Blue Egg-Plum? 2. Datte de Hungrie 13. _Dattelzwetsche_ 6.
_Datte Violette_ 8. _Date de Hongrie_ 14. _Datte de Hongrie_
4, 14. _Date Plum_ 7. D’Autriche 3. Frühe Dattelzwetsche 10.
_Grosse u. Lange Früh Zwetsche_ 8. _Grosse Früh Zwetsche_
8. Hungarian Date 9. _Hungarian Prune?_ 3, 14. Hungarica 7.
Hungarian Prune 4, 11, 12. _Hungarian Plum_ 2. _Lange Violette
Dattel Zwetsche_ 8. _Osterreichische Pflaume_ 8. _Prune-Datte_
3, 6. _Prune Datte Violette_ 3. _Prune d’Autriche_ 6, 8.
_Quetsche de Hongrie_ 8. _Quetsche Datte Violette_ 8. _Quetsche
Datte_ 6, 8. Quetsche-Datte Violette 6. _Quetsche Hongroise_
1. _Quetsche de Hongrie_ 6. _Sabel Pflaume_ 8. _Späte Dattel
Pflaume_ 8. _Ungarische Pflaume_ 8. Ungarische Dattelzwetsche
5. _Ungarishe Sabel Pflaume_ 8. _Violette Dattelzwetsche_ 6.
Violette Dattelzwetsche 8. _Türkische Zwetsche_ 8. _Ungarische
Zwetsche_ 8. _Virginische Ludwig’s Pflaume_ 8.
This plum, representing a type hardly known in America, may be a
descendant of a species distinct from _Prunus domestica_, and if not,
must at least be considered a well-marked division of the species named.
It differs but little from typical Domestica varieties in habit of growth
but the leaves are smaller, distinctly folded, and droop, giving an
aspect to the tree distinct from the Domesticas in general. But it is
the fruit that differs most. Fruit and stone are more elongated than in
other varieties of its supposed species and the stone is larger, flatter,
more pitted and more pointed at the base and apex. The stem, too, is
longer than in the average Domestica. These differences in leaf, fruit
and pit may be well seen if the color-plate of this variety be compared
with those of well-recognized Domesticas. It is doubtful if Hungarian is
worth cultivating in New York though it is larger than the commonly grown
German Prune, with which it must be compared, and is fully equal if not
better in quality but its type is unknown and consumers hesitate to buy
the unknown. It is well worth a place in private collections.
Nothing is known of the history of this plum other than that it has been
long under cultivation and that, as its name suggests, it came from
Hungary. As in the case of many of the varieties which came from Hungary
there are several strains of this plum. The variety that is known in
America as Hungarian was reported by Downing in 1876, as originating in
Belgium, a mistake, as this is known to have been widely spread for a
long time in Europe and European authorities trace it back to Hungary.
The Ungarish of Budd, the Hungarian Prune of the Pacific Coast which is
Pond Seedling, and the Date Plum, a yellow plum of Downing, all passing
under the name “Hungarian,” are distinct varieties.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, hardy,
productive; branches ash-gray, smooth, with few, small
lenticels; branchlets thick, long, with internodes of average
length, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, dull, sparsely
pubescent, with few, small, inconspicuous lenticels; leaf-buds
of medium size and length, conical, appressed.
Leaves drooping, folded upward, oval or obovate, one and
five-eighths inches wide, three and one-quarter inches
long, thick; upper surface dark green, rough, hairy, with a
deeply, narrowly grooved midrib; lower surface pale green,
pubescent; apex and base acute, margin serrate, eglandular or
with small brown glands; petiole nine-sixteenths inch long,
pubescent, tinged red, glandless or with one or two globose,
greenish-yellow glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers
appearing after the leaves, seven-eighths inch across, the buds
tinged yellow, changing to white on opening, not clustered but
distributed on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels
seven-eighths inch long, very slender, pubescent, greenish;
calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes
narrow, acuminate, thickly pubescent on both surfaces,
glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals narrowly ovate, serrate,
converging at the base into narrow claws; anthers yellowish;
filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to
the stamens in length, small, slender.
Fruit late, season short; one and five-eighths inches by one
inch in size, distinctly oblong, somewhat necked, swollen
on the suture side, compressed, halves unequal; cavity very
shallow and narrow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex pointed;
color dark reddish-purple, overspread with thick bloom; dots
numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, one and
one-eighth inches long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit;
skin thin, tough, slightly sour, separating readily; flesh
yellowish-green, juicy, firm but tender, sweet, mild; good to
very good; stone semi-free to free, one and one-eighth inches
by one-half inch in size, irregular long-oval, flattened,
necked at the base, acute at the apex, with thickly pitted
surfaces; ventral suture wide, blunt; dorsal suture with a
wide, deep groove.
ICKWORTH
[Illustration: ICKWORTH]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Gard. Chron._ =1=:734. 1841. =2.= _Ibid._ =2=:176. 1842.
=3.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 302. 1845. =4.= Thomas _Am. Fruit
Cult._ 345. 1849. =5.= Elliott _Fr. Book._ 420. 1854. =6.=
Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 517. 1859. =7.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:57,
Pl. 29. 1866-73. =8.= Barry _Fr. Garden_ 413. 1883. =9.= Hogg
_Fruit Man._ 706. 1884. =10.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 435. 1889.
=11.= Wickson _Cal. Fruits_ 358. 1891. =12.= _Cornell Sta.
Bul._ =131=:187. 1897. =13.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 110. 1901.
Ickworth Imperatrice 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
_Ickworth Imperatrice_ 13. _Imperatrice Ickworth_ 10.
Imperatrice Jckworth 7. _Jckworth Imperatrice_ 7. _Knight’s No.
6._ 3, 5, 9, 10.
Ickworth is hardly known in America though in England it is a favorite
late plum noted as being one of the best of all plums for late keeping.
In New York the plums of this variety are too small for the market and
are not high enough in quality for a home plum; moreover, the plums
do not always ripen in this latitude. In California Ickworth has been
found to make a very good prune and to ship very well in the green state
but here again small size debars it from great commercial value. The
habits of growth of Ickworth are very good and so markedly so that when
considered with the late keeping qualities of the fruit, one wishes that
this variety might be bred with a larger plum of better quality with the
hope of an offspring from the union of especial value as a late plum.
Knight, the noted English pomologist, raised this plum from the
Imperatrice fertilized by Golden Drop and named it after Ickworth Park,
near Bury St. Edmunds. Knight aimed in raising this and other plums to
produce a fruit containing sufficient sugar to keep well and not shrivel.
In Ickworth he succeeded to a high degree.
