1859. =9.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 40. 1867. =10.= _Guide Prat._ 162, 365. 1895.
_Catherine violette_ 8, 10. _Coe’s Fine Late Red_ 8. Coe’s Fine Late Red 1, 5, 7, 10. _Coe’s Late Red_ 3, 6, 9. _Coe’s Late Red_ 5, 6, 7, 10. _Coë’s sehr späte rothe Pflaume_ 10. _De la Saint-Martin_ 10. _Oktoberpflaume_ 10. _Prune de la St. Martin_ 3. _Prunier de Saint Martin_ 2, 5, 7. Red St. Martin 2, 7. _Red Saint Martin_ 5, 6, 7. _Rouge tardive de Coë_ 10. Saint Martin Rouge 5. _Saint-Martin Rouge_ 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10. _Saint Martin_ 2, 3, 5. _St. Martin_ 2, 6, 7, 8. _St. Martin Rouge_ 8. _Violette d’Octobre_ 10. _Violette Octoverpflaume_ 8. _Violette Oktoberpflaume_ 10.
Saint Martin is an old French variety now hardly worth growing, brought into England by a Mr. Coe who called it Coe’s Fine Late Red, a name continued by the London Horticultural Society in its catalog. In the United States, too, it became quite generally known as Coe’s Late Red in spite of the efforts of Prince, Downing and Elliott to have it pass under its true name. The variety was mentioned in the American Pomological Society’s catalogs from 1867 to 1897. It is described as follows:
Fruit very late; of medium size, roundish, bright purplish-red with thin blue bloom; suture distinct; cavity shallow; stem of moderate length and thickness; flesh yellow, with a vinous flavor; fair to good; freestone.
SATSUMA
[Illustration: SATSUMA]
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Gard. Mon._ 366, 367. 1887. =2.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 652, Pl. I fig., 636. 1887. =3.= _Gard. & For._ =1=:471. 1888. =4.= Bailey _Ann. Hort._ 103. 1889. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 105, 106, 125. 1891. =6.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 54. 1892. =7.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =62=:29. 1894. =8.= _Rev. Hort._ 458. 1894. =9.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 96. 1895. =10.= _Guide Prat._ 165, 366. 1895. =11.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =106=:46, 53. 1896. =12.= _Ala. Col. Sta. Bul._ =85=:446. 1897. 13. _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =139=:38, 42. 1897. =14.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 26. 1897. =15.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:243, 250. 1899. =16.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =175=:151. 1899. =17.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =113=:158. 1899. =18.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 141. 1901. =19.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =187=:77, 80. 1901. =20.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =68=:14, 33, 34. 1905. =21.= De Vries _Pl. Br._ 170. 1907.
Beni Smono No. 4 ?6. _Blood Plum_ 7, 9, 16, 18, 20. Blood Plum? 1. _Blood Plum No. 4_ ?9, 13. Blood Plum No. 4 ?11. _Honsmomo_ 11. Honsmomo ?9, 11. _Japan Blood Plum_ 3. _Sanguine_ 10. Satsuma Blood 4. _Yonemomo_ 5, 7, 9, 16, 20. _Yonesmomo_ 5, 20.
There is a group of several varieties of Triflora plums unique in having the flesh deep red in color and very firm and juicy. Of these red-fleshed plums, Satsuma was the first to be introduced into fruit-growing in America and is one of the parents of most of the others. While the fruit is not as large nor as handsome in color as in some of its offspring, it is still one of the best varieties for quality of fruit and its trees are possibly as good as those of any of the other sorts of red-fleshed Trifloras. Satsuma, besides being one of the best of its class in quality for either dessert or culinary purposes, keeps and ships very well and if the plums are of sufficient size and have been allowed to color properly, the variety makes a good showing on the markets. Too often, however, it is so unattractive as it reaches the market that it does not sell well. In the South the plums are said to be much attacked by brown-rot but they are not more susceptible here than other plums. The trees are rather above the average for the species in size, habit, health, hardiness and productiveness though they bear sparingly when young. They bloom early in the season and are distinguished from other Triflora sorts by having many spurs and short branches along the main branches. Satsuma might possibly be found worth growing commercially in a very small way in some parts of the State.
Satsuma was raised from the same lot of plum pits from which the Burbank came, the seeds having been sent to Luther Burbank by a Japanese agent in 1883. In 1887 Burbank’s tree was the only bearing one in America but since then it has been tested in all of the large plum regions, having been introduced by Burbank in 1889. In 1897 it was added to the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society. Even though this plum is very distinct, with its solid red flesh, it is much confused with other sorts. A Japanese in a letter[222] to L. A. Berckmans says “Beni-Smomo comprises a group of red-fleshed plums. In Satsuma, my native home, Hon-smomo and Yone-smomo are the most noted and familiar fruits of this group, the first is the smallest in size and deepest in color, while the second is the largest and most highly esteemed. In some districts, plums in this group are called Uchi-Beni, which means red inside.” Hon-smomo or Blood Plum No. 4 was separated from the Satsuma or Yonemomo by the Georgia Horticultural Society but Bailey found them indistinguishable.
Tree medium to large, vigorous, upright-spreading, usually quite hardy, moderately productive, bearing heavier crops as the tree becomes older; branches grayish-brown; branchlets medium to above in thickness and length, with short internodes, dark chestnut-red, glabrous, with slightly raised lenticels of medium number and size; leaf-buds small, short, conical, appressed.
Leaves somewhat lanceolate, four inches by one and one-half inches in size, of medium thickness; upper surface dark green, with a shallow, grooved midrib; lower surface light green, glabrous; margin finely and doubly crenate, glandular; petiole three-quarters inch long, tinged red, with from one to three reniform, greenish-yellow glands variable in size, usually at the base of the blade.
Blossoms white; borne in pairs or in threes; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes medium in width, acute, somewhat serrate, with dark colored glands, glabrous, erect; petals tapering below to claws of medium length, reddish at the base.
Fruit mid-season or later; one and seven-eighths inches by two inches in size, variable in shape, ranging from roundish-cordate to somewhat oblate, flattened at the base, compressed, halves unequal; cavity deep, narrow, abrupt, compressed; suture variable in depth, prominent; apex pointed or roundish; color dark dull red, with thin bloom; dots numerous, of medium size, russet, somewhat conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem slender, three-eighths inch long, glabrous; skin of medium thickness and toughness, bitter, semi-adherent; flesh dark purplish-red, juicy, tender at the skin, becoming tough at the center, sweet, with an almond-like flavor; of good quality; stone semi-clinging or clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval, strongly pointed, rough, tinged red; ventral suture narrow, winged; dorsal suture grooved.
SAUNDERS
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 143. 1885. =2.= _Can. Hort._ =14=:92, 223. 1891. =3.= _Ibid._ =19=:253. 1896. =4.= _Ont. Exp. Sta. Rpt._ 45, 46. 1899. =5.= _Can. Hort._ =27=:244. 1904.
_Saunders Seedling_ 5.
The American Pomological Society recommends this variety for trial with the statement that the quality is of the best and that it is almost free from black-knot. But on the grounds of this Station, fruiting for several years, the plums have been inferior in size and somewhat so in quality and all told much less attractive than a number of other sorts of the same season. Saunders originated with John Arris of Belleville, Ontario, Canada. It was first exhibited before the Fruit-Growers’ Association of Ontario at St. Catherines in 1883. In 1884, upon its being again exhibited before the same association, it was named Saunders in honor of the society’s noted president. The variety was mentioned in the catalog of the American Pomological Society in 1897.
Tree of medium size, round-topped, very productive; branchlets brash, slender, very pubescent; leaves flattened, obovate or oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, four inches long, somewhat velvety, rugose; margin finely serrate, eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole pubescent, glandless or with from one to three small glands; blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-quarter inches across, white; borne on lateral buds and spurs, usually singly; pedicels very pubescent.
Fruit early, season short; one and one-half inches by one and one-eighth inches in size, oblong-oval, greenish-yellow changing to golden-yellow, covered with thin bloom; skin thin, tender, slightly sour, cracking when fully mature; flesh yellowish, tender and melting, sweet, mild; of good quality; stone free, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, long-oval, flattened, with rough surfaces; ventral suture winged; dorsal suture with a narrow, shallow groove.
SERGEANT
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort._ 49, 51. 1887. =2.= _Ibid._ 234, 235. 1890. =3.= _Ibid._ 105. 1891. =4.= Wickson _Cal. Fruits_ 357. 1891. =5.= _U. S. D. A. Div. Pom. Bul._ =7=:316, Pl. IV fig. 2. 1898. =6.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 39. 1899. =7.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 121. 1901.
Prune d’Ente 2. _Prunier Datte_ 1. _Robe de Sergent_ 2, 5, 6. _Robe de Sergeant_ 7. Robe de Sergent 1, 3, 4.
In France, from whence Sergeant was imported to California, Sergeant, Agen and Prunier Datte are held to be identical. But in America only the first and last are identical, the Agen being quite distinct. It would seem that the French should know their own plums and that their nomenclature should be accepted but the Sergeant is now so widely distributed in America as distinct that we give a brief description of the plum. There may be more than one type of the Agen in France or American nurserymen may have received wrongly named varieties.
Tree upright, with branches and branchlets thickish, more robust than Agen; foliage large, lancet-shaped, glossy, much broader and more shiny than Agen; fruit mid-season; of medium size, roundish-oval, enlarged on one side; skin deep purple to blackish with a thick bloom; flesh greenish-yellow, juicier than Agen, sweet, high flavored; quality good; stone partially clinging; valuable for preserving and drying.
SHARP
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 153. 1831. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 315. 1845. =3.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ 63, Pl. 1859. =4.= _Cultivator_ =8=:25 fig. 1860. =5.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 948. 1869. =6.= _Guide Prat._ 160, 358. 1895. =7.= _Jour. Roy. Hort. Soc._ =21=: Pt. 2, 222. 1897. =8.= _Waugh Plum Cult._ 122, 123 fig. 1901.
_Alderton_ 5. _Dolphin_ 5. _Dauphin_ 5. _Denyer’s Victoria_ ?2, 5, 7. _Empereur de Sharp_ 3, 6. _Imperial de Sharp_ 5. Imperiale de Sharp 6. Prune Imperiale de Sharp 3. _Queen Victoria_ ?2. _Royal Dauphine_ 5. Sharp 8 incor. Sharp’s Emperor 1, 2 incor., 4, 5 incor. _Sharp’s Emperor_ 3, 6, 8 incor. Sharpe’s Emperor 7. _Sharps Kaiserpflaume_ 6. _Victoria_ 5, 8 incor.
Sharp was briefly described in the London Horticultural Society catalog in 1831. Later, in 1845, A. J. Downing described the variety but thought it identical with the Victoria, as did other writers, as will be seen by referring to the Victoria. H. A. Pearson in the _Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society_, comparing these two sorts says, “Sharp’s Emperor is a second rate plum, resembling Victoria, in appearance, but very inferior in point of cropping and quality, a decided clingstone, often gumming at the stone, and ripening a fortnight later than its supposed synonym, not worthy of cultivation.” August Royer in the _Annals de Pomologie Belge et Etrangere_ also separated the two varieties but describes them both as freestones. While there is a lack of uniformity in the descriptions yet the total evidence weighs in favor of two types which are very similar. The Victoria is probably the better plum of the two.
SHELDRAKE
_Prunus domestica_
Although extremely vigorous and productive this variety is so inferior in quality as to be of doubtful value. Sheldrake originated as a chance seedling on the shore of Cayuga Lake near the town of Sheldrake, New York. It was discovered and propagated by J. T. Hunt of Kendaia, New York, and has been under test at the Geneva Station since 1895.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, productive; branchlets thick, with long internodes, pubescent; leaves drooping, somewhat flattened, oval, nearly two and one-half inches wide, four and one-quarter inches long; margin serrate with few, small, dark glands; petiole pubescent, tinged red, thick, glandless or with from one to four rather large glands usually at the base of the leaf; blooming season intermediate in time, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, nearly one and one-quarter inches across; borne singly or in pairs.
Fruit rather early; one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, roundish-oblong; cavity very deep, abrupt; color purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots conspicuous; stem thickly pubescent; skin thin, tender, slightly acid; flesh yellow, tender, sweet next the skin, but sour near the center, inferior in flavor; poor in quality; stone dark-colored, semi-clinging, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, broadly ovate or irregularly oval, flattened, with roughened and granular surfaces; ventral suture prominent, blunt.
SHIPPER
[Illustration: SHIPPER]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Gard. Mon._ =24=:339. 1882. =2.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ =31=:60. 1886. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:191, fig. 42. 1897. =4.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:243, 247. 1899. =5.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ 2nd Ser. =3=:56. 1900. =6.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =187=:77, 79. 1901. =7.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 119. 1901.
Pride 7. _Shipper Pride_ 4. _Shippers’ Pride_ 7. Shipper’s Pride 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.
This plum has never become an important commercial variety in New York yet it is offered for sale by a surprisingly large number of nurserymen. The variety has too many faults to succeed in competition with the many good plums of its color and season. The flesh is dry and the plums often shrivel on the tree, characters which fit it for shipping, but which when taken with poor quality and small size make it of little value after it reaches the market. Moreover it fruits sparingly under many conditions, though productive here, and the plums ripen somewhat unevenly and are susceptible to brown-rot. Some pomologists give a rather better estimate of the variety than that expressed here, but from all data at hand the value of the plum is not underestimated in the above statements. There are a great many better plums for New York than Shipper.
This variety was introduced by Mr. H. S. Wiley of Cayuga, New York. The plum was found by Mr. Wiley in a private garden at Port Byron, New York, about 1877. The man upon whose place it grew thought that it came from a stone of one of the several varieties in his garden but Mr. Wiley is not sure of this origin and suggests that it may have sprouted from a root.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, hardy, productive; branches thick, ash-gray, smooth except for the raised lenticels; branchlets of medium thickness and length, with long internodes, green changing to brownish-drab and with a red tinge, dull, covered with thick pubescence throughout the season, with inconspicuous lenticels of medium number and size; leaf-buds small, short, conical, appressed.
Leaves many, flattened or folded upward, obovate or oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, hairy, with a grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, thick, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin serrate or crenate, eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, thick, pubescent, with a red tinge, glandless or with one or two globose, yellowish-green glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Season of bloom intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing with the leaves, nearly one and one-quarter inches across, white; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels three-quarters inch long, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes obtuse, lightly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, reflexed; petals broadly oval or obovate, slightly crenate or occasionally notched, with short, broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit late, intermediate in length of ripening season; one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, ovate, swollen on the suture side, compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex bluntly pointed; color purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots small, russet, somewhat conspicuous; stem seven-eighths inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow, rather tart, firm, sweet, mild in flavor; inferior in quality; stone semi-clinging, often with red tinge near the edge, seven-eighths inch by three-quarters inch in size, irregular roundish-ovate, turgid, rough, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture wide, ridged, distinctly winged; dorsal suture wide, deep.
SHIRO
[Illustration: SHIRO]
_Prunus simonii × Prunus triflora × Prunus cerasifera × Prunus munsoniana_
=1.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort._ 53 fig. 1897. =2.= Burbank _Cat._ 1899. 3. Waugh _Plum Cult._ 225. 1901. =4.= _Rural N. Y._ =62=:582. 1903.
_Late Klondike_ 1.
Shiro has been in the hands of fruit-growers too short a time to permit a just estimate of it to be made. As the variety grows on the grounds of this Station, the fruits are large and handsome in form and color, as is well shown in the illustration. The flavor lacks character and is almost insipid but the flesh is tender, melting and juicy and so translucent that the pit can be seen through the flesh. Despite the flavor, the plum is pleasant to eat and may be ranked as good in quality. Those who have had experience say that the variety ships very well if not fully mature but quickly goes down after ripening; the plums are also quite susceptible to brown-rot. The trees of this variety at Geneva are quite as vigorous, hardy, and productive as any of the sorts which Mr. Burbank gives as progenitors of Shiro and will generally, it is believed, surpass any of them in these respects. It may here be remarked that of the four species from which Shiro is supposed to have come, it most resembles _Prunus triflora_ in both tree and fruit though the leaves have some resemblance to those of _Prunus cerasifera_. Shiro is still, so far as New York is concerned, in the list of plums deserving trial but with the chances against its becoming of great value either for home or commercial plantations.