Tree large, rather vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy,
productive; branches dark ash-gray, roughened by the numerous,
large, raised lenticels; branchlets of medium thickness and
length, with internodes of average length, green changing
to brownish-drab, dull, lightly pubescent, with numerous,
inconspicuous, small lenticels, leaf-buds small, short,
conical, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, obovate or oval, one and three-eighths
inches wide, three inches long, thick, leathery; upper surface
dark green, shining, pubescent only along the grooved midrib;
lower surface silvery-green, sparingly pubescent; apex abruptly
pointed or acute, base acute, margin crenate, with small dark
glands; petiole one-half inch long, thick, greenish, pubescent
along one side, glandless or with from one to four large,
reniform or globose, yellowish-brown glands usually on the
stalk.
Season of bloom intermediate, long; flowers appearing after
the leaves, one inch across, white; borne in thin clusters
on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels
seven-sixteenths inch long, below medium in thickness,
glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous;
calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, lightly pubescent, with few glands
and marginal hairs, erect; petals roundish or roundish-oval,
finely crenate, tapering below to short, broad claws; anthers
yellowish; filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous,
longer than the stamens.
Fruit very late, season long; one and three-eighth inches by
one and one-quarter inches in size, oval or roundish-oval,
sometimes slightly compressed, halves unequal; cavity shallow,
narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, wide; apex one-sided, roundish
or depressed; color purplish-red changing to purplish-black,
mottled, overspread with thick bloom, dots numerous, very
small, inconspicuous, scattered between irregular flecks
and nettings; stem thirteen-sixteenths inch long, lightly
pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thick, tender,
adhering; flesh dull yellowish, juicy, sweet, mild, pleasant;
good; stone usually clinging, seven-eighths inch by one-half
inch in size, irregularly oval, flattened, faintly pitted,
acute at the base, blunt at the apex; ventral suture wide,
heavily furrowed, swollen; dorsal suture widely and shallowly
grooved.
IMPERATRICE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Quintinye _Com. Gard._ 67, 69. 1699. =2.= Langley _Pomona_
95, Pl. XXV fig. III. 1729. =3.= Duhamel _Trait. Arb. Fr._
105, Pl. XVIII. 1768. =4.= Kraft _Pom. Aust._ =2=:45, Tab. 200
fig. 2. 1796. =5.= Miller _Gard. Dict._ 3. 1807. =6.= Forsyth
_Treat. Fr. Trees_ 20. 1803. =7.= _Pom. Mag._ =1=:33. 1828.
=8.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 148. 1831. =9.= Prince _Pom. Man._
=2=:60. 1832. =10.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 290. 1845. =11.=
Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 287, 383. 1846. =12.= Thomas
_Am. Fruit Cult._ 344. 1849. =13.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 416.
1854. =14.= McIntosh _Bk. Gard._ =2=:529. 1855. =15.= Thompson
_Gard. Ass’t_ 515. 1859. =16.= Mas _Pom. Gen._ =2=:101. 1873.
=17.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 36. 1877. =18.= Hogg _Fruit Man._
687. 1884. =19.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 423, 452. 1889. =20.=
_Guide Prat._ 161, 358. 1895.
Blue Perdrigon, of some 2. Blaue Kaiserin 19. Blue Imperatrice
9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18. _Blue Imperatrice_ 16, 19. Die
Veischenfarbige Kaiserinnpflaume 4. Empress I. _Empress_ 5,
6, 9, 18, 19. _Fürsten Zwetsche_ 19. _Fürstenzwetsche_ 20.
_Hoheitspflaume_ 19, 20. Imperatrice Blue 8. _Imperatrice_
7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19. Imperatrice Violette 3,
16, 20. _Imperatrice Violette_ 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14,
15, 18, 19. _Late Red Imperial_ 9. _Late Violet_, of some
2. _Prinzessin Pflaume_ 19. Prune d’Altesse? 9. _Red Magnum
Bonum_ 9. _Red Imperial_ 9. Smith’s large October? 9. The
Imperatrice Plum 7. _Veritable Imperatrice_ 8, 10, 13, 14, 15,
19. _Violette_ 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 19. Violette Kaiserin 19.
_Violette Kaiserin_ 16, 20, _Violet Empress_ 9, 19.
Imperatrice has been long known and widely grown but the variety has no
especial cultural value in the United States, the fruit being too small
and too poor in quality. If it has any merit, it is keeping quality, the
fruit hanging well on the tree and keeping well, even improving after
picking.
This is an old variety, well known in Austria, France and England
during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Like most long-known
varieties its nomenclature is badly confused. Writers have confounded it
with Semiana, the Perdrigons, German Prune and other plums of similar
appearance. Duhamel regarded this variety as Perdrigon Late, holding that
the true Imperatrice is nearly round. Calvel, also, describes a roundish
plum under this name in his _Traite Complet sur les Pepinieres_. It is
probable, however, that both Duhamel and Calvel were mistaken as all
other authors describe an obovate plum. This variety was introduced into
America early in the last century but has never become popular. It is of
interest, nevertheless, since it has been a leading European variety, is
a parent of a number of other varieties and its name is given to a group
of plums. The American Pomological Society added it to its fruit catalog
list in 1877, but dropped it in 1883.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, productive; leaves
obovate or oval, two and one-quarter inches wide, four and
one-quarter inches long, slightly rugose; margin crenate;
petiole one inch long, thick, tinged red, pubescent, glandless,
or with one or two small glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Fruit late; one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths
inches in size, roundish or ovate, purplish-black, overspread
with medium thick bloom; flesh golden-yellow, rather dry, firm
but tender, sweet; of fair quality; stone free, one inch by
three-quarters inch in size, roundish-ovate, the surfaces often
granular and with a reddish tinge.
IMPERIAL EPINEUSE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort._ 48, 50. 1897-98. =2.= _U. S. D.
A. Div. Pom. Bul._ =7=:316. 1898. =3.= _Can. Exp. Farm Bul._
2nd Ser. =3=:53 1900. =4.= Bailey _Cyc. Hort._ 1378. 1901. =5.=
Wickson _Cal. Fruits_ 221, 224. 1908.
_Clairac Mammoth_ 1, 5. Imperial Epineux 3.
Imperial Epineuse is well worthy a trial in New York. It is not surpassed
in quality by any other plum of its color. It is one of the largest
plums in the Prune group and is made further attractive by a handsome
reddish-purple color which is lighter or darker according to the exposure
of the plums to the sun. As grown in two orchards near Geneva the
tree-characters are exceptionally good; the crop is so borne on the main
limbs as to be protected from the sun and the tree is particularly large
and vigorous, its strong upright growth being a striking characteristic
of the variety. If the variety proves to be as valuable elsewhere in the
State in all characters as it is here it cannot but make a very desirable
plum for the market.
The Imperial Epineuse was found growing as a chance seedling about 1870
in an abandoned monastery near Clairac, in the Valley of Lot, the great
prune district of France. It was first brought to the United States by
Felix Gillett of Nevada City, California, who received the variety with
several others in 1883, three years previous to a similar importation
made by John Rock of Niles, California. After testing the variety Mr.