This is another of Burbank’s plums and is said to be a descendant of Robinson, (_Prunus munsoniana_,) Myrobalan, (_Prunus cerasifera_), and Wickson, (a cross of _Prunus triflora_ and _Prunus simonii_) from seed of Wickson. Burbank in his catalog for 1889 says that the tree resembles a Myrobalan in foliage, growth and general appearance. But as the variety grows at this Station it has all the appearances of a Triflora. Shiro was described in the California State Board of Horticulture Report for 1898 and the following year it was introduced by the originator.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, tender to cold, productive; branches smooth, somewhat thorny, dull ash-gray, with few, small lenticels; branchlets slender, above medium in length, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-drab, glabrous, with inconspicuous, scattering, small lenticels; leaf-buds small, very short, obtuse, strongly appressed.
Leaves folded upward, obovate, one and five-sixteenths inches wide, two and three-quarters inches long, leathery; upper surface faintly rugose, glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface lightly pubescent along the midrib and larger veins; apex acutely pointed, base rather acute, margin finely crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, pubescent along one side, greenish-red, glandless or with one or two small, globose, yellowish glands on the stalk.
Blooming season early and of medium length; flowers appearing before the leaves, white; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs; pedicels short, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, glandular-serrate, glabrous on the outer side, sparingly pubescent within, with a pink margin, erect; petals roundish, entire, tapering to short, abrupt claws; anthers yellow with a reddish tinge; filaments below medium in length; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit very early, season short; one and one-half inches in diameter, roundish-conic, with halves equal; cavity intermediate in depth and width, flaring, regular; suture an indistinct line; apex roundish; color light yellow becoming deeper yellow as the season advances, occasionally with a blush of pink, with thin bloom; dots numerous, very minute, whitish, inconspicuous; stem three-eighths inch long, adhering to the fruit; skin thin, tough, sour, occasionally cracking, separating readily, although a thin coating of flesh is left clinging to the skin; flesh light yellow, semi-transparent, the stone being faintly visible, very juicy, fibrous, somewhat melting, sweet, mild, lacks character in flavor; good; stone clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, broadly oval, flattened, slightly elongated at the base, with rough surfaces; ventral suture faintly ridged and furrowed; dorsal suture very lightly grooved.
SHROPSHIRE
[Illustration: SHROPSHIRE]
_Prunus insititia_
=1.= _Rea Flora_ 209. 1676. =2.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 146. 1831. =3.= _Prince Pom. Man._ =2=:90. 1832. =4.= _Loudon Enc. Gard_. 921. 1834. 5. Downing _Fr. Trees Am_. 297. 1845. 6. Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 282, 383. 1846. =7.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 520. 1859. =8.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 377. 1866. =9.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 36. 1875. =10.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 695. 1884. =11.= _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 289. 1889. =12.= _Am. Gard._ =14=:146 fig., 147, 148. 1893. =13.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:192 fig. 46. 1897. 14. _Garden_ =53=:265. 1898. 15. _Mich. Sta. Bul_. =169=:243, 247. 1899. 16. Waugh _Plum Cult._ 130 fig. 1901. =17.= _Va. Sta. Bul._ =134=:44. 1902. =18.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:281 fig. 1904.
_Cheshire_ =14.= _Damascene_ 8, 10, 14. _Damson Plum_ 3. Long Damson 2. _Long Damson_ 7, 8, 10. Pruine Damson? 1. _Prune Damson_ 2, 4, 5, 7, 14. Prune Damson 6, 8. Prune 10. _Shropshire Damson_ ?6, 8, 10, 15, 16, 17. Shropshire Damson 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 18.
In America, Shropshire is probably the best known of the Damsons, being found not only in nearly all commercial plantations but in the smallest home collections as well. The qualities which make it so generally a favorite are for most part those of the tree, the French surpassing it in size and in quality of the fruit. The trees of the variety under notice are not surpassed by any other Insititia in size, vigor, hardiness and health nor are they, except in size, by any other European plum. Shropshire is enormously productive, bearing its load of fruit year after year until it is a standard among fruits for productivity and reliability in bearing. The trees have but one defect,—unless sprayed the foliage falls prey to fungi and drops early. The trees are comparatively easy to manage in such orchard operations as pruning, spraying and harvesting as they are not so thick-topped, twiggy and spiny as other Damsons. The fruit is of very good size and while in no sense a dessert plum may be eaten out of hand with relish when fully ripe or after a light frost—a point worth considering where only Damsons can be grown. It is one of the best of its kind for culinary purposes. This old variety is still to be recommended for both home and market.
Shropshire originated in England, sometime in the Seventeenth Century. It was noted by American writers early in the Nineteenth Century and in 1875 was placed on the American Pomological Society’s fruit catalog list. Shropshire is a more familiar name in fruit literature than the references given indicate, being found in practically every English discussion of plums since 1676 and in all American notices of this fruit since Prince wrote in 1832. For a fruit so long under cultivation, it has few synonyms.
Tree large, vigorous, vasiform, hardy, productive; main branches numerous, ash-gray, smooth except for numerous scars from small spur-like branches, with many, small lenticels; branchlets twiggy, slender, with short internodes, green changing to dark brownish-drab, dull, covered with heavy pubescence throughout the season, with numerous, small lenticels; leaf-buds below medium in size, short, conical, appressed.
Leaves flattened, obovate, about one inch wide, two inches long, thin; upper surface dark green, pubescent along the grooved midrib; lower surface a paler green, with thin pubescence; apex obtuse or acute, base acute, margin finely serrate, eglandular; petiole one-half inch long, slender, greenish-red, with little pubescence, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish-yellow glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Season of bloom medium; flowers seven-eighths inch across, white; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels three-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, glabrous, the margin glandular-ciliate, reflexed; petals roundish-oval, entire, short-clawed; anthers yellow; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit late, season long; one and one-half inches by one inch in size, oval, compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture an indistinct line; apex roundish; color purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, one-half inch long, glabrous, adhering to the fruit; skin thin, tender, adhering; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, firm but tender, agreeably tart at full maturity, sprightly, pleasant; stone clinging, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size, oval, acute at the base, blunt at the apex, with nearly smooth surfaces; ventral suture broad, blunt; dorsal suture acute, with a narrow, shallow, indistinct groove.
SIMON
_Prunus simonii_
=1.= _Rev. Hort._ 111. 1872. =2.= _Horticulturist_ =27=:196. 1872. =3.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 374, 378. 1881. =4.= _Ibid._ 321. 1884. =5.= _Rural N. Y._ =45=:689 fig. 389. 1886. =6.= _Ibid._ =46=:766. 1887. =7.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 53, 99. 1889. =8.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 444. 1889. =9.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort. Rpt._ 236, Pl. II figs. 1 and 2, 238. 1890. =10.= _Rev. Hort._ 152 fig. 40. 1891. =11.= _Penin. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 68. 1891. =12.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =51=:55. 1893. =13.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =103=:35. 1894. =14.= _Guide Prat._ 164, 362. 1895. =15.= _Neb. State Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 175. 1895. =16.= _Kan. Sta. Bul._ =73=:192. 1897. =17.= _Vt. Sta. Bul._ =67=:29. 1898. =18.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 41. 1899. =19.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 14, 38, 234. 1901.
_Apricot Plum_ 12, 19. Apricot Plum 9, 11. Plum Simon 2. _Prune Eugene Simon_ 8. _Prunier de Simon_ 8, 14. Prunus simoni 4, 7, 17. _Prunus Simonii_ 2. Prunus Simonii 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 14, 16, 19. _Prunus simoni_ 8. _Simon_ 19. _Simon’s Chinese Apricot Plum_ 7. Simon’s Peach 15. Simon’s Plum 5.
The Simon plum, a horticultural variety, constitutes the species _Prunus simonii_ and has been fully discussed in the chapter of this text dealing with the botany of the plum. It is given further notice only to introduce the horticultural references and history and to estimate briefly its value in fruit-growing. As to the latter it may be said that the fruit is for most people unpalatable, and therefore of little worth as an edible product. Some of the crosses of which this variety is one parent are well known and esteemed in pomology and the Simon plum undoubtedly has value for plum-breeding in the future. The tree, where it succeeds, is a handsome ornamental. In New York the variety seems hardy wherever the peach can be grown and thrives on the same types of soils—sands, gravels and light loams. The tree is subject to diseases and unless well sprayed is liable to be short-lived. The variety can be recommended in New York only to the breeder of plums and for those who want the tree as an ornamental or a curiosity.
This interesting and distinct plum was obtained in China by Eugene Simon, a French consul, who sent it to the Paris Museum of Natural History in 1867. Later it was disseminated by the nurseries of Simon Brothers at Plantières-Les-Metz. The date of its introduction into America is unknown, though it was offered for sale by the eastern nurseries as early as 1881. Ellwanger and Barry of Rochester secured their stock from France a few years previous to the date given but whether they were the only importers cannot be said. In 1899 the American Pomological Society added Simon to its catalog list. The variety is fully described under its species.
SIMPSON
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =113=:161. 1899. =2.= _Ibid._ =162=:256, 257. 1905.
The fruit of Simpson is too small and is so much below the average of its type, that of the Yellow Egg, in quality that it is not worth general introduction. It is given attention here chiefly as a matter of record. Although unquestionably a Domestica, Simpson was found growing wild in the woods west of Peoria, Illinois. It was introduced by H. Augustine of Normal, Illinois, about 1888.
Tree large, very vigorous, upright-spreading, dense, very productive; branchlets slender, with long internodes, thickly pubescent; leaf-buds large, long; leaves flattened, oval, intermediate in width and length; margin serrate, eglandular; petiole pubescent, glandless or with from one to three globose glands usually on the stalk; flowers one inch across, borne in scattering clusters, singly or in pairs; calyx-lobes thickly pubescent on both surfaces.
Fruit mid-season; one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, oval, golden-yellow, covered with thin bloom; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, firm but tender, sweet, mild; good; stone semi-free, seven-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, oval, acute at the base; ventral suture usually winged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
SMALL REINE CLAUDE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:91. 1768. =2.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ 39, Tab. 189 fig. 2. 1796. =3.= M’Mahon _Am. Gard. Cat._ 587. 1806. =4.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 147, 148, 154. 1831. =5.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:49. 1832. =6.= _Mag. Hort_. =9=:164. 1843. =7.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 288. 1845. =8.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 284, 383. 1846. =9.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 330. 1849. =10.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 913. 1869. =11.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:93. 1873. =12.= Oberdieck _Deut. Obst. Sort._ 435. 1881. =13.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 732. 1884. =14.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 437. 1889.
Die kleine Königin Claudia 2. English Yellow Gage 9, 10. _English Yellow Gage_ 11, 14. _Gonne’s Green Gage_ 6, 7, 10, 13, 14. Gonne’s Green Gage 4. _Kibitzenei_ 14. _Kleine Dauphine_ 14. Kleine Reine-Claude 12, 14. _Kleine Weisse Damascene_ 12, 14. _Kleine Reine-Claude_ 11. _Kleine Grüne Reine-Claude_ 11, 12, 14. _Little Reine Claude_ 5. _Little Queen Claude_ 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14. Little Queen Claude 8. Little Queen Claudia 3. Little Queen Claudia 5. Petite Reine-Claude 1, 11. _Petite Reine-Claude_ 2, 5, 7, 8, 10. _Petit Damas Vert_ 13, 14. _Reine-Claude Petite Espece_ 14. _Reine-Claude Blanche Petite Espece_ 5, 6, 7, 10. _Reine-Claude Blanche_ 6, 7, 10, 14. _Reine-Claude Petite_ 13, 14. _Reine Claude_ (of some) 6. _Small Green Gage_ 5, 7, 10, 14. _Small Queen Claude_ 5. _White Gage_ 6, 7, 10, 13, 14. White Gage 4. Yellow Gage 4, 6, 7, 13. _Yellow Gage_ 11, 14.
Small Reine Claude, an old variety of unknown origin, is now probably obsolete. Thomas and Downing described it as an English Yellow Gage but it cannot be found that it is ever so called in Europe. Since the variety was known in France and Austria in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century it is quite certain that it originated on the continent. From its name and close resemblance to the Reine Claude it is safe to state that it is a seedling of that sort. It is described as follows:
Tree of normal vigor; branches smooth; flowers small; fruit medium in size, nearly spherical, truncated on the stem side and slightly on the apex; suture wide and distinct, thus differing from the Reine Claude; stem medium in length; cavity shallow; skin tender, yellowish-green, often splashed with red on the sunny side; flesh greenish-yellow, fine, a little firm, sweet, rich and pleasant; freestone; ripens earlier than the Reine Claude.
SMITH ORLEANS
[Illustration: SMITH ORLEANS]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Prince _Treat. Hort._ 27. 1828. =2.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:68. 1832. =3.= _Mag. Hort._ =9=:410. 1843. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 304, 305 fig. 125. 1845. =5.= _Mag. Hort._ =14=:152, 153 fig. 16. 1848. =6.= Cole _Am. Fr. Book_ 214 fig. 1849. =7.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 343. 1849. =8.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 424. 1854. =9.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 210. 1856. =10.= Hooper _W. Fr. Book_ 252. 1857. =11.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 382. 1866. =12.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 450. 1889. =13.= _Ont. Fr. Exp. Sta. Rpt._ 52. 1895. =14.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:192. 1897.
Cooper’s 5. _Cooper’s Large_ 5. _Cooper’s Large Red_ 5. _Cooper’s Red_ 6. _Duane’s Purple_ 3 incor. _La Delicieuse_ 8. _Large Orleans_ 3. _Large Purple_ 3 incor. _Monsieur de Smith_ 12. _Purple Magnum Bonum_ 3. _Red Magnum Bonum_ incor. 3, 4, 5, 6, 12. _Smith’s large Orleans_ 2. Smith’s Orleans 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14. _Smith’s Orleans_ 5, 12. Smith’s Orleans Pflaume 12. _Smith’s Herrn Pflaume_ 12. _Violet Perdrigon_ incor. 3, 4, 5, 6, 12. _Violetter Perdrigon_ 12 incor.
In the middle of the last century, Smith Orleans was considered about the best plum of its color in America. But the fruit is not high in quality, the texture of the flesh is coarse and it ripens at a time when fruits are plentiful, for which reasons it has ceased to be regarded with favor by either the amateur or the professional fruit-grower. The trees, however, seem to have some remarkably desirable characters and it may be that the variety should be retained for some locations and purposes and to breed from, at least. If the older pomologists have written truly few plums are adapted to a greater range of climates and soils than this one; so, too, the trees are usually spoken of as of large size, vigorous, healthy, of great productiveness and as holding the crop well. The trees in the soil and climate of this Station are quite as the older writers describe them and were the fruit only better in quality and somewhat more attractive in appearance, the variety could be highly recommended for a market plum and as a fruit for culinary purposes in the home orchard.
William Prince, in 1828, in his _Treatise on Horticulture_, briefly described Smith Orleans, and seventeen years later A. J. Downing gave a short history of the variety. It is a seedling of the Orleans raised about 1825 by a Mr. Smith of Gowanus, Long Island, New York. By an error the variety was sent out as the Violet, or Blue Perdrigon, a smaller and very different fruit. Charles M. Hovey of Massachusetts, who secured trees of the Cooper from Prince, about 1831, believed this variety to be identical with the Smith Orleans in all characters. Downing could not agree with him but the present writers find that the two varieties are so much alike that it is impossible to distinguish between them. As is suggested under Cooper, they may be identical or they may have come true to seed from the same parent. The American Pomological Society recommended this plum for general cultivation in 1856.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, very productive; trunk rather rough; branches smooth, with few lenticels; branchlets of medium thickness and length, with long internodes, green changing to dark brownish-red, covered with thin bloom, lightly pubescent early in the season becoming almost glabrous at maturity, with few, small lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical, appressed.
Leaves flattened or somewhat folded backward, obovate, two inches wide, three and five-eighths inches long, thick, velvety; upper surface dark green, rugose, with but few hairs along the narrow, deeply grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, covered with thick pubescence; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin crenate, with few small, dark brown glands; petiole one-half inch long, heavily pubescent, tinged red along one side, glandless or with one or two small, globose, yellow glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Season of bloom medium, short; flowers appearing with the leaves, one and one-quarter inches across, white, with a yellow tinge; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs; pedicels five-eighths inch long, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, with few scattering hairs; calyx-lobes above medium in width, obtuse, sparingly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, reflexed; petals broad-obovate or oval, crenate, tapering to long claws of medium width; anthers yellow, filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season, one and five-eighths inches by one and one-half inches in size, oval, compressed, halves somewhat unequal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture very shallow or sometimes a line; apex roundish or depressed; color dark purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous small, russet, inconspicuous; stem three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering to the fruit; skin below medium in thickness, tender, sour, separating readily; flesh pale yellow, juicy, tender, sweet, of pleasant flavor; good; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval, with very rough and deeply pitted surfaces, usually somewhat flattened, tapering abruptly at the base, blunt at the apex; ventral suture wide, blunt; dorsal suture with a groove variable in depth and width.
SOPHIE
_Prunus munsoniana_
=1.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 263, Pl. VI. 1892. =2.= Kerr _Cat._ 1894. =3.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 189. 1901.
Sophie is fast being lost sight of among the multitudes of native plums recently introduced. Without any very distinct merits it yet stands high among plums of its kind. The variety is a seedling of Wild Goose at first supposed by the originator, J. W. Kerr,[223] of Denton, Maryland, to have been pollinated by a German Prune which stood near. This is hardly the case, however, as no trace of Domestica blood can be detected in the variety. It is mentioned by the American Pomological Society in its catalog for 1899.
Tree large, very vigorous, spreading, open-topped, productive; branches thorny, shaggy, with long and unbranched limbs; branchlets willowy, slender; leaves folded upward, oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long, thin; margin shallowly crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole slender, pubescent, with from one to three small glands; blooming season late, long; flowers appearing after the leaves, nearly three-quarters inch across, white, pinkish as they open, with a disagreeable odor; borne in twos or threes; anthers yellow with an orange-red tinge.
Fruit maturing later than Wild Goose; large, one and three-eighths inches by one and one-eighth inches in size, obovate, slightly necked, pear-shaped, bright red, covered with thin bloom; dots conspicuous; stem slender, long; flesh deep yellow, juicy, coarse and fibrous, subacid, flat; of fair quality; stone clinging, three-quarters inch by three-eighths inch in size, somewhat angular, irregular-obovate, with a peculiar elongated, flattened, oblique base; apex abruptly acute; surfaces rough.
SPAULDING
[Illustration: SPAULDING]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Lovett _Cat._ =41=, Col. Pl. 1888. 2. _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:192. 1897. =3.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:243, 248. 1899. =4.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 39. 1899. =5.= _Kan. Sta. Bul._ =101=:121, 122, Pl. V. 1901. =6.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 122. 1901. =7.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:239. 1905.
Among the plums of comparatively recent introduction Spaulding holds a conspicuous place. It is particularly highly spoken of for its good quality and while not recommended for commercial orchards is often mentioned as very desirable for home use. As Spaulding grows at this Station, it does not sustain the reputation it has elsewhere. It is of the Reine Claude group of plums and while of high quality is not as good a dessert plum as several other similar sorts. Moreover, the fruits are small and too light in color to be especially attractive in appearance. The plums, too, are quite susceptible to brown-rot. The tree-characters of this variety are in the main very good but not at all out of the ordinary. It is very doubtful whether this sort can compete for any purpose with such similar plums as Hand, Jefferson, Washington, Bavay, Reine Claude, McLaughlin and Imperial Gage. It may be worthy a trial elsewhere in New York with the hope that it will more nearly approach the reputation that it has in other states than it does at Geneva—at best it cannot be more than a home variety.
Spaulding was brought to the notice of fruit-growers by J. T. Lovett, Little Silver, New Jersey, who introduced the variety in 1888. The plum came to Mr. Lovett from Francis Garriel with the statement that it originated as a seedling in the yard of Mr. Garriel’s father in the Bowery, New York City. From the resemblance of Spaulding to the Imperial Gage it is probable that they are closely related. In 1899 the variety was placed on the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society as a successful variety in the north-eastern part of the United States and the neighboring parts of Canada.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, productive; branches ash-gray, smooth except for the raised lenticels of various sizes; branchlets of medium thickness and length, with long internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, dull, lightly pubescent throughout the season, with obscure, small lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical, appressed; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves folded upward, nearly two inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long, thick; upper surface dark green, rugose, glabrous, with a shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin serrate or crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole nearly five-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, tinged red, with from one to four small, globose, greenish glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length, one inch or more across, white with a yellowish tinge at the apex of the petals in the newly opened flowers; borne on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels three-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, lightly pubescent; calyx-lobes obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals oblong, crenate, not clawed; anthers yellow; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous or occasionally with a few hairs near the base, longer than the stamens; stigma large.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; one and five-eighths inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, oblong-oval or ovate, compressed, halves equal; cavity small, shallow, abrupt; suture shallow, often a line; apex roundish; color dull greenish-yellow, with stripes and splashes of light green, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, whitish, inconspicuous; stem three-quarters inch long, lightly pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow, juicy, fibrous, tender, sweet, mild, pleasant; very good; stone semi-free or free, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, ovate, turgid, slightly pitted, blunt at the base, nearly acute at the apex; ventral suture rather broad, slightly furrowed, with a distinct but short wing; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
STANTON
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Gard. Mon._ =29=:116. 1887. =2.= _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 288. 1889. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:192. 1897.
Stanton’s Seedling 2.
This plum appears to be a very good late variety in several respects; it is a long-keeping fruit, is of very good quality for dessert and is a fine plum for canning and preserving. Its faults are that it is tardy in coming into bearing and the fruits drop badly from the trees as they begin to ripen; in localities where these faults are marked the variety is worthless. Stanton originated as a chance seedling in Albany County, New York, from whence it was sent to Hammond and Willard of Geneva, New York, who introduced it about 1885.
Tree very large and vigorous, round-topped, variable in productiveness; branches slender, marked by transverse cracks in the bark; leaf-scars enlarged; leaves folded upward, oval or obovate, one and one-half inches wide, three inches long; margin finely and doubly crenate, with few, dark glands; petiole short, glandless or with from one to three small glands usually on the stalk; blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, borne in scattering clusters on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit late, season long; about one and one-quarter inches in diameter, roundish-oblate, truncate, purplish-black, overspread with very heavy bloom; flesh bright golden-yellow, fibrous, very sweet, rather high-flavored; good to very good; stone semi-free, three-quarters inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregular roundish-oval, turgid, with a blunt and oblique base, the surfaces nearly smooth; ventral suture enlarged, often with a short, distinct wing; dorsal suture shallow.
STODDARD
_Prunus americana_
=1.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 78. 1892. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 88. 1895. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 38. 1899. =4.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:289. 1900. =5.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 478, Pl. LXII. 1902.
_Baker_ 2. Stoddart 1, 2.
Stoddard is usually rated as one of the best of the Americana plums and its behavior on the grounds of this Station sustains its reputation. The firmness of the fruit makes it a good shipping plum of its kind and season. This variety was discovered by B. F. Stoddard of Jesup, Buchanan County, Iowa, about 1875, growing in a garden owned by Mrs. Caroline Baker who stated that her husband secured the trees from the woods, presumably along the Maquoketa River. The variety was subsequently introduced by J. Wragg and Sons of Waukee, Iowa, at dates variously reported from 1890 to 1895.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, productive; trunk shaggy; branches slender, thorny; branchlets slender, with conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaves falling early, flattened, oval or obovate, two and one-quarter inches wide, four inches long; margin coarsely serrate, eglandular; petiole tinged red, glandless or with from one to three glands usually on the stalk; blooming season late; flowers appearing with the leaves, one inch across, white.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; about one and three-eighths inches in diameter, roundish-oblate; suture a distinct red line; color light to dark red over a yellow ground, mottled, covered with thick bloom; skin astringent; flesh dark golden-yellow, very juicy, tender and melting, rather sweet next the skin but tart near the center, with a characteristic flavor; good; stone clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, roundish to broad-oval, strongly flattened, with smooth surfaces; ventral suture narrow, winged.
STONELESS
_Prunus insititia_
=1.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:110, Pl. 20 fig. 14. 1768. =2.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:42, Tab. 194 fig. 2. 1796. =3.= _Mag. Hort._ =9=:165. 1843. =4.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ 1. 1846. =5.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:121, fig. 61. 1873. =6.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 726. 1884. =7.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 450. 1889.
Die Pflaume ohne Stein 2. _Jean Morceau_ 3. _Kirke’s Stoneless_ 6, 7. _Pflaume Ohne Steine_ 5. _Pitless_ 5, 7. Prune Sans-Noyau 4. Sans-Noyau 1, 5. _Sans Noyau_ 3, 6, 7. Steinlose Zwetsche 7. _Stoneless_ 5, 7.
This curious plum is attracting attention because of the publicity given it by Burbank in his breeding work. The variety is at least three hundred years old. It was known to Merlet, writing in the Seventeenth Century, and has been mentioned in plum literature many times since. The plum is remarkable because of the entire absence of a stone, the kernel lying naked in a cavity much larger than itself. The variety is worthless but presents opportunities for breeding purposes that should not be overlooked. Judging from the fruit-characters as given below it belongs to _Prunus insititia_. The Stoneless is supposed to have been introduced into England from the Royal Gardens at Versailles by George London. It was long sold as Kirke’s Stoneless, having been much advertised by Kirke, a nurseryman at Brompton, England. It is described as follows:
Fruit small, oval, dark purple, with thick bloom; flesh greenish-yellow, harsh and strongly acid at first but assuming a more pleasant flavor as it shrivels upon the tree.
SUGAR
[Illustration: SUGAR]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort._ 47. 1897-98. =2.= Burbank _Cat._ 5 fig. 1899. =3.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 124. 1901. =4.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 275, Pl. XXXVI fig. 2. 1903.
Sugar Prune 1, 4.
The introduction of Sugar to the Atlantic States was preceded by very flattering accounts of it from the originator, Mr. Burbank, and from Pacific Coast plum-growers. Possibly our expectations were too high; for we have been greatly disappointed in this plum as compared with its parent, Agen, as the two varieties grow at Geneva—it should be said at once that neither grows nearly as well in New York as in California. The fruits of Sugar on the Station grounds are not larger than those of the Agen, while in California it is said to be twice or three times as large; the flavor is not as pleasant and the flesh is fibrous in the offspring and not so in the parent at Geneva, though in California the Sugar is said to be of better quality than the Agen. As the two grow here, Sugar is rather more attractive in appearance and ripens earlier, the latter character a distinct advantage since Agen is very late in New York. The trees of the two plums are much alike though those of Agen are larger and more productive than those of Sugar as grown in New York. There are, however, but two trees of the latter variety on the Station grounds and these are young, set in 1899, so that too much importance must not be attached to the comparison of the trees. Sugar is worth further trial in New York under other conditions of soil and climate but it is extremely doubtful whether it will surpass the Agen in this State.
This plum, a seedling of the well-known Agen, was introduced by its originator, Burbank, in 1899. The California Experiment Station in analyzing this plum found it to be richer in sugar than the Agen and states that it is larger and more easily dried. Sugar has become of great commercial importance in the California prune districts and has been top-grafted on other plums and even on almonds to the extent of hundreds of acres in that State and in Oregon. As yet it is only under trial in New York.
Tree of medium size, usually vigorous, spreading, dense-topped, hardy, productive; branches ash-gray, tinged red, smooth except for the numerous, small, raised lenticels; branchlets slender, with long internodes, green changing to brownish-red, dull, sparingly pubescent throughout the season, with numerous, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds large, long, somewhat pointed, strongly appressed.
Leaves folded backward, obovate or oval, two and one-half inches wide, five inches long; upper surface dark green, rugose, covered with numerous hairs, the midrib narrowly grooved; lower surface pale green, overspread with thick pubescence; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin serrate, with small dark glands; petiole nearly one inch long, covered with thick pubescence, lightly tinged with red, glandless or with from one to three small, globose, greenish-yellow glands at the base of the leaf.
Flowers large, intermediate in time of bloom; calyx-tube green; stamens longer than the pistil.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; small, ovate or oval, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, often a line; apex roundish or pointed; color dark reddish-purple changing to purplish-black, covered with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, light russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, long, pubescent, adhering; skin thin, tender, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, tender, sweet, mild; good to very good; stone light colored, with a tinge of red, thin, of medium size, ovate, flattened, with rough and pitted surfaces, blunt at the base, acute at the apex; ventral suture rather narrow, distinctly furrowed, slightly winged; dorsal suture with a wide, deep groove.
SURPRISE
[Illustration: SURPRISE]
_Prunus hortulana mineri?_
=1.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:61 fig. 30. 1897. =2.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 112. 1899. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 38. 1899. =4.= _Wis. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 69. 1900. =5.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:289. 1900. =6.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =87=:18. 1901. =7.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 175. 1901. =8.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 228. 1904. =9.= _Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 426. 1905. =10.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:39. 1905.
Surprise is one of the best of the native plums in the Station orchard. The fruits are very attractive in appearance and while not of the rich flavor of the Domesticas they are yet of pleasant flavor with an abundance of juice which together make this a most refreshing fruit. The fruits keep well and would probably ship well. The color is a peculiar red which serves to identify the variety; on the whole the fruits resemble the Americanas while the trees are rather more of the Miner type. The variety is productive in New York and is so spoken of in Wisconsin by Goff,[224] but in Iowa it is said not to bear abundantly. If a native plum is wanted in New York, this variety is worthy a trial.
Surprise, according to the originator, Martin Penning of Sleepy Eye, Brown County, Minnesota, is the best of a thousand or more seedlings grown from pits of De Soto, Weaver and Miner sown in 1882. In 1889, Penning introduced this plum and ten years later it was added to the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society. The parentage of the variety is unknown but it has usually been thought that the botanical characters indicate that it is a seedling of Miner. As the tree grows here, (they came to the Station from Mr. Penning,) it appears to be a hybrid of _Prunus americana_ and _Prunus hortulana mineri_, characters of both species being evident.
Tree large, vigorous, upright, dense-topped, hardy, productive; trunk roughish; branches smooth, zigzag, thorny, dark ash-gray, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets slender, medium to long, with long internodes, green changing to dark chestnut-red, with brownish-gray scarf-skin, glossy, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, small, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, plump, appressed.
Leaves falling early, folded upward, oval or ovate, two inches wide, four and one-half inches long, thin; upper surface light green, glabrous, smooth, with a grooved midrib; lower surface pale green, lightly pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt, margin often coarsely and doubly serrate, with amber glands which are not persistent; petiole thirteen-sixteenths inch long, slender, reddish, sparingly pubescent along one side, glandless or with from one to five small, globose, yellowish-brown glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing with the leaves, three-quarters inch across, creamy-white, with a disagreeable odor; borne in clusters from lateral buds, in threes or in fours; pedicels three-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, pubescent on the inner surface, serrate and with reddish glands, erect; petals roundish-ovate, entire, narrowly clawed; anthers yellowish; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; one and three-eighths inches by one and one-eighth inches in size, halves equal; cavity shallow, flaring; suture very shallow, distinct; apex roundish or depressed; color dark red, covered with thin bloom; dots numerous, medium to large, russet, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem one-half inch long, glabrous, adhering to the fruit; skin thick, tough, clinging; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, fibrous, somewhat tender, sweet, insipid; quality fair; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval, flattened, pointed at the base and apex, with smooth surfaces.
TENNANT
[Illustration: TENNANT]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Bailey _Ann. Hort._ 133. 1893. =2.= _Oregon Sta. Bul._ =45=:32. 1897. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 40. 1899. =4.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ 2nd Ser. =3=:57. 1900. =5.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 124. 1901. =6.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 326. 1903.
Tennant Prune 1. Tenant Prune 4.
It is surprising that a variety of so much merit, especially of so great beauty, as Tennant, should not have been more widely tried in New York. In the survey of plum culture in this State in the preparation of the text for _The Plums of New York_, it could not be learned that the Tennant had been tried in more than four or five places. In size and beauty of form and coloring, all well shown in the illustration, Tennant has few superiors in the collection of plums growing at this Station. While it is not sufficiently high in quality to be called a first-rate dessert fruit it is more palatable than most of the purple plums. It ripens at a good time of the year, several days before the Italian Prune, and should, from the nature of its skin and the firmness of its flesh, both ship and keep well. A fault of the fruit as it grows here, a fault not ascribed to it elsewhere, is that it shrivels soon after ripening. Our trees are large, vigorous, healthy, hardy and productive—almost ideal plum-trees. This variety should be very generally tried in commercial plantations in New York and may well be planted in home collections for a culinary fruit at least. On the Pacific Coast it is cured for prunes, its meaty flesh fitting it very well for this purpose.
This is another promising plum from the Pacific Northwest. Tennant originated with Rev. John Tennant of Ferndale, Washington, and was introduced in 1893 by McGill and McDonald, Salem, Oregon. The variety is fairly well known in the region of its origin but is practically unknown in New York. It was listed in the American Pomological Society catalog in 1897 as successful in the Pacific Northwest.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, open, hardy, productive; trunk slightly roughened; branches stocky, smooth, with lenticels of medium number and size; branchlets thick, long, with long internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-drab, with green patches and considerable scarf-skin, somewhat glossy, sparingly pubescent throughout the season, with small lenticels; leaf-buds large, long, pointed, appressed; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves folded backward, oval or obovate, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thick, stiff; upper surface dark green, rugose, sparingly hairy, with a grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, with thick pubescence; apex abruptly pointed to acute, base acute, margin crenate, eglandular or with small, brown glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, tinged red along one side, hairy, glandless or with one or two rather large, globose, brownish glands variable in position.