Gillett mentioned it, without a name, in his catalog in 1888 but owing to
the scarcity of the trees was unable to introduce it to the trade until
1893 when it was sent out under the name “Clairac Mammoth,” from the name
of its place of origin. In 1895 E. Smith & Sons of Geneva, New York,
received this variety from Gillett and grew it under the name “Clarice
Mammoth”.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, fairly productive; branches
numerous, covered with many fruit-spurs; branchlets twiggy,
marked with scarf-skin; leaf-buds large, very free, broad
at the base; leaves folded backward, obovate, one and
three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long,
thick, rugose, glabrous except along the deeply and widely
grooved midrib; petiole one inch long, tinged red, glandless
or with from one to three globose glands; blooming season
intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the
leaves, one inch across, singly or in threes.
Fruit rather late, season short to medium in length; large,
slightly obovate, purplish-red, darker on the sunny side,
mottled, overspread with thick bloom; flesh greenish-yellow,
fibrous, rather tender, sweet, agreeable in flavor; good to
very good; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch
in size, irregular-oval, flattened, obliquely but bluntly
contracted at the base, with pitted surfaces; ventral suture
narrow, prominent, often distinctly winged.
IMPERIAL GAGE
[Illustration: IMPERIAL GAGE]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Am. Gard. Cal._ 588. 1806. =2.= Prince _Treat. Hort._
25, 26. 1828. =3.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 147, 148. 1831.
=4.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:56. 1832. =5.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._
209. 1835. =6.= _Mag. Hort._ =6=:123. 1840. =7.= _Cultivator_
=10=:167 fig. 1843. =8.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 278 fig.
107. 1845. =9.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 302, 383.
1846. =10.= _N. Y. Agr. Soc. Rpt._ 343 fig. 1847. =11.= Thomas
_Am. Fruit Cult._ 325, 326 fig. 254. 1849. =12.= _Mag. Hort._
=16=:454. 1850. =13.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 54. 1852. =14.=
Elliott _Fr. Book_ 411. 1854. =15.= _U. S. Pat. Off. Rpt._ 148,
Pl. 5 fig. 1. 1864. =16.= Barry _Fr. Garden_ 413. 1883. =17.=
Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 443. 1889. =18.= Wickson _Cal. Fruits_ 355.
1891. =19.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =103=:34. 1894. =20.= _Guide
Prat._ 154, 364. 1895. =21.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:187.
1897. =22.= _Va. Sta. Bul._ =134=:42. 1902. =23.= _Ohio Sta.
Bul._ =162=:239, 254, 255. 1905.
_Flushing Gage_ 7, 8, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 20. Flushing Gage 3,
9. Harper 22. _Imperial Gage_ 17, 20. _Imperial Green Gage_
7. _Jenkinson’s Imperial_ 6, 14, 15. _Prince’s Gage_ 4, 12,
17. Prince’s Imperial Gage 4, 5, 6, 10. _Prinzens Kaiser Reine
Claude_ 20. Prince’s Kaiser Reine-Claude 17. _Prince’s Imperial
Gage_ 8, 11, 14, 15, 17, 20. _Prince’s White Gage_ 4, 12, 17.
_Reine-Claude de Flushings_ 20. Reine-Claude Imperiale 20.
_Reine-Claude Imperiale_ 17. _Reine-Claude Verte Imperiale_
17. _Reine-Claude Imperiale de Prince_ 17, 20. _Reine-Claude
Blanche de Boston_ 17, 20. _Reine-Claude Verte Superieure_ 20.
_Superior Gage_ 9. _Superior Green Gage_ 12, 14, 15, 17, 20.
Superior Green Gage? 3. _Superiour Green Gage_ 8. White Gage?
1, 2, 20. _White Gage_ 14, 15. _White Gage of Boston_ 7, 8, 11,
17.
Probably there is more contradictory evidence as to the value of
Imperial Gage than of any other American grown plum. It is down in
some of the fruit books as being the largest of all the Reine Claude
plums and in others as being too small to be desirable; in some, as
being of highest quality and in others as being quite too insipid to be
called a dessert fruit. These contradictions have arisen because the
variety grows quite differently in different soils. The Imperial Gage
is best adapted to light sandy soils, growing largest and being best
in quality on such soils and making the poorest show of all on heavy
clay. The illustration in _The Plums of New York_ shows it as it grows
on an unsuitable soil—small, poorly colored, worthless for a money-crop
and not very desirable for home use. The technical description is
also based on trees grown and fruit produced on soil to which it is
illy-adapted. The trees from which these fruits came are nearly perfect
in habits of growth, vigorous, hardy, healthy and bearing large crops of
plums—such as they are. On suitable soils the variety possesses all the
qualities that constitute a fine plum, the product being adapted alike
for dessert, canning, home and market. It has an especially agreeable
flavor in all the various culinary preparations in which it can be used.
Its capriciousness does not warrant its being largely planted but for
selected locations it will prove a most valuable fruit.
The Princes in their nursery at Flushing, Long Island, New York, about
the year 1790, planted the pits of twenty-five quarts of the Green Gage
plum and from these produced, among others, a plum which they called the
White Gage. William R. Prince, in order to distinguish this variety from
the other Gage plums, changed the name to Prince’s Imperial Gage, now
shortened to Imperial Gage. In 1852, the American Pomological Society
placed it on its catalog list of recommended fruits.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, hardy,
very productive; branches ash-gray, smooth, with conspicuous,
transverse cracks in the bark, with lenticels of medium size;
branchlets slender, short, with internodes above medium in
length, greenish-red changing to dark brownish-red, dull,
sparingly pubescent throughout the season, with small,
inconspicuous lenticels; leaf-buds medium in size and length,
conical, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, oval or slightly obovate, one and
seven-eighths inches wide, three and one-quarter inches long,
thick; upper surface dark green, rugose, pubescent, with a
shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface yellowish-green,
pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base acute, margin crenate,
with small dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, thick,
pubescent, purplish-red along one side, glandless or with one
or two small, globose, yellowish-green glands usually on the
stalk.
Blooming season short; flowers one and one-eighth 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, with a swollen
ring at the base; calyx-lobes above medium in width, obtuse,
pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, slightly
reflexed; petals broadly obovate, crenate, tapering below to
short, broad claws; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths
inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens; stigma
large.
Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season;
one and nine-sixteenths inches in diameter, oval or slightly
ovate, compressed, halves equal; cavity very shallow and
narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, often a line; apex roundish
or depressed; color dull greenish-yellow, with obscure green
streaks, mottled and sometimes faintly tinged red on the sunny
side, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small,
grayish, obscure, clustered about the apex; stem three-quarters
inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin,
tender, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, firm
but tender, sweet, mild; good to very good; stone nearly free,
one inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval, flattened, with
pitted surfaces; rather blunt at the base becoming acute in the
largest fruits, very blunt at the apex; ventral suture wide,
ridged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
ITALIAN PRUNE
[Illustration: ITALIAN PRUNE]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 152. 1831. =2.= Prince _Pom.