Blooming season early to medium, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch or more across, white, the buds tinged yellow; borne on lateral spurs; pedicels one-half inch long, thick, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, often with a swelling around the base, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, with thick, marginal hairs, erect; petals roundish-oval, entire, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers large, yellow; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil pubescent at the base, equal to the stamens in length; stigma large.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; one and three-quarters inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, roundish-truncate or roundish-oblong, with irregular surface which is somewhat ridged, halves equal; cavity narrow, abrupt, slightly compressed; suture variable in depth, distinct; apex deeply depressed; color dark reddish-purple, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, variable in size, whitish, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem thick, three-eighths inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin tough, adhering slightly to the pulp; flesh dark golden-yellow, somewhat dry, coarse, tough, firm, sweet, mild but pleasant; of good quality; stone clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregular-oval, flattened, obliquely necked, blunt at the apex, with deeply pitted surfaces, roughish; ventral suture prominent, heavily furrowed, not winged; dorsal suture usually with a narrow, shallow groove.
TRAGEDY
[Illustration: TRAGEDY]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort._ 236, Pl. II fig. 5, 237. 1890. =2.= _Ibid._ 109 fig. 8. 1891. =3.= Wickson _Cal. Fruits_ 358. 1891. =4.= _N. Mex. Sta. Bul._ =27=:125. 1898. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 40. 1899. =6.= Waugh _Plum. Cult._ 124. 1901.
Tragedy Prune 1, 3, 4.
Tragedy is another western plum which, like the Tennant, has not been well tested in the East. It is an older plum than the Tennant and somewhat better known in New York but still the reports of it are not sufficient in number or of great enough range to enable a fair opinion to be given as to its merits. As the variety grows at Geneva the fruits are very attractive in appearance—above medium size, a dark, rich purple color, and having the full, rounded form much liked by consumers in a dessert plum. The flesh is juicy, tender and sweet so that the quality may be called good; possibly the flesh is a little too soft for long shipping or long keeping as it grows here, though in one of the California references it is spoken of as “valuable for eastern shipment.” The trees are very satisfactory except that in New York they are not quite as reliable in bearing as could be wished. A fault, as the variety grows here and which may be local, is that a large proportion of the pits are cracked and all are soft and granular. The tree is reported by some as “scale proof” but unfortunately this statement can neither be denied nor affirmed. A plum with the good qualities possessed by Tragedy, should be better known in New York.
The following history is contributed by Professor E. J. Wickson, Berkeley, California. Tragedy originated as a chance seedling on the farm of O. R. Runyon, near Courtland, Sacramento County, California, probably in the late seventies. It was first offered to the trade in dormant buds by W. R. Strong and Company of Sacramento in 1887. Since the German Prune and Duane Purple grew on the place of its origin and as it shows characters of both, it has been noted as a probable cross of these varieties. The name Tragedy is understood to have been given to the fruit by Mr. Runyon because the plum was noted to be desirable on or about a day upon which a certain event held to be tragical occurred in the neighborhood. In 1899, the American Pomological Society considered Tragedy worthy a place in its list of fruits.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, hardy, variable in productiveness; branches ash-gray, usually smooth, with raised lenticels of various sizes; branchlets twiggy, thick, medium to short, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brownish-drab, covered with thick pubescence, with obscure, small lenticels; leaf-buds intermediate in size and length, obtuse, plump, appressed.
Leaves folded backward, oval or obovate, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long; upper surface dark green, glabrous except for the few hairs on the deeply and narrowly grooved midrib; lower surface pubescent; apex acute or obtuse, base acute; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, faintly tinged red, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish-brown glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Blooming season early, short; flowers appearing with the leaves, seven-eighths inch across, white; borne on lateral buds, usually in pairs; pedicels one-half inch long, thick, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, with roughened surface, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes acute, lightly pubescent, serrate, with many glands and marginal hairs, reflexed; petals broadly oval, crenate, short-clawed; anthers bright yellow; filaments nearly five-sixteenths inch long; pistil pubescent at the base, much longer than the stamens.
Fruit early, season short; one and five-eighths inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, oval, swollen on the suture side, compressed, halves unequal; cavity narrow, abrupt, regular; suture shallow, often an indistinct line; apex roundish; color dark purplish-black, covered with thick bloom; dots numerous, variable in size, russet, inconspicuous; stem five-eighths inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin of medium thickness and toughness, somewhat sour, separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow, juicy, tender, sweet, mild; good; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregular-oval, flattened, obliquely necked; apex acute; surfaces pitted, roughish; ventral suture narrow, prominent, not winged; dorsal suture narrowly and deeply grooved.
TRANSPARENT
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 395. 1857. =2.= _Flor. & Pom._ 56, Col. Pl. fig. 1862. =3.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 383. 1866. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 950. 1869. =5.= _Jour. Hort._ N. S. =17=:258. 1869. =6.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 91. 1869. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 24. 1871. =8.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 25. 1871. =9.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:31, fig. 16. 1873. =10.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_ 365. 1887. =11.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 428. 1889. =12.= _Guide Prat._ 154, 364. 1895. =13.= Nicholson _Dict. Gard._ =3=:166. =14.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 124. 1901. =15.= _Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom._ 554 fig. 1904.
_Diaphane_ 4, 12. _Diaphane Lafay_ 4. _Durchscheinende Reineclaude_ 9, 12. Durchscheinende Reine-Claude 11. _Prune Diaphane_ 9. _Prune Diaphane Laffay_ 4, 11. _Reine-Claude De Guigne_ 9. Reine-Claude Diaphane 1, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15. _Reine-Claude Diaphane_ 2, 3, 4, 5, 11. _Reine-Claude Transparente_ 9, 11, 12, 15. _Reine-Claude Transparent_ 4. Transparent Green Gage 6. Transparent Gage 3, 4, 7, 8, 13. _Transparent Gage_ 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15. Transparent Gage Plum 2, 5.
In Europe Transparent is considered one of the best of all dessert plums but either it does not do as well in America or the American bred plums of the Reine Claude group, to which this variety belongs, are much better on this continent than in the Old World. At any rate in our soil and climate there are a dozen or more Reine Claude plums as good or better in quality than Transparent and much superior in other characters. It is, however, worth planting by the connoisseur for its quality and because of the transparency of skin—in the latter respect it is unique among Domestica plums. The flower-buds of this variety have a remarkable tendency to produce leaves in the place of floral organs.
Transparent is an old French variety. M. Lafay, a rose-grower at Bellevue, near Paris, raised it from the seed of the Reine Claude and named it Reine Claude Diaphane. It was grown previous to 1836, for, during this year, Thomas Rivers of England, while visiting M. Lafay, was told of its origin. In 1871, the American Pomological Society listed Transparent in its catalog as worthy of culture. The color of this variety leads to the suspicion that Reine Claude is not the only parent.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, hardy, productive; branches slender, ash-gray, roughish towards the trunk, with small lenticels; branchlets above medium in thickness, short, with internodes of average length, green changing to brownish-red often retaining some green, dull, pubescent, with small lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical, somewhat appressed.
Leaves folded upward, obovate or oval, two and one-half inches wide, five inches long, above average thickness; upper surface rugose, nearly glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin often doubly serrate or crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole seven-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, faintly tinged red, glandless or with from one to four rather large, globose or oval, greenish-brown glands usually on the stalk.
Season of bloom medium, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white; borne in scattering clusters on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels five-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, lightly pubescent, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals obovate, crenate, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellow with a tinge of red; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens, often in pairs.
Fruit late, intermediate in length of ripening season; one and three-eighths inches by one and one-half inches in size, oblate, compressed; halves equal; cavity wide, flaring; suture a line; apex flattened or depressed; color red over a dark amber-yellow ground, mottled, covered with thin bloom; dots numerous, grayish or light russet, conspicuous, decreasing in number but increasing in size towards the cavity; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, adhering but slightly; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, fibrous, tender, very sweet, aromatic, pleasant; very good to best; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, roundish-oval, turgid, blunt at the base and apex, with slightly pitted surfaces; ventral suture, wide, blunt, faintly grooved; dorsal suture with a deep groove of medium width.
UNGARISH
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Ia. Agr. Col. Bul._ 50, 51. 1886. =2.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 86. 1890. =3.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =118=:53. 1895. =4.= _Kan. Sta. Bul._ =101=:117, 119, 120 fig. 1901. =5.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 109. 1901. =6.= _Can. Exp. Farms Rpt._ 102. 1902. =7.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 326. 1903. =8.= _Can. Exp. Farms Rpt._ 433. 1905.
Hungarian 3, ?6. _Hungarian Prune_ 3. Hungarian Prune 4. Hungary 1. Ungarische 8. Ungarish Prune 2, 7. _Quetsche de Hongrie_ 1. _Zwetsche Ungarische_ 1.
Budd’s Ungarish as grown at the New York State Experiment Station is nearly identical with the Italian Prune. The only differences to be detected are that the Italian Prune is a trifle smaller, a little more firm, not as broad and not quite as sweet as the Ungarish. The pit of the latter is usually tinged with red, while that of the former is rarely so colored. If the Ungarish prove as productive as the Italian Prune it may be more desirable because of its larger size. In 1883 Professor J. L. Budd of the Iowa Experiment Station imported trees under the name Quetsche de Hongrie or Zwetsche Ungarische from C. H. Wagner of Riga, Russia and from Wilhelm Wohler of Wilna, Russia. Budd disseminated the variety as Hungary, a name soon changed to Hungarian Prune and later to Ungarish. This is not to be confused with the true Hungarian so well known in Europe as the Quetsche de Hongrie.
UTAH
_Prunus besseyi_ × _Prunus watsoni_
=1.= Dieck in Dippel _Laubholzkunde_ =3=:634. 1893. =2.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =70=:262, Pl. II fig. 3. 1894. =3.= _Tex. Sta. Bul._ =32=:490. 1894. =4.= _Vt. Sta. Bul._ =67=:21. 1898. =5.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 225. 1901.
_Black Utah Hybrid_ 2, 4, 5. Utah Hybrid 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
This interesting natural hybrid was grown by J. E. Johnson at Wood River, Nebraska, some time previous to 1870. Mr. Johnson planted seed of the native dwarf cherry which had grown near Sand plums and which supposedly had been pollinized by the plums. The resulting plants proved to be intermediates between the cherry and the plum and are now generally thought to be natural hybrids. From these seedlings, one was selected and propagated. Shortly afterwards Mr. Johnson moved to Utah taking his new hybrid with him and from there distributed it as Utah. In 1893 a German botanist, Dieck (References, 1), described this hybrid and gave it the specific name _Prunus utahensis_. The plant has no commercial value. It is described as follows:
Tree a dwarfish tree-like bush three or four feet in height; branches and branchlets zigzag after the habit of _Prunus watsoni_: leaves small, narrow-ovate, pointed at the ends; margins crenulate, glandless, sometimes small glands on the petioles; fruit early, small, round, dark mahogany-red, covered with bloom; skin very bitter; flesh melting; pleasant flavor; quality poor; stone small, round like that of a cherry.
VICTORIA
[Illustration: VICTORIA]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 153. 1831. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 315. 1845. =3.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ 45, Pl. 1856. =4.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 516. 1859. =5.= _Cultivator_ =8=:26 fig. 1860. =6.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 88. 1862. =7.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 349 fig. 379. 1867. =8.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 948. 1869. =9.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 13. 1871. =10.= _Mas Le Verger_ =6=:23, fig. 12. 1866-73. =11.= Oberdieck _Deut. Obst. Sort._ 419. 1881. =12.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 728. 1884. =13.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 438. 1889. =14.= Gaucher _Pom. Prak. Obst._ No. 98 fig. 1894. =15.= _Guide Prat._ 159, 367. 1895. =16.= _Cornell Sta. Bul_. =131=:193. 1897. =17.= _Jour. Roy._ _Hort. Soc._ =21=:222. 1897. =18.= _Mich. Sta._ _Bul_. =169=:243, 248. 1899. 19. _Garden_ =57=:267. 1900. =20.= _Waugh Plum Cult._ 122, 123 fig. 1901.
_Alderton_ 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15. _Dauphin_ 8, 13. _Denyer’s Victoria_ ?2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15. Denyer’s Victoria 4. _Dolphin_ 8, 13. _Imperial de Sharp_ 8, 13. Königin Victoria 11, 13, 15. _Königin Victoria_ 9, 14, 15. La Victorine 1. Prune Reine Victoria 3. _Queen Victoria_ ?2, 3, 13, 14, 15. Queen Victoria 9. _Reine Victoria_ 9, 10, 13, 14, of some 15. _Royal Dauphine_ 8, 13. Sharp 20. Sharp’s Emperor 2, 8. _Sharp’s Emperor_ 3, 9, 10, 12, 13, by error 15, 20. _Sharpe’s Emperor_, 17 incor. Victoria-Pflaume 14. _Sharp’s Kaiserpflaume_ 13. _Victoria_ 8, 9, 13, 14, 20. _Victoria’s Kaiserzwetsche_ 14, 15.
For some reason Victoria, long known in America, has never attained great popularity in this country. It is a large plum attaining nearly the size of Pond, though the color-plate does not so show it, and has much the same color as the plum with which we have just compared it. Here resemblances cease for Victoria is not the same shape as Pond, is a little better in quality, is earlier and quite different in tree-characters. It would seem that this would make a good market plum as it is firm enough in flesh to ship well, as grown here keeps remarkably well, is better in quality than the average market plum and is handsome, though Americans seem to care little for red plums, preferring the yellow sorts and still more the purple kinds. Unfortunately, Victoria does not always color well in our climate. The trees of this variety at this Station, while productive, are not large nor robust, and the foliage is a little too susceptible to fungi. These defects of the tree may account for the lack of popularity of the variety in New York though even if they are to be found in all localities, which is probably not the case, this plum is still worth growing to some extent for home or market.
The origin of this plum and even its right to the name under which it is discussed here are matters of controversy. The London Horticultural Society in 1831 mentioned La Victorine in its catalog but since no description was given it cannot be identified as Victoria. Sharp’s Emperor which has been confused with this variety, was described in the same publication. These two varieties were considered as identical by Charles Downing, Hogg, Mas and others; while Royer[225] who tested Sharp’s Emperor, obtained from Liegel, thought it to be distinct, as did Thomas, the _Guide Pratique_ and Pearson of England. Hogg in describing the Victoria says, “This is a Sussex plum, and was discovered in a garden at Alderton in that county. It became known as Sharp’s Emperor, and was ultimately sold by a nurseryman named Denyer, in the year 1844 at Brixton, near London, at a high price as a new variety under the name of Denyer’s Victoria.” Pearson in the _Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society_ for 1897 says the reason that Hogg and other authorities had called these varieties identical is that they had not seen the true variety. At this Station we have not seen Sharp’s Emperor but judging from the descriptions it is distinct though very similar. The American Pomological Society placed Victoria on its fruit list in 1862 but in 1871, Sharp’s Emperor was substituted as the correct name with Victoria as a synonym. This change was probably made to comply with Downing’s nomenclature of 1869. A review of the whole controversy cannot but lead to the conclusion that Victoria is the correct name and it appears also to be in most common use.
Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, hardy, productive; branches ash-gray, smooth, with few large lenticels; branchlets thick, short, stout, with short internodes, greenish changing to dark brownish-drab, dull, with thick pubescence, with few inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds large, long, conical or pointed, free.
Leaves folded backward, obovate, two and three-eighths inches wide, five inches long, thick, stiff; upper surface dark green, rugose, with a narrow groove on the midrib, sparingly hairy; lower surface medium green, thickly pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base cuneate, margin serrate or crenate, eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole one inch long, covered with thick pubescence, tinged red on one side, glandless or with from one to three globose or reniform, yellow glands usually on the stalk.