Man._ =2=:78. 1832. =3.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._ 262. 1832. =4.=
Manning _Book of Fruits_ 106. 1838. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._
214, 220. 1836. =6.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 381. 1857. =7.=
_Cultivator_ =8=:52 fig. 1860. =8.= Hogg _Fruit Man._ 366.
1866. =9.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 924. 1869. =10.= _Pom.
France_ =7=: No. 22, fig. 1871. =11.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:69,
fig. 35. 1866-73. =12.= Oberdieck _Deut. Obst. Sort._ 442.
1881. =13.= Lauche _Deut. Pom._ No. 2, Pl. 4, 22. 1882. =14.=
Barry _Fr. Garden_ 412. 1883. =15.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_
360. 1887. =16.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 436. 1889. =17.= Wickson
_Cal. Fruits_ 358. 1891. =18.= _Guide Prat._ 155, 362. 1895.
=19.= _Oregon Sta. Bul._ =45=:23 fig. 1897. =20.= _Cornell Sta.
Bul._ =131=:187, fig. 44. 1897. =21.= _Wash. Sta. Bul._ =38=:7,
8. 1899. =22.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ =44=:92. 1899. =23.=
Waugh _Plum Cult._ 111 fig. 1901. =24.= _U. S. D. A. Div. Pom.
Bul._ =10=:6. 1901. =25.= _Mass. Sta. An. Rpt._ =17=:158. 1905.
_Altesse Double_ 8, 9, 10, 15, 18. _August Zwetsche_ 16.
_Auguste Zwetsche_ 10, 18. _Blaue Riesenzwetsche_ 16, 18.
_Bleue d’Italie_ 15. _Couetsche d’Italie_ 18. _Couetsche
Fellenberg_ 10, 18. _D’Italie_ 18. _Double Blackpruim_ 16, 18.
_Fausse Altesse_ 16, 18. Fellemberg 14. _Fellemberg_ 8, 16,
18. _Fellenberg_ 5, 9, 11, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23. _Fellenburg_
22. Fellenberg 5, 6, 7, 9, 17. Fellenburg 25. _Feltemberg_ 10,
18. _Fellenberg Quetsche_ 16, 18. _Fellenberger Zwetsche_ 12,
13, 16, 18. _Grosse Früh Zwetsche?_ 16. _German Prune_ 19,
22. _Italienische Blaue Zwetsche_ 11, 16. _Italianische blaue
zwetsche_ 18. _Italian Guetsche_ 10, 18. _Italian Prune_ 6,
7, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18, 25. _Italian Quetsche_ 8, 9, 15, 16.
_Italianische Zwetsche_ 18. _Italienische Pflaumen Zwetsche_
16. _Italienische Zwetsche_ 11, 13. _Italianische Zwetsche_
10. _Italianische blanc Zwetsche_ 10. Italienische Zwetsche
12, 13, 16. _Large German Prune_ 17. _Prune d’Italie_ 8, 9,
10, 16. _Pflaume mit dem Pfirschenblatt_ 18. _Pflaume Mit dem
Pfirsichblatt_ 16. _Prune Suisse_ 6. _Quetsche_ 18. _Quetsche
Bleue d’Italie_ 10, 11, 16, 18. Quetsche d’Italie 1, 10,
11, 15, 18. _Quetsche d’Italie_ 3, 8, 9, 11, 16. _Schweizer
Zwetsche_ 12, 13, 16. _Schweizerzwetsche_ 18. _Swiss Prune_ 17,
19, 22. _Semiana_ 8, 10, 16, 18. _Turkish Prune_ 22. _Zwetsche
von Dätlikon_ 16, 18.
The Italian Prune is one of the most widely grown of all plums. Its
home is Italy and it is grown in all of the plum regions of continental
Europe; is well known in England; is third or fourth in popularity in
the Atlantic States of America; is by long odds the leading plum in the
Pacific Northwest where it is chiefly used in prune-making and is grown
somewhat for prunes and for shipping green in California. There are
several reasons why this plum is so popular. To begin with, it is finely
flavored whether eaten out of hand, stewed or otherwise prepared for the
table or cured as a prune. The fruit is a little too tart to be ranked
as a first-rate dessert plum and yet it is one of the best of the prunes
for this purpose, though it must be fully ripe to be fit for dessert; in
cooking it changes to a dark, wine color, very attractive in appearance,
with a most pleasant, sprightly flavor; as a cured prune the flesh is
firm and meaty, yet elastic, of good color and a perfect freestone,
making when cooked the same attractive looking, fine-flavored, sprightly
sauce to be had from the green fruits; the prunes from this variety, too,
are noted for long-keeping. In the uncured state the variety keeps and
ships well. The trees are usually large, hardy, productive, well formed
and bear regularly; yet they are not ideal and the variety fails chiefly
in tree-characters. The trees are often capricious to soil and climate,
do not always bear well, seem to be susceptible to diseases, are preyed
upon by insects and suffer in particular from dry or hot weather. Were
all of these troubles of the tree to befall the variety at one time it
would of necessity give way to better sorts, but happily they are to be
found for most part in illy-adapted conditions or in certain seasons; the
Italian Prune well cared for in locations to which it is suited must long
remain one of the leading plums despite the faults of the trees.
The Italian Prune originated in Italy at least a century ago and has
long been common in northern Italy, especially in the vicinity of Milan.
The London Horticultural Society catalog for 1831 first mentions it in
England and the following year it was described in America by Prince
as an excellent prune recently introduced from Europe. The American
Pomological Society recommended it in 1856 as worthy of further testing
and in 1862 it was added to the fruit catalog list of this society.
The origin of the name Fellenberg, a very common synonym, is explained
by Lauche[218] who says: “It came to Germany through a Mr. Fellenberg
and is therefore spread under his name and also under the names
Schweizerzwetsche and Fellenberger Zwetsche.” He further adds that the
variety “is still not known in Germany as it deserves, considering its
quality, size and productiveness.”
Tree of medium size, rather vigorous, spreading or upright,
low-topped, hardy, usually productive; branches ash-gray,
smooth, with small, raised lenticels; branchlets short,
with internodes of medium length, greenish-red changing to
brownish-drab, pubescent, with small lenticels; leaf-buds of
medium size and length, conical, appressed; leaf-scars large.
Leaves folded upward, obovate or oval, two inches wide, four
and one-half inches long; upper surface dark green, pubescent;
lower surface silvery-green, heavily pubescent; apex and base
acute, margin doubly crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole
five-eighths inch long, above medium thickness, pubescent,
tinged red, with from one to three globose, greenish-brown
glands usually on the stalk.
Season of bloom intermediate and short; flowers appearing
after the leaves, one and three-sixteenths inches across,
in the buds tinged yellow, changing to white when expanded;
borne on lateral spurs, rarely on lateral buds, singly or in
pairs; pedicels three-quarters inch long, thick, pubescent,
greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent at the
base; calyx-lobes long and narrow, acute or narrowly obtuse,
pubescent on both surfaces and along the glandular-serrate
margin, reflexed, inclined to curl at the tips; petals oval or
obovate, dentate, tapering to broad claws of medium length;
anthers yellowish; filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil
pubescent at the base, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit late, season short; one and seven-eighths inches by one
and one-half inches in size, long-oval, enlarged on the suture
side, slightly compressed, halves unequal; cavity very shallow
and narrow, abrupt; suture shallow to medium; apex bluntly
pointed; color purplish-black, overspread with very thick
bloom; dots numerous, small, light brown, somewhat conspicuous;
stem inserted at one side of the base, one inch in length,
pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, somewhat
tough, separating readily; flesh greenish-yellow changing to
yellow, juicy, firm, subacid, slightly aromatic; very good
to best; stone free, smaller than the cavity, one inch by
five-eighths inch in size, irregular-oval, flattened, roughened
and pitted, necked at the base, abruptly tipped at the apex;
ventral suture prominent, heavily ridged, sometimes strongly
winged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
JAPEX
_Triflora_ ×
=1.= _N. Y. Exp. Sta. Rpt._ =12=:611. 1893.
Japanese Seedling X. 1.
This plum, parentage unknown, was received from Burbank by the New York
Experiment Station in 1893 for testing, under the name Japanese Seedling
X. While in no way wonderfully remarkable, its earliness, attractive
color, good quality and productiveness have been such that it has been
retained, the cumbersome name having been changed to Japex. The majority
of the characters of the variety are plainly those of Triflora, yet the
fruits in appearance would lead one to call it a Domestica.
Tree very large, vigorous, vasiform, very productive; branches
slender, sparingly thorny; leaf-scars thick; leaf-buds
unusually short; leaves obovate or ovate, two and one-quarter
inches wide, four inches long; margin finely serrate varying to
crenate, with few dark glands; blooming season short; flowers
appearing before the leaves; borne in clusters on lateral buds
and spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit very early, season short; one and one-eighth inches
in diameter, roundish, dark purplish-red or purplish-black,
covered with medium thick bloom; flesh light yellow, very
juicy, somewhat melting, sweet next to the skin, but tart near
the pit, aromatic; good; stone clinging, three-quarters inch by
one-half inch in size, oval.
JEFFERSON
[Illustration: JEFFERSON]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 279, 280 fig. 108. 1845, =2.=
_Horticulturist_ =1=:11, 93. 1846. =3.= Floy-Lindley _Guide
Orch. Gard._ 420. 1846. =4.= Thomas _Am. Fruit Cult._ 325, 326,
fig. 251. 1849. =5.= _Mag. Hort._ =16=:453 fig. 25. 1850. =6.=
Hovey _Fr. Am._ =2=:1, Pl. 1851. =7.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 54.
1852. =8.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 411. 1854. =9.= Thompson _Gard.
Ass’t_ 518, Pl. 1. 1859. =10.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:17, Pl.
9. 1866-73. =11.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 28. 1871. =12.= Hogg
_Fruit Man._ 707. 1884. =13.= Gaucher _Pom. Prak. Obst._ No.
95, Col. Pl. 1894. =14.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =131=:188. 1897.
_Bingham_ incor. 2, 8. Prune Jefferson 11.
Jefferson has long been popular in America and is highly spoken of
by English, French and German pomologists as well, possibly ranking
highest in the Old World of all Domesticas which have had their origin
in America. The popularity of the variety is waning, however, chiefly
because it is lacking in the essentials demanded in a market fruit. There
can be no question as to the standing of Jefferson as to quality—it is
one of the best of all dessert plums. Grown under favorable conditions
and when fully ripe, it is a golden-yellow with a delicate blush and
bloom, large for a plum in the Reine Claude group, a well-turned oval in
shape, withal one of the handsomest plums. The color-plate maker did not
do it justice. It fails as a market variety because the trees are late
in coming in bearing, not always certain in bearing, a little particular
as to soils and not quite hardy though one of the hardiest of all Reine
Claudes. Both tree and fruit are too delicate for the market-grower and
the market-men. As to its value for private places and fruit connoisseurs
there can be no doubt—it is one of the choicest. It would seem that there
should be a place for Jefferson for the fancy trade in the markets, as it
would grace the show-window of any delicatessen store; but unfortunately
there are few fruit-growers in America to cater to such a trade.
Jefferson was raised by a Judge Buel, Albany, New York, about 1825.
The originator presented a tree of this variety to the Massachusetts
Horticultural Society in 1829, and in 1841 trees were given to the
London Horticultural Society which fruited in 1845. The parentage of
the variety is unknown; Floy thought it was a seedling of Washington;
Elliott suggested that it was “from a seed of Coe’s Golden Drop, which in
growth and wood, it closely resembles.” In 1852, the American Pomological
Society placed this variety on its catalog list of fruits worthy of
general cultivation.
Tree medium to large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped,
hardy at Geneva, productive; branches ash-gray, smooth, with
small, numerous, lenticels; branchlets slender, short, with
long internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brownish-red,
dull, lightly pubescent, with inconspicuous, small lenticels;
leaf-buds large, long, pointed, appressed.
Leaves folded upward, obovate, one and three-quarters inches
wide, three and three-quarters inches long, thick; upper
surface sparingly pubescent, with a grooved midrib; lower
surface yellowish-green, pubescent; apex and base acute, margin
serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole three-quarters inch
long, tinged purplish-red along one side, glandless or with
from one to three small, globose, yellowish glands usually on
the stalk.
Season of bloom medium, short; flowers appearing after the
leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white; borne on
lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels three-quarters
inch long, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate,
glabrous, with a swollen ring at the base; calyx-lobes obtuse,
pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate and with fine
marginal hairs, erect; petals roundish or obovate, dentate,
tapering to very short and broad claws; anthers yellowish;
filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil pubescent at the
base, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; one and five-eighths
inches by one and one-half inches in size, roundish-oval, not
compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt;
suture very shallow, indistinct; apex roundish; color
greenish-yellow, changing to bronze-yellow, sometimes with
faint pink blush on the exposed cheek, often indistinctly
streaked and mottled with green before full maturity; dots
numerous, very small, gray or reddish, inconspicuous; stem
seven-eighths inch long, thinly pubescent, adhering well to the
fruit; skin thin, tough, slightly adhering; flesh deep yellow,
juicy, firm but tender, sweet, mild, pleasant; very good; stone
semi-free, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, flattened,
broadly oval, abruptly tipped, with a short neck at the base,
blunt at the apex, with rough and pitted surfaces; ventral
suture heavily furrowed, winged; dorsal suture with a wide,
deep groove.