Season of bloom medium, short; flowers appearing with the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white, the buds tinged yellow; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels nearly three-eighths inch long, thick, heavily pubescent; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes medium to narrow, obtuse, glandular-serrate, thickly pubescent on both surfaces, reflexed; petals roundish-obovate, entire or occasionally notched, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period of medium length; one and seven-eighths inches by one and one-half inches in size, long-oval, oblong, compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture variable in depth, prominent; apex roundish or depressed; color dark red, mottled before full maturity, covered with thick bloom; dots numerous, russet, conspicuous; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, very pubescent, adhering strongly to the fruit; skin thin, tender, adhering but slightly; flesh light yellow, juicy, coarse, firm, sweet, mild but pleasant; good; stone free, one and one-eighth inches by three-eighths inch in size, broad-oval, strongly flattened, deeply pitted, roughish, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture narrow, distinctly winged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
VIOLET DIAPER
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Parkinson _Par. Ter._ 576, 578. 1629. =2.= Langley _Pomona_ 93, Pl. XXIII fig. II. 1729. =3.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:101, Pl. XVII fig. 1768. =4.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:70, 92. 1832. =5.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 425. 1854. =6.= Koch _Deut. Obst._ 572. 1876. =7.= _Le Bon Jard._ 339. 1882. =8.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 690. 1884. =9.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 452. 1889. =10.= _Guide Prat._ 157, 355. 1895.
Black Diapred 1. _Blaue Diaprée_ 9, 10. _Blaue Herzformige Pflaume_ 9, 10. _Buntfarbige Violette Pflaume_ 9, 10. _Cheston_ 1, 9, 10. Cheston 4, 5, 8. _Cheston Matchless_ 5. Cheston’s Plumb 2. Dennie 1. Diaprée noire 7. _Die Violette Diaprée_ 10. Diaprée Violette 3, 10. _Diaprée Violette_ 4, 8, 9. Diapre Violet 4. Friars 1. Friars 8. Friar’s Plum 9. Matchless 4, 5, 9, 10. Purple Diaper 6. _Violet Diaper_ 5, 9. Violette Diaprée 9. _Violette Violen Pflaume_ 9, 10. _Veilchen Pflaume_ 9, 10.
Violet Diaper was cultivated at the beginning of the Seventeenth Century and has maintained itself in Europe until the present time although never attaining nor deserving the popularity of the Red Diaper. Matchless, cited as a synonym, is manifestly incorrect as the true Matchless is a yellow plum; but since it has been used so long and by so many writers as a synonym, it seems best to mention it as such. This plum is not grown in America. It is described as follows:
Fruit early; of medium size, oval; suture faint; cavity almost lacking; skin free; dark purple, covered with thick bloom; flesh yellow, firm, sweet; good; freestone.
VORONESH
[Illustration: VORONESH]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 76. 1883. =2.= _Ibid._ 61. 1887. =3.= _Am. Gard._ =11=:625 fig. 1. 1890. =4.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 116. 1901. =5.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 327, 329. 1903.
Moldavka 1, 2, 3, 4. Voronesh Yellow 3, 5. Yellow Moldavka 5. Yellow Voronesh 2.
Voronesh is a Russian sort supposed to be ironclad as to cold. It is perfectly hardy at Geneva, the trees are also very productive and the fruits are attractive enough in size and color to meet market demands but the flavor is so insipid as to make the plum unfit for dessert and hardly fit for kitchen use. It is given the honor of a color-plate because it is a somewhat distinct type. In 1881 Professor J. L. Budd secured from J. E. Fisher, Voronesh, Russia, a variety which he introduced as Voronesh Yellow. At the same time he imported a variety from Fisher under the name Moldavka which proved to be identical with his Voronesh Yellow, though Budd held that while they were very similar the Moldavka was more oval than Voronesh.
Tree of medium size, round-topped, productive; leaves drooping, folded backward, narrow-obovate, two and one-quarter inches wide, four and one-half inches long, thick; margin doubly serrate, with small, yellowish glands; petiole one-half inch long, tinged red, pubescent, sometimes with two globose, yellowish-red glands usually on the stalk near the base of the leaf; blooming season early, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, fully one and one-eighth inches across, dull white; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; one and seven-eighths inches by one and one-half inches in size, ovate, necked, slightly enlarged on the suture side, dark lemon-yellow, with thin bloom; dots very numerous, of medium size, white, conspicuous; stem adhering strongly to the fruit; skin tough, sour; flesh dark amber-yellow, very tender, sweet, mild; poor; stone free, one and three-eighths inches by five-eighths inch in size, long-oval, flattened, somewhat necked, acute at the apex, the surfaces smooth or partially honeycombed; ventral suture prominent.
WALES
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Gard. Chron._ =5=:837. 1845. =2.= _Mag. Hort._ =12=:340. 1846. =3.= McIntosh _Bk. Gard._ 529. 1855. =4.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 392. 1857. =5.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 515. 1859. =6.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ 7, Pl. 1859. =7.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:119, fig. 60. 1873. =8.= _Flor. & Pom._ 253, Pl. 1875. =9.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ =21=:20. 1876. =10.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 718. 1884. =11.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 443. 1889. =12.= _Ont. Fr. Exp. Sta. Rpt._ 96, 120. 1896. =13.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:190. 1897. =14.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 26. 1897. =15.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =113=:160. 1899. 16. Waugh _Plum Cult._ 125. 1901.
Chapman’s Prince of Wales, 3, 5. _Chapman’s Prince of Wales_ 4, 10, 11. Chapman’s Prince of Wales’ Plum 1. Prince Albert? 11. Prince De Galles 7. _Prince De Galles_ 6, 11. Prince of Wales 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15. _Prince of Wales_ 7, 11, 14, 16. Prinz Von Wales 11. Prune Prince of Whales 6.
Wales, more commonly known as the Prince of Wales, seems to have much merit yet it has long been grown in America, probably three-quarters of a century, without attaining distinction with fruit-growers. In recent years it has been favorably commented upon in a number of publications and seems to be better known and more grown than formerly. Whether this tardily-given recognition is not too late is a question. So many good plums have been introduced both at home and abroad in the last few decades that a sort dating back nearly a century must be meritorious, indeed, to stand the competition. As Wales grows in New York, it is rather too poor in quality to recommend it for a home variety and the plums are too small, as they generally grow, for a good commercial fruit. The trees are enormously productive and are very satisfactory in other characters as well. In a bulletin from the Cornell Station (References, 13) this variety is said to have “much to commend it for general favor:” while in Ohio (References, 15) it is thought that Wales “ought to become popular.”
Wales, a seedling of Orleans, was raised by a Mr. Chapman, Brentford, Middlesex, England, in 1830. It was exhibited before the London Horticultural Society in 1845 where it was awarded a prize. The following year, Hovey, the American pomologist, (References, 2) described the variety but the date of the first importation to this country is unknown. It was not until 1897 that the variety was sufficiently known to be placed on the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society.
Tree large, vigorous, slightly vasiform, open-topped, hardy, very productive; branches ash-gray, smooth except for the numerous, small, slightly raised lenticels, often marked by concentric rings; branchlets of medium thickness and length, with long internodes, green changing to brownish-red, dull, thinly pubescent, with numerous, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds large, long, conical or pointed; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves folded upward, roundish-ovate or oval, two and one-half inches wide, three and one-half inches long; upper surface dark green, somewhat rugose, covered with numerous hairs; lower surface pale green, thickly pubescent; apex and base abrupt, margin crenate, eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, pubescent, tinged red, glandless or with from one to three small, globose, yellowish-brown glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Blooming season short; flowers one inch across, white, with a yellow tinge; usually borne in pairs; pedicels eleven-sixteenths inch long, thick, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, lightly pubescent toward the base; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, erect; petals broadly oval, crenate, tapering to short, blunt claws; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous except on the ovary, longer than the stamens; stigma large.
Fruit late, season short; one and five-eighths inches by one and one-half inches in size, roundish-oval, halves equal; cavity narrow, abrupt; suture a line; apex roundish; color reddish-purple, overspread with thick bloom; dots few, large, often tinged red, conspicuous; stem thick, one-half inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin tough, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, tender, sweet, mild; good; stone semi-free or free, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval, turgid, blunt at the base and apex, with slightly pitted surfaces; ventral suture narrow, often acute or with a slight wing; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
WANGENHEIM
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Cultivator_ =8=:26 fig. 1860. =2.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:157, fig. 79. 1866-73. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ XXIV. 1871. =4.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 453. 1889. =5.= _Guide Prat._ 159, 367. 1895. =6.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 125. 1901.
_Die Wangenheim_ 4. _De Wangenheim_ 5. _Prune de Wangenheim_ 4. _Prune Wangenheim Hâtive_ 4. _Quetsche Précoce de Wangenheim_ 2, 4, 5. _Von Wangenheim Pflaume_ 2, 4, 5. _Wangenheims Frühzwetsche_ 2, 5. Wangenheims Früh Zwetsche 4. _Wangenheim Hâtive_ 4.
This variety, very well known and highly esteemed in Germany, has been grown to some extent in America both on the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts and in neither region has it proved equal to standard plums. According to Dittrich, Wangenheim originated at Beinheim, a small place near Gotha, Saxe-Cobourg, Germany.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, productive; trunk rough; branches rough, stocky; branchlets nearly glabrous; leaves folded upward, slightly rugose; margin finely serrate, with small glands; petiole tinged red, pubescent, with from one to three small glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Fruit mid-season; one and one-quarter inches by one and one-eighth inches in size, ovate, purplish-red, covered with thin bloom, yellowish, rather dry, firm, sweet, mild; of good quality; stone very free, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size, irregular-oval, flattened, with faintly pitted surfaces; ventral suture distinctly winged; dorsal suture with a narrow, shallow groove.
WASHINGTON
[Illustration: WASHINGTON]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Prince _Treat. Hort._ 24. 1828. =2.= _Pom. Mag._ =1=:16, Pl. 1828. =3.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 154. 1831. =4.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:53. 1832. =5.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 298, 383, 418. 1846. =6.= Cole _Am. Fr. Book_ 210. 1849. =7.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 326 fig., 327. 1849. =8.= Hovey _Fr. Am._ =1=:87, Col. Pl. 1851. =9.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 54. 1852. =10.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 415. 1854. =11.= _Ann. Pom. Belge_ =4=:23, Pl. 1856. =12.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 520. 1859. =13.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 951. 1869. =14.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 24. 1871. =15.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:59. 1866-73. =16.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 729. 1884. =17.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 453. 1889. =18.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =103=:32, 33, fig. 1894. =19.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:193. 1897. =20.= _Va. Sta. Bul._ =134=:44. 1902. =21.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ =43=:36. 1903.
_Anglesio_ 17. _Bolmar_ 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17. _Bolmar’s Washington_ 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17. Bolmar’s Washington 5. _Bolmer_ 1, 4, 13, 17. _Bolmer’s Washington_ 1, 4, 13. _Bolmore’s Washington_ 4. _Double Imperial Gage_ 1, 4. _Franklin_ 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17. _Imperial Gage_ (of Albany) 4. _Irving’s Bolmar_ 10, 13, 16, 17. _Irving’s Bolmer_ 14. _Jackson_ 11, 13, 14, 17. _Louis Philippe_ 14. _Louis Philipp_ 17. _New Washington_ 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17. _Parker’s Mammoth_ 10, 13, 16, 17. _Philippe_ 1, 11, 13, 14, 17. Prune Washington Jaune 11. _Superior Gage_ 1, 4, 8. _Superior Green Gage_ 4, 8. The Washington Plum 2, 8. _Washington_ 5, 8. _Washington Bolmar_ 8. _Washington Gage_ 4. _Washington Jaune_ 13, 14, 17. _Washington Mammot_ 14, 17. _Washington Yellow_ 17.
Washington holds high rank among the Reine Claude varieties, plums unsurpassed for dessert purposes. The fruits are large in size for one of this group; handsome in form and color (in the latter respect the color-plate does not do the variety justice); abundant in juice yet firm and meaty enough in flesh to keep and ship well; fine in flavor though not quite equalling some others of its group in this character. The trees are large, hardy, vigorous and healthy, remarkable for their broad, glossy, abundant leaves, bear bountiful crops annually and at a favorable period of maturity. Washington thus has a combination of characters which few of its group, with which only it must be compared, possess. The variety, however, is not without defects; the fruits are subject to brown-rot, so much so that its value as a commercial variety is greatly lessened; the quality varies greatly in different locations and even in different years,—the latter very noticeable on the Station grounds; the trees are slow in coming in bearing and the crops are small for some years after fruiting begins. From the above considerations it may be seen that while this variety is almost always worth planting in a home collection, the location for it as a commercial fruit needs to be chosen with some care.
There are two accounts of the origin of this variety. William Prince gives its history as follows (References, 1): “It has always been the custom at the establishment of the author, at Flushing, to plant annually the seeds of the finest fruits, for the purpose of originating new varieties; and, about the year 1790, his father planted the pits of twenty-five quarts of the Green Gage plum; these produced trees yielding fruit of every colour; and the White Gage, Red Gage, and Prince’s Gage, now so well known, form part of the progeny of those plums; and there seems strong presumptive evidence to suppose that the Washington Plum was one of the same collection.” Michael Floy gives a different history of the Washington (References, 5). He states that he received the variety in 1818 from a Mr. Bolmar of New York who in turn had purchased his trees from a market woman in 1814. The purchased trees were produced as suckers from the roots of a Reine Claude tree which had been killed below the graft by lightning on the Delancey farm, now the Bowery, in New York City. In 1819, a few of the trees, budded the previous year by Floy, were sent to England. The American Pomological Society added the Washington to its fruit catalog list in 1852. Taking in consideration the evidence of other writers and further facts offered in other accounts by the Princes, father and son, it seems almost certain that the first history is correct and that Bolmar’s trees had their origin in the Prince nursery.
Tree large, vigorous, round and open-topped, hardy, very productive; branches dark ash-gray, rough becoming shaggy on the trunk, with small lenticels; branchlets below medium in thickness and length, with long internodes, green changing to brownish-red, thinly pubescent, with small lenticels of average number; leaf-buds of medium size and length, pointed, free.
Leaves flattened, oval, two and one-half inches wide, four and one-quarter inches long, leathery, somewhat velvety; upper surface dark green, lightly pubescent, with a shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface medium green, thickly pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base abrupt; margin serrate, eglandular; petiole five-eighths inch long, green, pubescent, glandless or with one or two smallish, globose, greenish-yellow glands at the base of the leaf.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and five-sixteenths inches across, white, with yellow near the apex; borne on lateral buds and spurs; pedicels three-eighths inch long, thick, covered with fine pubescence, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, erect; petals broad-ovate or oval, crenate, tapering into short, broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; one and three-quarters inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, roundish-oval, compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture shallow; apex roundish; color greenish-yellow or light yellow, with green stripes and splashes, occasionally with a faint blush on the sunny side, covered with thin bloom; dots numerous, white, inconspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem one-half inch long, covered with thick pubescence, adhering strongly to the fruit; skin thin, slightly sour, separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow, juicy, firm but tender, sweet, mild, pleasant flavor; good to very good; stone free, not filling the cavity, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, oval, turgid, roughened, somewhat blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture wide, marked by deep furrows, with a distinct but short wing; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
WAYLAND
[Illustration: WAYLAND]
_Prunus hortulana_
=1.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 573, Pl. 5 fig. 2. 1888. =2.= _Am. Gard._ =10=:175 fig., 243. 1889. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:51, 87. 1892. =4.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:24, 62. 1897. =5.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =10=:99, 103. 1897. =6.= _Ibid._ =11=:281, 286 fig. 1898. =7.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 228. 1904. =8.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:283. 1904. =9.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:258. 1905.
Wayland is of little interest to plum-growers who grow the Domestica varieties without difficulty but in the South and Middle West it is an important representative of a valuable species. The trees withstand the hot, dry weather in the region south of central Iowa and Nebraska rather better than do those of varieties of other species and its fruits are borne in such quantities and so late that this and its kindred sorts become important plums. The fruits are quite too firm of flesh, too sour and too small to be of value for dessert purposes but they are most excellent for jellies, marmalades and preserves—any of the uses to which the Damsons are commonly put. They are, too, best adapted for long-keeping and shipping of any of the native plums. Except in size, the plums are hardly surpassed in the characters that make a fruit handsome among the native plums. The trees are large, robust and hardy in central New York, usually free from attacks of insects and fungi and, with their abundant, glossy foliage, are strikingly ornamental. Wayland is of value for New York, however, when all characters are considered, only in furnishing variety, in extending the season for native plums and as an ornamental.
Wayland was found in a plum thicket on the premises of Professor H. B. Wayland, Cadiz, Kentucky. It was sent by him about 1875 to J. S. Downer and Sons, Fairview, Todd County, Kentucky, who named and introduced it. There has been much discussion as to the botanical status of this variety, various writers having put it in at least three distinct species and Waugh and Bailey have used it as the type of the Wayland group of _Prunus hortulana_.