JUICY
[Illustration: JUICY]
_Prunus munsoniana_ × _Prunus triflora_
=1.= Burbank _Cat._ 20. 1893. =2.= _Cal. State Bd. Hort._ 53.
1897. =3.= _Vt. Sta. Bul._ =67=:15. 1898. =4.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._
=113=:161. 1899. =5.= _Conn. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 155. 1900. =6.=
_Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:256. 257. 1905. =7.= _Mass. Sta. An.
Rpt._ =17=:161. 1905.
Juicy has been widely tested and in general is considered of very little
cultural importance, failing chiefly because of the inferior quality of
the plums. The variety is an interesting cross, however, and has given
a tree so much more vigorous and so much better adapted to orchard
purposes than its native parent, quite equalling the Triflora parent in
tree-characters, as to suggest the value of this cross for improving the
trees of our native plums. This plum, like Golden, was grown by Luther
Burbank from a seed of Robinson fertilized by pollen of Abundance. In
1893 the originator sold the new variety to John Lewis Childs, Floral
Park, New York, who introduced it the following year. The variety has not
escaped without some confusion as to its origin for its parentage has
been published as a cross between Robinson and Kelsey.[219]
Tree very large, vigorous, spreading, open-topped, productive;
branches sparingly thorny; leaves broadly oblanceolate or oval,
one and one-quarter inches wide, three inches long; margin
finely serrate or sometimes crenate, with dark reddish-glands;
petiole short, slender, with from two to five globose glands on
the stalk; blooming season of medium length; flowers appearing
after the leaves, three-quarters inch across; borne in dense
clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in threes or fours; anthers
so numerous as to give a yellowish color to the flower-clusters.
Fruit mid-season, period of ripening long; one and
three-quarters inches by one and three-eighths inches in size,
nearly round, dark golden-yellow with bright red blush, covered
with thin bloom; flesh golden-yellow, very juicy, melting,
sweet next to the skin, but tart at the pit, aromatic; of fair
quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in
size, oval, turgid, with slightly pitted surfaces.
KELSEY
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Gard. Mon._ =24=:339. 1882. =2.= _U. S. D. A. Rpt._ 272.
1886. =3.= _Gard. Mon._ =29=:305, 335-367. 1887. =4.= _U. S.
D. A. Rpt._ 635, 652. 1887. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 95, 126.
1887. =6.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 35. 1888. =7.= _Ibid._ 51,
99. 1889. =8.= _Rev. Hort._ 502, 542. 1890. =9.= _Am. Pom.
Soc. Rpt._ 105, 106, 125. 1891. =10.= _Am. Gard._ =13=:700.
1892. =11.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =62=:3, 24. 1894. =12.= _Tex.
Sta. Bul._ =32=:488 fig., 489. 1894. =13.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._
=106=:53. 1896. =14.= _Ala. Col. Sta. Bul._ =85=:447. 1897.
=15.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 41. 1899. =16.= Waugh _Plum Cult._
137. 1901. =17.= _N. C. Sta. Bul._ =184=:120. 1903. =18.= _Ga.
Sta. Bul._ =68=:15, 31. 1905.
_Botankin_ 7. Botankin 3. _Hattankio_ 7. Kelsey’s Japan 2, 3,
5. _Sinomo_ 7. _Togari_ 7.
Kelsey is distinguished as the largest, the latest and the tenderest
to cold of all Triflora plums in America. The variety is not much
hardier than the fig and cannot be safely planted north of Washington
and Baltimore. The tree is vigorous, well formed and productive, having
for its worst fault susceptibility to shot-hole fungus. The plums are
large, very attractive in color and the flesh is firm, the plums being
well fitted for shipping, with a rich, pleasant, aromatic flavor making
the fruit very good in quality. In the South both curculio and brown-rot
attack the fruits rather badly. It is unfortunate that this plum cannot
be grown in this latitude.
Kelsey, the first of the Triflora plums introduced into America, was
brought into the country by a Mr. Hough of Vacaville, California, in
1870, through the United States consul in Japan. John Kelsey of Berkeley,
California, obtained trees from Hough and propagated it in his nursery
to a limited extent. The first fruit was shown by Kelsey in 1877, though
fruit is said to have been produced in 1876. In 1883, W. P. Hammon and
Company, Oakland, California, secured stock of this plum from the heirs
of Mr. Kelsey and the following year extensive sales were made. The plum
was named in honor of the man who did most to bring it before the public.
The American Pomological Society added the Kelsey to its fruit catalog
list in 1889. The following description is compiled.
Tree vigorous, upright, vasiform, tender, productive, an early
and regular bearer; leaves somewhat scant, small, lanceolate,
narrow; blooming season early; fruit very late, season long;
keeps and ships unusually well; large, cordate, conical, halves
unequal; suture variable in depth; apex pointed; color rather
unattractive yellow, tinged and splashed with red, often
overspread with purple, with attractive bloom, more or less
marked with conspicuous dots; stem sometimes adhering poorly
to the fruit; skin tender; flesh delicate yellow, juicy, firm
and meaty, rich, pleasant, aromatic; good to very good; stone
clinging unless well ripened, small, in an irregular cavity
larger than the pit.
KERR
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 52. 1889. =2.= _Am. Gard._ =12=:307,
501. 1891. =3.= _Ibid._ =13=:700. 1892. =4.= Kerr _Cat._ 1894.
=5.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =62=:25. 1894. =6.= _Ga. Hort. Soc.
Rpt._ 95. 1895. =7.= _Ala. Sta. Bul._ =85=:443. 1897. =8.= _Am.
Pom. Soc. Cat._ 41. 1899. =9.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =175=:136.
1899. =10.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 137. 1901. =11.= _Ga. Hort. Soc.
Rpt._ XIII. 1904. =12.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =162=:256, 257. 1905.
Hattankio 1. _Hattankio_ 7. Hattankin No. 2. 2, 3. _Hattonkin
No._ 2. 4, 5, 10. _Hattonkin_ 9. _Hattankio No._ 2. 6, 11.
_Hattankio Oblong_ 9, 11. Hattankio 10. _Hattan_ 10. _Hytankio_
10. _Hytan-Kayo_ 10.
Kerr is about the best of the yellow Trifloras and is one of the best
of all early plums of its species. It is very productive, sometimes
over-bearing, and should always be thinned. The quality of the plums
is good and the fruits are attractive in appearance. The faults of
the variety are that the fruits drop as they ripen, though they color
if picked green, and in some localities the tree-characters are poor.
This variety was imported from Japan by Frost and Burgess, Riverside,
California, and was distributed under the group name Hattankio No. 2
or Hattonkin No. 2. As Georgeson was also distributed under the same
name, though under a different number, confusion resulted. To better
distinguish between the two, L. H. Bailey, in 1894, named Hattonkin No.