Tree very large and vigorous, spreading, somewhat drooping, flat-topped, open, hardy at Geneva, productive; trunk shaggy; branches rough, dark ash-gray, with inconspicuous lenticels, medium in number and size; branchlets slender, twiggy, long, with internodes of average length, green, changing to light chestnut-red, glossy, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds very small, short, obtuse, plump, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, ovate or long-oval, peach-like, one and seven-eighths inches across, five inches long, thin; upper surface smooth and glossy, with a grooved midrib; lower surface sparingly pubescent; apex acuminate, base abrupt, margin unevenly serrate, glandular; petiole one inch long, slender, pubescent along one side, with a tinge of red, with from one to five very small, globose, brownish glands usually on the stalk.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, thirteen-sixteenths inch across, white, with disagreeable odor; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in threes, fours or fives; pedicels fifteen-sixteenths inch long, very slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, narrowly campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, erect, lightly pubescent within, serrate and with dark-colored glands; petals ovate or oval, irregularly crenate, tapering into long, narrow claws with hairy margins; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit very late, season long; one and one-eighth inches by one inch in size, roundish-ovate narrowing somewhat toward the stem, conical, slightly compressed, halves equal; cavity medium to deep, narrow, abrupt; suture usually very shallow and wide, often a distinct line; apex pointed; color dark currant-red, with inconspicuous, thin bloom; dots numerous, small to medium, conspicuous, densely clustered about the apex; stem very slender, five-eighths inch long, glabrous, not adhering to the fruit; skin thick, tough, clinging but slightly; flesh attractive light yellow; moderately juicy, coarse, fibrous, rather tender, mildly sweet next the skin but astringent towards the pit; fair to good; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, long-oval, somewhat elongated at the base and apex, turgid, with rough and pitted surfaces; ventral suture wide, blunt, faintly ridged; dorsal suture acute, with a narrow, indistinct groove.
WEAVER
_Prunus americana_
=1.= _Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 267. 1874. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 44. 1883. =3.= _Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 268. 1885. =4.= _Minn. Sta. Bul._ =5=:36, 37 fig. 1889. =5.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:45, 86. 1892. =6.= _Can. Hort._ =16=:409, Pl. 1893. =7.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =123=:21. 1895. =8.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:24, 62. 1897. =9.= _Colo. Sta. Bul._ =50=:46. 1898. =10.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:291. 1900. =11.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 166 fig. 1901. =12.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 302. 1903. =13.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ =43=:32. 1903. =14.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:283. 1904. =15.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:41. 1905.
Weaver is an old and well-known Americana, once one of the most popular of its species because of its hardiness and productiveness. It is still listed by many nurserymen and is widely distributed throughout the country but it is now rapidly passing out of cultivation, being superseded by sorts producing larger and better colored fruits.
This variety was found growing wild on the Cedar River, in Iowa, by a Mr. Weaver. In 1873, Ennis and Patten, Charles City, Iowa, began its sale to fruit-growers. The American Pomological Society placed the Weaver on its fruit catalog list in 1883, dropped it in 1891, and replaced it in 1897. The following description is partly compiled.
Tree large, vigorous, well formed, upright-spreading, unusually hardy, productive; branches long, slender; branchlets slender, long, with short internodes, reddish-brown, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous lenticels of medium size; leaf-buds small, conical, of average length.
Leaves falling late, four and one-half inches long, two and one-half inches wide, obovate or oval, firm, thick, leathery; upper surface dark green, slightly roughened, glabrous, with narrow midrib; lower surface pale green, pubescent on the midrib and larger veins; apex acuminate, base somewhat acute, margin deeply and coarsely serrate; petiole five-eighths inch long, stout, reddish, slightly pubescent along one side, usually with two large, globose, reddish-brown glands on the stem.
Flowers large, prominently stalked; calyx-lobes conspicuously glandular, lightly pubescent within.
Fruit mid-season or later; one inch by three-quarters inch in size, large for a native, oval or roundish-oblong, compressed, halves unequal; cavity medium to shallow, narrow, rather abrupt; suture shallow, distinct; apex roundish or depressed; color not uniform, yellowish overlaid with purplish-red, mottled, covered with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, often purplish, inconspicuous; skin thick, very tough, astringent, adhering to the pulp; flesh deep yellow, juicy, firm and meaty, sweet, mild; fair to good; stone variable in adhesion, three-quarters inch by three-eighths inch in size, long and narrow, somewhat oval, flattened, obscurely pointed at the base and apex, smooth.
WHITE BULLACE
[Illustration: WHITE BULLACE]
_Prunus insititia_
=1.= Parkinson _Par. Ter._ 576. 1629. =2.= Abercrombie _Gard. Ass’t_ 13. 1786. =3.= Forsyth _Fr. Trees Am._ 21. 1803. =4.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 344. 1831. =5.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:105. 1832. =6.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 300, 383. 1846. =7.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 385. 1866. =8.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 952. 1869. =9.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ =4=:160, 161 fig. 960. 1901. =10.= _Can. Exp. Farms Rpt._ 481. 1904.
Bullace 5. _Bullace_ 7. White Bulleis 1.
The origin of this old sort is unknown. It was cultivated more than three hundred years ago for Parkinson described it as common in his time. He says of it “The White and the blacke Bulleis are common in most Countries, being small round, lesser than Damsons, sharper in taste, and later ripe.” It is probably one of the first of the cultivated plums. White Bullace is illustrated and described in full in _The Plums of New York_ chiefly as a means of comparison between the plums of three centuries ago and those of the present. It has little value now for any purpose, though the Europeans still grow it rather commonly and from seeds, cions or suckers as convenience may dictate.
Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy, unproductive; branches ash-gray, nearly smooth, with numerous, small, inconspicuous lenticels; branchlets thick, above medium in length, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brownish-red, dull, with thick pubescence throughout the season, with few, small lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, stubby, obtuse, strongly appressed.
Leaves flattened, obovate, one and five-eighths inches wide, two and three-eighths inches long, thick; upper surface dark green, rugose, with few hairs along the narrow, grooved midrib; lower surface silvery green, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin doubly serrate, eglandular; petiole one-half inch long, green, pubescent, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish-yellow glands variable in position.
Blooming season medium to late, of average length; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across, white, scattered on lateral spurs; usually borne singly; pedicels one-quarter inch long, thick, densely covered with short hairs, green; calyx-tube reddish-green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes acute, lightly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals obovate, entire, with short, broad claws; anthers yellow with red tinge; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, nearly equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit late, ripening season of medium length; about one inch in diameter, roundish, compressed, truncate at the base; cavity rather deep and wide, abrupt; suture a line; apex flattened or depressed; color deep amber-yellow, sometimes with faint pink blush on the exposed cheek, overspread with moderately thick bloom; dots numerous, white, inconspicuous; stem one-half inch long, covered with scant pubescence, adhering strongly to the fruit; skin thin, astringent, slightly adhering; flesh deep golden-yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, firm, sour; poor in quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, ovate, turgid, blunt at the base, acute at the apex, slightly roughened; ventral suture broad, blunt, shallowly furrowed; dorsal suture with a wide, shallow groove.
WHITE DAMSON
_Prunus insititia_
=1.= Parkinson _Par. Ter._ 578. 1629. =2.= Quintinye _Com. Gard._ 67, 69. 1699. =3.= M’Mahon _Am. Gard. Cal._ 588. 1806. =4.= Coxe _Cult. Fr. Trees_ 238, fig. 15. 1817. =5.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 146. 1831. =6.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:88. 1832. =7.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 287. 1845. =8.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 300. 1846. =9.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 334. 1849. =10.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 430. 1854. =11.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 190, 214. 1856. =12.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 385. 1866. =13.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 952. 1869. =14.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 131. 1901.
_Frost Plum_ 6, 13. _Late Cluster_ 6, 13. Late White Damson 6. _Late Yellow Damson_ 7, 9, 10, 13. _Shailer’s White Damson_ 7, 10, 12, 13. Shailer’s White Damson 5. _Small Round Damson_ 5. White Damascene 4. _White Damascene_ 6, 7, 10, 13. White Damask 2. _White Damson_ 6. _White Prune Damson_ 7, 8, 10, 13. _White Winter Damson_ 6, 13. White Winter Damson 3. _Winter Damson_ 6. _Yellow Damson_ 9.
This old plum, known since the beginning of the Seventeenth Century, is chiefly of historic interest. Downing thought this a very desirable addition to our list of plums but nearly all other pomologists who have seen the fruit of the variety think it of small importance. Unfortunately it is not in the collection at this Station and can be neither recommended nor condemned from first hand knowledge. This plum was first noted in America by M’Mahon in 1806, and fifty years later it was added to the American Pomological Society list of promising varieties. For some reason, perhaps for its color, it has never become so well known as the purple Damsons. Perhaps from the division of _Prunus insititia_ made in _The Plums of New York_, this variety should be known as a Mirabelle rather than as a Damson. The following description is a compilation:
Tree vigorous, very productive; branches long, slender. Fruit matures the last of September, season long; small, oval, pale yellow sprinkled with reddish-brown dots, covered with thin bloom; flesh yellowish, sprightly, pleasant flavored; good to very good; stone clinging.
WHITE IMPERATRICE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:33, Tab. 181 fig. 2; =2=:44, Tab. 197 fig. 2. 1796. =2.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:106. 1768. =3.= _Pom. Mag._ =1=:38, Pl. 1828. =4.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:61. 1832. =5.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 285. 1845. =6.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 300, 383. 1846. =7.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1.= 1846. =8.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 329. 1849. =9.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 730. 1884. =10.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 454. 1889.
_Die Weisse Kaiserpflaume_ 3, 4, 6, 10 incor. Die Weisse Kaiserpflaume 1. Die Weisse Kaiserinnpflaume 1. _Imperatrice Blanche_ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10. The White Imperatrice Plum 3. Prune Imperatrice Blanche 7. _White Imperatrice_ 3, 10. _White Empress_ 5, 8, 10. Weisse Kaiserpflaume 10.
Kraft in his _Pomona Austriaca_, 1796, described a Weisse Kaiserpflaume and a Weisse Kaiserinnpflaume and gave Imperatrice Blanche as a synonym to both of them. The latter he gave as a variety of the Weisse Kaiserpflaume but it is probable that they are the same since no other author noted the distinction, and, in fact, the differences mentioned are wholly insignificant. According to Downing this variety was little known in this country in 1845 and it is doubtful if it is now known at all. It is described as follows:
Compared with the Saint Catherine, which it resembles, it is found to differ in that its stone is free and its flavor less high; branches smooth; leaves smaller and less shining; fruit matures in September; of medium size, obovate; suture indistinct; cavity narrow; skin yellow, spotted with a little red; bloom thin; flesh yellow, crisp, juicy, sweet.
WHITE PERDRIGON
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Rea _Flora_ 208. 1676. =2.= Langley _Pomona_ 92, 93, Pl. XXIII figs. V & VI. 1729. =3.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ =3.= 1754. =4.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:84, Pl. VIII. 1768. =5.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:41, Tab. 193 fig. 1. 1796. =6.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 151. 1831. 7. Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:52, 64. 1832. =8.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 287. 1845. =9.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 298, 301, 383. 1846. =10.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 386. 1866. =11.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 454. 1889.
_Brignolle_ 11. _Brignole_ 6, 8, 10, 11. Die weisse Duranzen pflaume 5. _Diaprée Blanche_ 11. Maître Claude 2, 3, 7, 9. Perdrigon blanc 4. _Perdrigon blanc_ 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. _Maître Claude_ 8, 10, 11. Weisser Perdrigon 11. _Weisse Diaprée_ 11. _Weisses Rebhuhnerei_ 11. _Prune-Pêche_ (of some) 11. _White Perdrigon_ 11.
White Perdrigon is an old French variety grown extensively in the vicinity of Brignoles, France where it is used in the manufacture of the famous Brignoles Prunes. Because of its use for this purpose, it has been badly confused with a similar variety, the Brignole, which derived its name from the town of Brignoles, where it was first grown. The variety is probably not known in America and might be worth introducing. It is described as follows:
The White Perdrigon is a mid-season, medium-sized, oval plum, tapering slightly towards the base; suture shallow; cavity small; stem slender; skin rather tough, pale yellow, with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, whitish; flesh greenish-yellow, melting, juicy, sweet, aromatic; good; stone small, long-oval, free.
WICKSON
[Illustration: WICKSON]
_Prunus triflora_ × _Prunus simonii_
=1.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 263. 1892. =2.= Burbank _Cat._ 21 fig. 1893. =3.= _Gard. & For._ =7=:420. 1894. =4.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =106=:63. 1896. =5.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort._ 53. 1897-8. =6.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =139=:46 fig. 120. 1897. =7.= _Can. Hort._ =21=:30 fig. 1272. 1898. =8.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =12=:229. 1899. =9.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =175=:148, 149 fig. 38. 1899. =10.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 41. 1899. =11.= _Kan. Sta. Bul._ =101=:125. 1901. =12.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =187=:77, 80. 1901. =13.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 227. 1901. =14.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 387. 1901. =15.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =68=:13, Pl. IV, 37. 1905. =16.= _Md. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 85. 1905. =17.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ on Plums etc. 65. 1905.
_Eureka_ 5. Perfection 1, 2. _Perfection_ 4, 14.
It is difficult to estimate the value of Wickson in American pomology. Probably no plum of recent introduction has been on the one hand so highly lauded and on the other so condemned as this one. Its remarkable size, the largest of the Oriental plums if not the largest of all plums; its handsome color and distinct form; the firm flesh and peculiar flavor, generally considered pleasant; the narrow upright tree with its long lanceolate leaves, mark the variety as a new and for some parts of the country a valuable addition to pomology. The contradictory evidence as to its desirability arises from the fact that it can be well grown in comparatively few plum-growing regions, most of these being on the Pacific Coast and in the South. In New York, the Wickson has small value other than in private collections. The variety is a little tender in tree and bud, hardy only in favored parts of this State and not at all where the peach cannot be grown; it blooms too early to be safe from frost; it is susceptible to brown-rot; the trees are late in coming in bearing and are not reliable in fruiting; the fruits ripen unevenly; and the trees are not of good form for heavy crops. In California, however, the Wickson is one of the leading Japanese sorts, possibly the leading one, and is seemingly growing in favor. Starnes, one of the pomological authorities of the South, in his bulletin on _Japan and Hybrid Plums_, speaks of Wickson as a “grand plum” and as one of the best for Georgia. It is to be hoped that from the same cross which produced Wickson or from breeding this variety with some other, a plum of this type well suited to New York may sometime be offered the plum-growers of this State.
Wickson is one of the best known of Burbank’s many plums. The variety was first described in the report of the Secretary of Agriculture in 1892 under the name Perfection and as a seedling of Kelsey crossed by Burbank. In 1893 and 1894 Burbank offered for sale the control and the stock of this variety but found no buyers and in 1895 introduced it himself. The parentage of the variety is in doubt. Burbank considered it a Kelsey-Burbank cross; the _Pacific Rural Press_ described it as offspring of Kelsey and Satsuma; Bailey, Waugh and the workers at this Station believe it to have _Prunus simonii_ characters. The foliage, flowers, the tree, the fruiting habit, the texture of the flesh, all indicate Simon as one of its parents. According to the report of the Secretary of the California State Board of Horticulture shipments of this plum were made to New York in the season of 1897 under the name of Eureka. In 1899 it was placed on the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society.
Tree medium to large, vigorous, with narrow, upright head, dense-topped, tender to cold, an uncertain bearer; branches medium in smoothness, the fruit-spurs numerous, dark ash-gray with tinge of brown, with lenticels of medium size; branchlets thick and long, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to light chocolate-brown, glossy, glabrous; lenticels numerous, raised, variable in size; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves folded upward, lanceolate or oblanceolate, one inch wide, three inches long, thin; upper surface dark green, glossy, glabrous, with a slightly grooved midrib; lower surface pale green, glabrous, except along the midrib; apex taper-pointed, base cuneate, margin finely serrate, with reddish glands; petiole three-eighths inch long, lightly pubescent along one side, faintly tinged red, glandless or with from one to nine small, reniform, greenish or yellow glands variable in position.
Blooming season early and of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, intermediate in size, white; borne in clusters on lateral spurs, in pairs or in threes; pedicels of medium length and thickness, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes acute, erect, glandular-ciliate; petals oval, entire, short-clawed; anthers yellowish; filaments below medium in length; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit early mid-season, period of ripening long; variable in size, the larger fruits about two and one-eighth inches in diameter, obliquely cordate, halves unequal; cavity deep, abrupt, with yellowish concentric rings; suture often prominent and deep, with a prolonged tip at the apex; color dark red over a yellow ground, indistinctly splashed with darker red, mottled with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, yellow, inconspicuous, densely clustered about the apex; stem thick, eleven-sixteenths inch long, glabrous; skin thin, tender, separating easily; flesh amber-yellow, juicy, coarse, somewhat fibrous, firm, sweet, pleasant but not high in flavor; good; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval or ovate, pointed, with pitted surfaces; ventral suture winged; dorsal suture grooved.
WILD GOOSE
[Illustration: WILD GOOSE]
_Prunus munsoniana_
=1.= _Gard. Mon._ =9=:105. 1867. =2.= _Am. Jour. Hort._ =5=:147. 1869. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 60. 1869. =4.= _Am. Hort. An._ 78. 1870. =5.= _Country Gent._ =35=:166. 1870. =6.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 116. 1871. =7.= _Ibid._ 44. 1875. =8.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 36. 1875. =9.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 152, 153, 154. 1883. =10.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 454. 1889. =11.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:51, fig. 3, 86. 1892. =12.= _Tex. Sta. Bul._ =32=:482, fig. 4. 1894. =13.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =10=:99, 104. 1897. =14.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:24, 63 fig. 31. 1897. =15.= _Ala. Col. Sta. Bul._ =112=:178. 1900. =16.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 189, 190. 1901. =17.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:284. 1904. =18.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:42. 1905. =19.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:258. 1905.
_Nolen Plum_ 10. _Suwanee_ 9. Suwanee ?16.
Wild Goose is the first of the native plums to be generally grown as a distinct variety though Miner was first known and named. Wild Goose, too, is probably a parent of more sorts than any other variety of the several cultivated native species, most of its offspring so strongly resembling it that its name has been given to a group of its closely related sorts. In spite of the great number of native plums that have been introduced in recent years, Wild Goose is still a favorite—probably more trees of it are now cultivated than of any other native plum. Its good qualities are: bright attractive color; tender and melting flesh with a sprightly and refreshing flavor; a tough skin which fits the variety well for shipment and long-keeping; comparative freedom from brown-rot and curculio and a large, hardy, healthy and, when cross-pollinated, a very productive tree. Wild Goose has been more extensively planted in New York than any other plum of its kind and in a few cases has proved a fairly profitable commercial sort. It is doubtful if it is now the best of its species for this State but it can at least be recommended for home plantings and in some localities as a market plum. Wherever planted there should be some other native sort blooming at the same time for cross-pollination.
The following account of the origin of this variety, more romantic than credible, is told with several variations. About 1820, M. E. McCance, who lived near Nashville, Tennessee, shot a wild goose on his farm; his wife, in dressing the goose, found a plum seed in the craw, which, planted in the garden, produced the Wild Goose tree. The merits of the new fruit seem to have been discovered by J. S. Downer, Fairview, Kentucky, and James Harvey of Columbia, Tennessee. The former propagated, named and began the dissemination of Wild Goose to fruit-growers. Many varieties have been sent out for this plum and much confusion has arisen as to what the true variety is. Since the characters of Wild Goose, even when cross-pollinated, are transmitted to its offspring to a remarkable degree, the name now applies to a class of plums rather than to a variety. The American Pomological Society placed this variety on the fruit catalog list of the Society in 1875, dropped it in 1891, and replaced it in 1897.
Tree very large and vigorous, wide-spreading, flat-topped, hardy in New York, productive; branches rough and shaggy, dark ash-gray, with numerous, large, elongated lenticels; branchlets slender, long, with internodes of medium length, greenish-red changing to dull reddish-brown, glossy, glabrous, with many, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, free.
Leaves folded upward, lanceolate, peach-like, four and one-quarter inches long, one and one-half inches wide, thin; upper surface light or dark green changing to reddish late in the season, smooth, glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface pale green, glabrous except along the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt, margin finely serrate, with small, reddish-black glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, slender, pubescent along one side, tinged red, glandless or with from one to six globose, yellow or reddish-brown glands on the stalk and base of the leaf.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across, white, with disagreeable odor; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in threes or fours; pedicels five-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, narrowly campanulate; calyx-lobes narrow, glabrous on the outer surface, lightly pubescent within, entire, heavily pubescent and with reddish glands on the margin, erect; petals ovate, entire, long and narrowly clawed; anthers yellow, with a tinge of red; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit very early, season of medium length; one and three-eighths inches by one and three-sixteenths inches in size, oval, halves equal; cavity small, narrow, shallow, rather abrupt; suture an indistinct line; apex roundish or pointed; color bright red, with thin bloom; dots few in number, light russet, somewhat conspicuous, clustered about the apex; the stem attached to a stem-like growth from the fruit-spurs gives the appearance on the tree of a jointed stem, very slender, three-quarters inch long, glabrous, not adhering well to the fruit; skin tough, slightly astringent, separating readily; flesh yellowish, very juicy and fibrous, tender and melting, sweet next the skin but sour at the center, sprightly; fair to good; stone adhering, seven-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, long and narrow-oval, flattened, slightly necked at the base, acute at the apex, roughened; ventral suture wide, blunt, ridged; dorsal suture acute or with a shallow, indistinct groove.
WILLARD
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Ohio Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 81. 1893. =2.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =62=:31. 1894. =3.= _Ibid._ =106=:64. 1896. =4.= _Ibid._ =131=:194. 1897. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 26. 1897. =6.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =177=:42, 43. 1899. =7.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =175=:134 fig. 27. 1899. =8.= _Rural N. Y._ =57=:515, 530, 595. 1898. =9.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 140. 1901. =10.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =68=:33. 1905. =11.= _Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 420. 1905.
_Botan No. 26_ 2, 3, 9. _Botan_ 1. Botan No. 26 1. _Willard Plum_ 1. Willard Japan 8.
Willard is about the earliest of the Triflora plums that can be shipped to the markets. When this is said all is said; as the variety has little else to recommend it, being very inferior in quality and having a reputation of being subject to shot-hole fungus. S. D. Willard, Geneva, New York, procured cions of this variety from California about 1888 from an importation made by Burbank from Japan. According to Willard, the plum was received under the name Botan and he labelled it No. 26 to avoid confusion; in 1893, it was named Willard by W. F. Heikes of the Huntsville Nurseries, Huntsville, Alabama. The American Pomological Society placed the variety on its fruit catalog list in 1897.
Tree medium to large, vigorous, vasiform, productive; leaves falling early, folded upward, oblanceolate, one and three-eighths inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long, thin, glabrous; margin finely and doubly serrate, with very small glands; petiole three-quarters inch long, with from one to five reniform glands usually on the stalk.
Fruit early, of medium size, roundish or somewhat oblong, blunt at the apex, dark red when well grown, covered with thick bloom; stem short, thick, adhering poorly to the fruit; skin sour; flesh greenish-yellow, rather firm, sweet, low in flavor; poor in quality; stone variable in adhesion, of medium size.
WOLF
[Illustration: WOLF]
_Prunus americana mollis_
=1.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 367. 1883. =2.= _Rural N. Y._ =44=:645. 1885. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 40. 1889. =4.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:45 fig. 2, 87. 1892. =5.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =118=:54. 1895. =6.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:24, 64. 1897. =7.= _Colo. Sta. Bul._ =50=:47. 1898. =8.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 167. 1901. =9.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:284 fig. 1904. =10.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:42. 1905. =11.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =114=:148 fig. 1910.
_Wolf Free_ 4, 6. _Wolf Freestone_ 11.
Wolf has long maintained a high place among the standard Americana plums, with which it is usually classed though put in a sub-species, and from which it differs chiefly in having much more pubescence on foliage, floral organs and branchlets. It is noted for its great hardiness, reliability in bearing, attractive and well-flavored fruits and in being one of the few freestones of its kind. This plum is remarkably well adapted for the northern part of the Mississippi Valley and there alone it is worth planting extensively. In New York it might prove valuable in the coldest parts of the State where the Domesticas and Insititias cannot be grown.
This variety was raised from a pit of a wild plum planted on the farm of D. B. Wolf, Wapello County, Iowa, about 1852. Professor J. L. Budd of the Iowa Agricultural College stated in 1885 that for over a quarter of a century the original tree had not failed to produce a partial or large crop annually on the grounds of the originator. A spurious clingstone type of the Wolf has been propagated in some nurseries but this false plum is readily distinguished from the true freestone type. The variety was added to the American Pomological Society fruit catalog list in 1889, dropped in 1891, and replaced in 1897.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, low, and open-topped, hardy, productive, healthy; branches rough and shaggy, thorny, dark ash-gray, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets somewhat slender, short, twiggy, with internodes below medium in length, green changing to dull brownish-drab, overspread with thick pubescence, with numerous, small lenticels; leaf-buds very small, short, conical, strongly appressed.
Leaves falling early, oval, one and seven-eighths inches wide, three and seven-eighths inches long, thin; upper surface medium green, lightly pubescent, with a narrow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex taper-pointed, margin coarsely and doubly serrate, eglandular; petiole one-half inch long, velvety, tinged red, glandless or with one or two small, globose, yellowish glands on the stalk or base of the leaf.
Blooming season of average length, late; flowers opening after the leaves, one inch across, the buds tinged yellow changing to white as the flowers expand; borne on lateral buds and spurs; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, thickly pubescent, green; calyx-tube greenish-red, campanulate, covered with short, fine pubescence; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, heavily pubescent on both surfaces, with few marginal glands, reflexed; petals inclined to curl, long-oval, fringed, long and narrowly clawed; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil sparingly hairy on the ovary, equal to or shorter than the stamens, frequently defective.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; less than one inch in diameter, roundish-oval or somewhat obovate, compressed, halves equal; cavity frequently yellowish, shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture an indistinct line; apex roundish or flattened; color dull crimson, thickly mottled, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, glabrous, adhering poorly to the fruit; skin thick, tough, slightly roughened, astringent, adhering; flesh golden-yellow, very juicy, fibrous, tender and melting, sweet next the skin, but astringent toward the center; fair to good; stone semi-free to free, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, roundish-obovate, tapering at the base, blunt at the apex, with smooth surfaces; ventral suture winged; dorsal suture acute, or with a faint, narrow groove.
WOOD
[Illustration: WOOD]
_Prunus americana_
=1.= _Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 60. 1894. =2.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:64. 1897. =3.= _Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 433. 1898. =4.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 168. 1901.
Wood is one of the comparatively new Americanas and seems to have considerable merit, especially for cold climates. It is attractive in color; above the average size; good in quality, though not the best of its species; and the trees in habit of growth and in productiveness are better than most Americanas. It is sufficiently early to fit into the short seasons of northern latitudes very well. Wood is one of the sorts that can be recommended for the coldest parts of this State.
This variety, according to a letter from the originator and introducer, Joseph Wood of Windom, Minnesota, is a seedling from a choice plum found growing on the bank of the Des Moines River, Cottonwood County, Minnesota. It was not mentioned in pomological literature previous to 1894 and is of too recent origin to be widely distributed or well known.
Tree of medium size, spreading, hardy, dense-topped, an annual and abundant bearer; trunk shaggy; branches roughish, thorny, zigzag, brownish ash-gray, with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets slender to medium, above the average length, twiggy, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brown, lightly pubescent when young becoming glabrous in the fall, with numerous, conspicuous, large, much raised lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical, appressed.
Leaves falling early, ovate, two inches wide, four inches long, thin; upper surface light green, rugose, glabrous, with a narrow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt, margin coarsely serrate, with long, taper-pointed teeth, eglandular; petiole five-eighths inch long, slender, tinged red, lightly pubescent, glandless or with one or two small, globose, greenish-red glands on the stalk.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, eleven-sixteenths inch across, white; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in threes or fours; pedicels three-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, narrowly campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, lightly pubescent, occasionally tipped with red, serrate, with many marginal hairs, reflexed; petals oval, notched, tapering at the base to narrow claws of medium length; anthers light yellow; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens, often defective.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; one and one-quarter inches in diameter, oblate, compressed, oblique, halves equal; cavity of average depth and width, flaring; suture a line; apex flattened or depressed; color dark red over a yellow ground, mottled, with thin bloom; dots numerous, minute, light russet, inconspicuous; stem one-half inch long, glabrous, detaches from the fruit when ripe; skin thick, tough, sour, adhering; flesh orange-yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, tender and melting, sweet, lacking in flavor; fair in quality; stone free, three-quarters inch by five-eighths inch in size, roundish, flattened, slightly oblique, blunt and flattened at the base, roundish at the apex, smooth; ventral suture acute, not ridged; dorsal suture acute, sometimes indistinctly grooved.
WORLD BEATER
[Illustration: WORLD BEATER]
_Prunus hortulana_
=1.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:52. 1892. =2.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:65. 1897. =3.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ =41=:54. 1896. =4.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 182. 1901.
World Beater is very similar to Wayland, differing chiefly in being a week earlier and, as the color-plate shows, the plums are a little smaller and more oval. In tree-characters, as the two grow at this Station, World Beater is perhaps the better plum. This variety has the same place in pomology as Wayland, a place which it fills possibly a little better. It may be recommended for culinary purposes and as a late plum for regions where the peach is hardy. Plums of this species have small value in New York except for the sake of variety.
World Beater was grown from a seed of a plum found near Nashville, Tennessee, in 1838, by J. H. Tinsley and planted in Lincoln County, Kentucky. About ten years later trees of the variety were taken to Clay County, Missouri, and were further propagated but the variety remained practically unknown until the fall of 1890 when it was introduced by Stark Brothers of Missouri.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, open and flat-topped, hardy where the peach can be grown, productive; branches rough and shaggy, somewhat thorny, dark ash-gray, with numerous, large lenticels; branchlets medium to above in thickness and length, twiggy, with internodes of average length, green changing to dark chestnut-red, glossy, glabrous, with few, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds very small and short, obtuse, plump, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, broadly lanceolate, peach-like, one and three-quarters inches wide, four and one-half inches long, thin; upper surface smooth, glossy, with a shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface pubescent on the midrib and larger veins; apex acuminate, base abrupt, margin serrate, glandular; petiole one inch long, slender, tinged red, pubescent on one side, with from two to six small, globose, brownish glands scattered on the stalk or base of the leaf.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across, white, with a disagreeable odor; borne in clusters from lateral buds, in twos, threes or fours; pedicels three-quarters inch long, very slender, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acuminate, slightly pubescent towards the base of the inner surface, serrate and with reddish glands, erect; petals ovate, crenate, fringed, with pubescent claws of medium width; anthers yellowish; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit very late, season short; one inch by seven-eighths inch in size, roundish-ovate or oval, not compressed, halves equal; cavity narrow, shallow, rather abrupt; suture a line; apex pointed; color carmine, bloomless; dots medium in number, small, whitish or sometimes reddish, somewhat conspicuous; stem slender, medium to above in length, glabrous, not adhering to the fruit; skin thick, tough, astringent, adhering slightly; flesh light yellow, juicy, coarse, melting near the skin but firmer and fibrous next the pit, sweet except near the center, strongly aromatic; fair to good; stone often tinged red, adhering, three-quarters inch by three-eighths inch in size, oval, turgid, angular, pointed at the base and apex, roughish; ventral suture wide, blunt, ridged; dorsal suture acute or with an indistinct, shallow groove.
WYANT
_Prunus americana_
=1.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 327. 1885. =2.= _Ibid._ 85. 1890. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:46. 1892. =4.= _Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 448. 1893. =5.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =31=:345. 1895. =6.= _Kan. Sta. Bul._ =73=:192. 1897. =7.= _Wis. Sta. Bul._ =63=:24, 65 fig. 32, 66. 1897. =8.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 24. 1897. =9.= _Colo. Sta. Bul._ =50=:47. 1898. =10.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =46=:292. 1900. =11.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 167 fig., 168. 1901. =12.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ =43=:32. 1903. =13.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:284, 285 fig. 1904. =14.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:44, 49 fig. 1905.
Wyant is one of the standard Americana plums, ranking well with the best of them in both fruit and tree-characters. While it is almost beyond question a true Americana (from its history it could hardly be otherwise,) it has a number of characters that mark it as a departure from the usual type of _Prunus americana_. The calyx-tube is bright red, a character found only in a few other varieties of this species; the stamens are much longer than is usual in the species and much more numerous; the pistils are often defective; the flowers are borne in greater profusion; the plums do not have the distinctive Americana taste; the flesh is less juicy than usual; the skin is free and the stones are nearly free and have pitted surfaces. Some of these characters are so valuable in a native plum that Wyant may well be used to breed from. The trees from which the description here given was made came from C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, Iowa, and to the best of our belief are true to name.