2 Kerr, in honor of J. W. Kerr, the noted plum specialist, of Denton,
Maryland. In 1899 the variety was placed on the fruit catalog list of the
American Pomological Society. The following description is compiled.
Tree large, vigorous, upright, very productive; leaves large,
thick; blooming season late. Fruit early; of medium size unless
thinned, when it becomes large, variable in form, but usually
heart-shaped, yellow with thin bloom; skin thick; flesh yellow,
firm, subacid, sweet; fair to good; stone clinging, of medium
size, oval, turgid.
KING DAMSON
_Prunus insititia_
=1.= Watkins _Nur. Cat._ 48. 1892?. =2.= _Am. Gard._ =14=:146,
147. 1893. =3.= _Garden_ =53=:265. 1898. =4.= _Can. Exp. Farm
Bul._ 2nd Ser. =3=:51. 1900. =5.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_
=4=:161. 1901.
Bradley’s King 5. Bradley’s King of Damsons 3. King of Damsons
1, 2.
The fruit of King Damson runs large for a Damson and the flavor is
agreeable, so agreeable that the variety is really a very good dessert
fruit late in the season. This Damson is little grown in America and
deserves much wider cultivation. A peculiarity of the plum is that there
is always more or less doubling of the petals. Very little is known
regarding the history of this excellent variety, but it seems probable
that it originated in Kent, England, where it is much grown.
Tree small, lacking in vigor, upright-spreading, dense-topped,
usually productive; branchlets slender, pubescent; leaves
folded upward, oval or slightly obovate, one inch wide, two
and three-quarters inches long; margin serrate, usually with
small dark glands; petiole with one or two glands on the
stalk; blooming season intermediate, short; flowers appearing
after the leaves, usually with more than five petals, one inch
across, white with a yellow tinge at the apex; borne on lateral
spurs or from lateral buds, singly or in pairs.
Fruit late, season long; one and one-eighth inches by
seven-eighths inch in size, oval, slightly necked, black, with
thick bloom; flesh greenish-yellow, juicy, firm, sprightly,
becoming sweet late in the season; of good quality; stone
clinging, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size,
irregular-ovate, slightly necked.
KIRKE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Pom. Mag._ =3=:111, Pl. 1830. =2.= _Lond. Hort. Soc.
Cat._ 149. 1831. =3.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._ 263. 1832. =4.=
Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 306. 1845. =5.= Floy-Lindley _Guide
Orch. Gard._ 281, 382. 1846. =6.= _Mag. Hort._ =15=:488 fig.
43. 1849. =7.= Thompson _Gard. Ass’t_ 518, Pl. 1. 1859. =8.=
Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:15, fig. 8. 1866-73. =9.= _Am. Pom. Soc.
Cat._ 36. 1875. =10.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 26. 1871. =11.=
_Flor. & Pom._ 47. 1876. =12.= Oberdieck _Deut. Obst. Sort._
430. 1881. =13.= Lauche _Deut. Pom._ 16, Pl. IV. 1882. =14.=
Hogg _Fruit Man._ 708. 1884. =15.= _Guide Prat._ 154, 358.
1895. =16.= _Gard. Chron._ =24=:19. 1898. =17.= Gaucher _Pom.
Prak. Obst._ No. 96, Col. Pl. 1894. =18.= _Rev. Hort._ 500.
1898. =19.= _Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom._ 536. 1904.
_De Kirke_ 15. Kirke’s 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 14, 17. _Kirke’s_ 8,
10, 15, 17. Kirke’s Pflaume 12, 13. _Kirke’s Pflaume_ 8, 10,
15, 17. Kirke’s Plum 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 16, 18. Kirk’s Plum 3,
5. _Kirke_ 17. _Kirke’s Plum_ 15, 17, 19. Prune de Kirke 18.
_Prune de Kirke_ 8, 10, 17. _Prune Kirke_ 19.
All English descriptions of this variety rank it very high both as a
dessert and a culinary plum. The variety stands well among the purple
plums growing on the grounds of this Station, but since it has been grown
in America eighty years, attaining a reputation only of being mediocre in
most characters, it is probably not worth planting largely. It has many
more worthy competitors in its class and season. Hogg, in the reference
given, says the variety was introduced by Joseph Kirke, a nurseryman
at Brompton, near London, who, he says, “told me he first saw it on a
fruit stall near the Royal Exchange, and that he afterwards found the
trees producing the fruit were in Norfolk, whence he obtained grafts and
propagated it. But its true origin was in the grounds of Mr. Poupart, a
market gardener at Brompton, on the spot now occupied by the lower end
of Queen’s Gate and where it sprung up as a sucker from a tree which had
been planted to screen an outbuilding. It was given to Mr. Kirke to be
propagated and he sold it under the name it now bears.” The variety was
introduced into America between 1830 and 1840. The American Pomological
Society placed Kirke upon its list of rejected fruits in 1858, added it
to the recommended list in 1875, and displaced it in 1899.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, hardy, productive;
branchlets with long internodes, dull, marked with
yellowish-brown scarf-skin; leaf-buds large, long, pointed,
free; leaves flattened, obovate or oval, one and three-quarters
inches wide, three and five-eighths inches long, thick, dark
green; margin crenate, eglandular or with small, dark glands;
petiole one inch long, tinged red, glandless or with from
one to four small, yellowish-green glands; blooming season
intermediate, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one
inch across; borne on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs;
filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter
than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; about one and
five-eighths inches in diameter, roundish-ovate, dark
purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; flesh
greenish-yellow, fibrous, firm, sweet, mild and pleasant; good
to very good; stone nearly free, one inch by three-quarters
inch in size, ovate or oval, flattened, roughened and deeply
pitted, tapering abruptly to a short, pointed apex; ventral
suture narrow, with a short but distinct wing; dorsal suture
with a wide groove.
LAFAYETTE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Prince _Pom. Man._ =2=:96. 1832. =2.= Tucker’s _Gen.
Farmer_ =3=:153. 1839. =3.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 427. 1854. =4.=
_Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 222, 244. 1858. =5.= Hogg _Fruit Man._
368. 1866. =6.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 916. 1869. =7.= _Guide
Prat._ 160, 359. 1895.
Gifford’s Lafayette 1, 4, 6. Gifford’s La Fayette 2, 3.
Lafayette originated in New York sometime in the first quarter of the
last century with a Mr. Gifford from a stone of the Orleans. It did not
become popular and was rejected by the American Pomological Society in
1858, but just why it failed is not apparent, judging either from the
descriptions given in the above references or by its behavior in the
orchard at this Station. The fruit is good, though not remarkable for
the richness of its flavor, its size is large and the color attractive.
Moreover it is so late as to stand almost alone in its season. A
retrial of this old sort commercially might be worth while. The tree is
interesting because of a marked tendency in the flowers to develop petals
from the stamens.