This variety, according to a letter from J. E. Wyant, Shellsburg, Iowa, was found by J. B. Wyant of Janesville, Iowa, while hunting for wild plums in 1866 on the Cedar River near his home. The following year he transplanted the tree to his yard. About 1874, J. E. Wyant told R. Royce of Shellsburg, Iowa, proprietor of the Benton County Nursery, of this tree. Royce secured cuttings from the original tree and began propagating the plum. Fruits were sent to Professor J. L. Budd, Ames, Iowa, who named it Wyant. The variety was introduced by Mr. Royce and was disseminated by him and by Professor Budd. In 1897 it was added to the fruit catalog list of the American Pomological Society.
Tree small, spreading and straggling, flat-topped, very hardy, productive, healthy; branches rough and shaggy, zigzag, thorny, dark ash-gray, with numerous, large lenticels; branchlets willowy, slender, long, with long internodes, greenish-red changing to reddish-brown, glossy, glabrous, with conspicuous, raised lenticels of average size and number; leaf-buds small, pointed, strongly appressed.
Leaves falling early, folded upward, oval, one and five-eighths inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long, thin; upper surface green, smooth, glabrous, grooved on the midrib and larger veins; lower surface silvery-green, lightly pubescent; apex acuminate, base abrupt, margin coarsely and doubly serrate, the serrations sharp-pointed, not glandular; petiole one-half inch long, tinged red, pubescent, glandless or with from one to five globose, yellowish-green glands on the stalk.
Blooming season medium to late, of average length; flowers appearing with the leaves, showy on account of the many blossoms and peculiar appearance caused by the numerous long stamens, whitish, with disagreeable odor; borne in dense clusters on lateral buds and spurs, one to four flowers in each cluster; pedicels one-half inch long, slender, glabrous, green, faintly tinged with red; calyx-tube red, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, lightly pubescent on the inner surface, serrate and with numerous marginal hairs, erect; petals small, narrow-ovate, crenate, with narrow, long claws; stamens very numerous; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil slender, glabrous, shorter than the stamens, often defective.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; one and one-quarter inches in diameter, not symmetrical in shape, oblong-obovate to nearly ovate, oblique, somewhat truncate, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture a line; apex slightly flattened; color dark carmine over a yellow ground which largely disappears as maturity advances, with thin bloom; dots numerous, very small, light russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, one-half inch long, glabrous, dehiscent; skin thin, tender, separating readily; flesh dark golden-yellow, juicy, tender and melting, sweet, with the Americana flavor less marked than in other varieties; of fair quality; stone nearly free, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, broadly oval, flattened, blunt at the base, somewhat pointed at the apex, with pitted, dark colored surfaces; ventral suture blunt or slightly winged, shallowly ridged; dorsal suture acute, with shallow, narrow, distinct groove.
YELLOW EGG
[Illustration: YELLOW EGG]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Rea _Flora_ 209. 1676. =2.= Ray _Hist. Plant._ =2=:1528, 1529. 1688. =3.= Langley _Pomona_ 95, Pl. XXV fig. VI. 1729. =4.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ 3. 1754. =5.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._ =2=:107, Pl. XX fig. 10. 1768. =6.= Knoop _Fructologie_ =2=:59. 1771. =7.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:29, Tab. 175 fig. 1; 38, Tab. 188 fig. 1. 1796. =8.= Forsyth _Treat. Fr. Trees_ 20, 21. 1803. =9.= Coxe _Cult. Fr. Trees_ 233, fig. 8. 1817. =10.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 149. 1831. =11.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:57, 58. 1832. =12.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._ 258, 269. 1832. =13.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 299, 301. 1846. =14.= Poiteau _Pom. Franc._ =1=: fig. 1846. =15.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 333. 1849. =16.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 424. 1854. =17.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 520. 1859. =18.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 88. 1862. =19.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 954 fig. 1869. =20.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 18. 1871. =21.= Koch _Deut. Obst._ 560. 1876. =22.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 730. 1884. =23.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 431. 1889. =24.= Fell _Cat._ 49. 1893. =25.= _Guide Prat._ 163, 354. 1895. =26.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:193. 1897.
_Aechte Gelbe Eierpflaume_ 25. _Albert’s Damascene_ 23, 25. _Albertus Damen Pflaume_ 20, 23, 25. _Askew’s Golden_ 20. _Askew’s Golden Egg_ 16, 19, 22, 23, 25. _Aubertiana_ 21. _Bonum Magnum_ 11, 20, 22, 23, 25. Bonum Magnum 1, 2. _Col. Young’s Seedling_ 16. _Dame Aubert_ 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25. _Dame Ambert_ 16. Dame Aubert 5, 12. _Damas Aubert_ 7, 23, 25. _Dame Aubert Blanche_ 10, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25. _Dame Ambert Blanche_ 16. _Dame Aubert Grosse Luisante_ 11. _Dame Ambert Jaune_ 16. _Dame Aubert Jaune_ 10, 11, 17, 19, 20, 23. Darwin Peach 24. _Die Albertus Damenpflaume_ 7. _De Besançon_ 25. _De Monsieur_ 25 incor. Die Grosse Weisse Glanzende 7. Die Kaiserliche Weisse Pflaume ?7. _D’OEuf_ 25. _D’OEuf Blanche_ 25. _Dutch Plum_ 1, 11. _Dutch Plumb_ 3. _Echte Gelbe Eier Pflaume_ 23. _Edle Gelbe Eger Pflaume_ 20. _Edle Gelbe Eier Pflaume_ 23, 25. _Egg Plum_ 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25. _Eier Pflaume_ 23, 25. _Gelbe Eger Pflaume_ 20, 23, 25. _Gelbe Egg_ 20, 23, 25. _Gelbe Malonke_ 23, 25. _Gelbe Ungarische Eier Pflaume_ 23, 25. _Gelbe Marunke_ 23, 25. Gelbe Eierpflaume 23. _Gelbe Eierpflaume_ 20, 25. _Grosse Weisse Glanzende_ 20, 23, 25. Great Mogul ?2. Grosse Datte ?5. _Grosse-Luisante_ 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25. _Gros Luisante_ 12. _Gelbe Ungarische Eyerpflaume_ 20. _Grosse Prune Blanche_ 20, 23, 25. _Grosse Maronke_ 25. _Grosse Marouk_ 20, 23, 25. _Grosse Glanzende Alberts Pflaume_ 23, 25. _Grosse Glanzende_ 20, 25. _Grosse Glanzende Pflaume_ 23. _Grosse Gelbe Eier Pflaume_ 23, 25. _Grosse Marunke_ 23. _Grünliche Dattel Pflaume von Besançon_ 23, 25. _Hick’s large Egg?_ 11. Impériale Blanche ?5. _Impériale Blanche_ ?7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 22, ?23, 25. _Imperial Blanc_ 11. _Large Yellow Egg_ 11. _Magnum Bonum_ 19. Monsieur’s Plum ?4, ?8. _Monsieur’s Plum_ ?4. Mogul 9. _Monsieur_ 11. _Mogul_ 4, 8, 11, 23. _Mogul Plum_ 25. Mogule Plumb 3. _Mogule_ 11. _Mogol Plum_ 20, 23, 25. _Mogols Pflaume_ 20, 23, 25. _Mogul’s Pflaume_ 23, 25. Prune de Monsieur? 4, 6. _Prune de Monsieur_ 23 incor. _Prune OEuf_ 20. Prune Dame Aubert 14, 20. _Prune d’Oeuf_ 20, 23. _Prune d’Oeuf blanche_ 6, 23. _Prune d’Inde Blanc_ 19. _Prune De Besançon_ 20, 23. Prune Dame d’Aubert 21. _Prune d’Inde Blanche_ 23. Supreme ?14. Wentworth 13. _Wentworth_ ?8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 23, 25. Wentworth Plumb ?3. _White Imperial_ 9, 11, 15, 16, 19, 23. White Imperial 11. White Imperial Bonum Magnum 4, 8. _White Holland_ 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 23, 25. _White Magnum Bonum_ 9, 11, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 23, 25. _Weisse Kaiser Pflaume_ 23, 25. _Weisse Hollandische Pflaume_ 23, 25. _White Bonum Magnum_ 3, 11, 20, 23, 25. _White Egg Plum_ 11. White Magnum Bonum 10, 12, 17, 18, 22, 23. _White Mogul_ 10, 12, 13, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25. White Egg 15. _White Egg_ 16, 19, 23, 25. _Weisser Kaiser_ 23, 25. _Weisse Magnum Bonum_ 20, 23, 25. _Weisse Kaiserin_ 23 incor. _Yellow Magnum Bonum_ 10, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 25. _Yellow Bonum Magnum_ 20, 23, 25. _Young’s Superior Egg_ ?11. _Yellow Egg_ 18, 23, 25.
The characters of Yellow Egg were given in the discussion of the group which bears its name and but little more needs to be said of the variety. As the largest and handsomest of the yellow plums it is worth consideration by either the amateur or the commercial fruit-grower in New York. At best, however, it is fit only for cooking and is none too good for culinary purposes. The trees are very satisfactory on all but very light soils. As has been suggested before, this plum ought to be crossed with varieties of better quality with the hope of getting as handsome a fruit but one which could be used for dessert purposes.
The references and synonyms show that Yellow Egg is a plum with an interesting history, but unfortunately the accounts of its origin and subsequent history have been but poorly preserved. Rea, in 1676, described the Yellow Egg as the Bonum Magnum or Dutch Plum; we may infer from this that the English obtained the variety from Holland. Knoop of Holland, in 1771, described the variety under the name Prune d’Oeuf Blanche, indicating a French origin. Knoop describes the Prune De Monsieur as similar and this plum has ever since been held as doubtfully identical. Duhamel, in _Traite des Arbres Fruitiers_, 1768, described Yellow Egg as the Dame Aubert. Kraft in _Pomona Austriaca_, 1796, gave it as the Die Grosse Weisse Glanzende, oder Die Albertus Damenpflaume. These references show that Yellow Egg was well known at an early date. Because of its close resemblance to many varieties, probably due to the propagation of seedlings from it, much confusion exists in the nomenclature of Yellow Egg. White Imperial was separated by Duhamel and Prince; but Miller, Thompson and most of the subsequent writers give it as the same. Duhamel believed the Imperial Blanche (White Imperial) to be the Grosse Datte. So, too, the Wentworth was at first separated but, later, was recorded as identical. Koch calls Yellow Egg one of the Datterpflaumen (Date Plums) though he states that there is another Date Plum known by Tragus more than three hundred years ago as Prunidactyla. De Candolle seems to hold to the names Dame d’Aubert and Aubertina for this plum. Professor Budd in exploring southwest Russia and Poland found a Dame Aubert differing from our Yellow Egg only in minor characters which he was told came from central Asia.
The exact date of the importation of Yellow Egg to this country is unknown. Coxe, in 1817, described it as the Mogul and later Prince gave it the name Yellow Egg. Owing to this change in name, we find America now and then given as its place of origin by both American and English writers. In 1862, the American Pomological Society added it to its fruit catalog list under the name White Magnum Bonum but in 1871, the name was changed to Yellow Egg. The Darwin Peach, sent out by Fell, a nurseryman in England, has proved to be identical at this Station and its distributor, in a recent letter, states that this plum, which has been growing on his place thirty years, “is apparently identical to the White Magnum Bonum” which is of course Yellow Egg.
Tree, large, vigorous, round-topped, open, hardy, very productive; trunk roughish; branches numerous, ash-gray, nearly smooth, with rather large lenticels; branchlets slender, short, with long intemodes, greenish-red changing to dull brownish-red, dull, lightly pubescent throughout the season, covered with thin bloom, with few, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds above medium in size, long, pointed, free.
Leaves flattened or somewhat folded backward, oval, two and one-half inches wide, four and one-quarter inches long, leathery; upper surface dark green, pubescent, slightly rugose, with grooved midrib; lower surface medium green, thickly pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin doubly serrate, with few dark glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, reddish-purple, pubescent, glandless or with one or two globose, yellowish-green glands variable in position.
Blooming season short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white, with a yellowish tinge at the tip of the petals; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels one-half inch long, covered with thick pubescence, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals roundish-oval, crenate or sometimes slightly notched, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil pubescent, longer than the stamens; stigma oblique.
Fruit late, season short; two inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, long-oval, compressed, halves nearly equal; cavity of medium depth, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, often a line; apex roundish; color golden-yellow, covered with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, white, inconspicuous; stem slender, one and one-quarter inches long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit, surrounded at the cavity by a fleshy collar; skin thin, slightly astringent, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, rather juicy, moderately coarse, firm, of average sweetness, mild; good; stone semi-free or free, one and one-quarter inches by three-quarters inch in size, oval, rather flat, acute at the base and apex, with roughened and pitted surfaces; ventral suture wide, heavily ridged, often distinctly winged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
YELLOW GAGE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Prince _Treat. Hort._ 25. 1828. =2.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:108. 1832. =3.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 287, 288 fig. 115. 1845. =4.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 329. 1849. =5.= Cole _Am. Fr. Book_ 208 fig. 1849. =6.= _Horticulturist_ =7=:403. 1852. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 36, 55. 1852. =8.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 414. 1854. =9.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 210. 1856. =10.= Bridgeman _Gard. Ass’t_ =3=:126. 1857. =11.= _U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt._ 190, Pl. XIII. 1865. =12.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:163, fig. 82. 1873. =13.= Barry _Fr. Garden_ 417. 1883. =14.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 443. 1889. =15.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 126. 1901.
_American Wheat_ 10. _American Yellow Gage_ of some 3, 4, 8, 11, 14. American Yellow Gage 10. _Auserlesene Gelhe Reine-Claude_ 14. _Harvest Gage_ 6, 8, 11, 14. Prince’s Gage 1. Prince’s Gelbe Reine-Claude 14. Prince’s Yellow Gage 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11. _Prince’s Yellow Gage_ 5, 12, 13, 14, 15. Reine-Claude Jaune De Prince 12. _White Gage_ of some 3, 8, 11, 14.
Yellow Gage belongs to the Reine Claude, or as it is so often called, the Green Gage group of plums. There are now a great number of these plums under cultivation in America, most of which have originated in this country and nearly all of which, as we have said before, are better than similar kinds from Europe. It is difficult to select from the numerous first-rate plums of this group the best varieties to retain in home or commercial orchards. Among these, however, Yellow Gage should be kept for the home orchard at least. It is a rather large fruit, with a beautiful color—golden-yellow often with a faint blush, with a firm and juicy yet tender flesh and a most refreshing admixture of sweet and sour together with the richness which characterizes the Reine Claude plums. The fruits come, too, at a time when the market is not overstocked with these fine plums and the season is particularly long. A review of the tree-characters in the description which follows shows that in the main they are good though some complain that the variety is not productive. This precariousness in bearing, together with the tender skin which keeps Yellow Gage from standing shipment well, probably precludes the variety from a high place in a commercial list but does not prevent its being a most desirable plum for home planting.
This excellent old variety was probably one of the first plums to originate in America. It came from a Reine Claude pit planted, with many others, by William Prince[226] in 1783 in the celebrated Prince nurseries at Flushing, Long Island. Despite its early origin and fine qualities it has never had much recognition from pomologists. Downing described it in 1845 but neither Manning nor Kenrick in their excellent books on fruits mention this plum. The American Pomological Society in 1852 listed it with the varieties of plums promising well and in 1856 placed it on the list of those worthy of general cultivation.
Tree very large and vigorous, spreading, dense-topped, hardy, productive; trunk roughish; branches dark ash-gray, smooth except for the numerous, raised lenticels of various sizes; branchlets medium to below in thickness, short, with internodes of average length, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, dull, lightly pubescent, with inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds large, long, conical, free; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves long-oval or obovate, two inches wide, four and one-quarter inches long, thick, somewhat leathery; upper surface dark green, covered with fine hairs, the midrib grooved; lower surface silvery-green, sparingly pubescent; apex and base acute, margin serrate, with few small, dark glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, pubescent, tinged red, with from one to three smallish, globose, greenish-yellow glands variable in position.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches wide, white, fragrant; borne on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels seven-eighths inch long, with short, thin pubescence, greenish; calyx-tube green, enlarged at the base, campanulate, lightly pubescent; calyx-lobes narrow, obtuse, lightly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals oval, entire, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period of medium length; one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, oval, slightly compressed, halves nearly equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex roundish or depressed; dull yellow, faintly splashed and streaked with green, sometimes tinged on the sunny side with light red, overspread with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, white, inconspicuous, clustered about the base; stem three-quarters inch long, thinly pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, rather sour, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, firm but tender, sweet, mild, of pleasant flavor; very good; stone free, the cavity larger than the pit, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval, turgid, roundish, abruptly contracted at the base, blunt at the apex; ventral suture broad, blunt, faintly ridged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
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