Tree of medium size, round-topped, productive; branchlets
stocky, with long internodes; leaf-scars large; leaves folded
upward, oval or obovate, two inches wide, four inches long,
rugose; margin crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole
pubescent, tinged red, having at the most three small glands
usually on the stalk; blooming season intermediate in time and
length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-quarter
inches wide, creamy-white; borne in pairs; calyx-lobes long and
slender.
Fruit very late, season long; one and one-half inches by
one and three-eighths inches in size, oval, purplish-black,
overspread with very thick bloom; flesh greenish-yellow, medium
juicy, tender, sweet, mild and pleasant; of good quality; stone
free or nearly so, one inch by five-eighths inch in size,
irregular-oval, flattened, with an acute and slightly oblique
apex.
LAIRE
_Prunus orthosepala?_
Laire is cultivated locally in Rooks and neighboring counties in Kansas
and is highly spoken of by those who grow it. The description of the
variety is made from information sent from the United States Department
of Agriculture. For a further account of this plum the reader is referred
to the discussion of _Prunus orthosepala_, page 97. The name is derived
from that of the man who first brought the plums under cultivation some
twenty or twenty-five years ago.
Tree dwarfish, dense-topped, not very productive; branches
spiny, zigzag; branchlets thick, reddish-brown changing to
dark brown; leaves oblong-ovate, light green, acuminate, with
margins closely serrate and seldom with glandular teeth;
petiole slender, one-half inch long, with two glands at the
apex; flowers white or tinged with pink, appearing after the
leaves; borne in threes or in fours; pedicels thick, one-half
inch long; petals narrowly clawed; stamens orange.
Fruit mid-season; one and one-eighth inches in diameter,
roundish, greenish-yellow overlaid with deep red, covered with
thick bloom; skin thick; flesh yellow, meaty, juicy, mild
subacid; good to very good; stone clinging, five-eighths inch
by nine-sixteenths inch in size, flattened, oval, with rugose
surfaces; grooved on the dorsal and ridged on the ventral
suture.
LARGE ENGLISH
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Oberdieck _Deut. Obst. Sort._ 443. 1881. =2.= Mathieu
_Nom. Pom._ 429, 433. 1889.
Englische Zwetsche 2. _Grosse Englische Zwetsche_ 2. Grosse
Englische Zwetsche 1, 2. _Grosse Englische Pflaumen Zwetsche_
2. _Grosse Zwetsche?_ 2. _Schweizer Zwetsche_ 2 incor.
This appears to be a most excellent plum closely resembling the Italian
Prune and surpassing that well-known variety in some respects. As
compared with Italian Prune, the fruit of Large English runs larger,
is slightly more conical, having the ventral swelling near the base,
thus giving it more of a shoulder. The flavor is sweeter and richer than
that of the Italian Prune. There appear to be practically no differences
between the trees, the foliage and the flowers of the two kinds. Wherever
the Italian is successfully grown it may be well worth while to try
the Large English. The relation the word English has to this prune is
unknown. Oberdieck, in 1881, wrote that this variety resembled the
Italian Prune in fruit, but differed in that it had a noticeably broader
leaf; he adds “it has been incorrectly called the Swiss Prune and is much
spread in Germany under the name of Italian Prune.” E. R. Lake, of the
United States Department of Agriculture, brought it to America, in 1901,
from the Pomological Institute, Reutlingen, Wurtemburg, Germany. Lake’s
stock was tested at this Station and the variety agrees with Oberdieck’s
description.
Tree of average size, vigorous, upright-spreading,
dense-topped, productive; branchlets with, long internodes;
leaf-scars enlarged; leaves folded upward, oval or obovate,
nearly one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half
inches long, thick, rugose; margin crenate or almost serrate,
eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole pubescent, tinged
red, with from two to four globose glands; blooming season
intermediate in time, short; flowers appearing after the
leaves, one inch across; petals long, narrow, white, in the
buds tipped with yellow; borne singly or in pairs; stamens tend
to become petals.
Fruit late, season of medium length; one and three-quarters
inches by one and one-half inches in size, long-ovate,
purplish-black, with thick bloom; dots numerous, conspicuous;
flesh yellowish with a trace of red at full maturity at both
skin and stone, juicy, very sweet, aromatic, with a pleasant
flavor; very good to best; stone free, the cavity larger than
the pit, often brownish-red, one inch by five-eighths inch in
size, irregular-oval, flattened, with an oblique apex; ventral
suture prominent, usually with a distinct wing; dorsal suture
with a wide, deep groove.
LATE MIRABELLE
_Prunus insititia_
=1.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 150. 1831. =2.= Barry _Fr. Garden_
339. 1851. =3.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 388. 1857. =4.= Hogg
_Fruit Man._ 353. 1866. =5.= Downing _Fr. Trees. Am._ 901.
1869. =6.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 20. 1871. =7.= Mas _Le
Verger_ =6=:7. 1866-73. =8.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_ 352.
1887. =9.= Mathieu _Nom. Pom._ 442, 449. 1889. =10.= _Guide
Prat._ 162, 360. 1895. =11.= Baltet _Cult. Fr._ 493. 1908.
_Bricette_ 9. Bricetta 5. _Bricet_ 5, 9. _Bricette_ 6, 8, 10.
_Brisette_ 6, 7, 10. Bricette 4. _Die Brisette_ 9. _Kleine
Brisette_ 9. _La Bricette_ 9. Mirabelle Tardive 1, 3, 6, 7, 8,
10, 11. _Mirabelle Tardive_ 4, 5, 6, 9. Mirabelle d’Octobre
2. _Mirabelle d’Octobre_ 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10. October Mirabelle
9. _Petit Bricette_ 5, 9. _Petite Bricette_ 4, 6, 10. Runde
Brisette 9. _Späte Mirabelle_ 6, 8, 9, 10.
In France, where all of the Mirabelles are highly esteemed, the
Late Mirabelle is much grown because of its season. The variety is
practically unknown in America, but, judging from its behavior at
Geneva, well deserves widespread trial, as do all the Mirabelles. The
history of this variety is unknown other than that it is an old sort,
having been mentioned in the London Horticultural Society catalog as
long ago as 1831. In 1851, Barry, of Rochester, New York, described the
Mirabelle d’Octobre, which is identical with Late Mirabelle, and said
that it had been recently introduced from France.
Tree medium in size and vigor, very hardy, productive; branches
smooth; leaves small, oval, one and one-quarter inches wide,
two inches long; margin finely serrate, with few, dark glands;
petiole slender, glandless or with one or two glands at the
base of the leaf.
Fruit late; small, roundish-oval, greenish-yellow, often with
a light blush on the sunny side, covered with thin bloom; stem
short, slender; flesh yellow, very juicy, aromatic, sweet;
good; stone semi-free.
LATE MUSCATELLE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Lucas _Vollst. Hand. Obst._ 470. 1894. =2.= _Can. Exp.
Farm Bul._ 2nd Ser. =3=:53. 1900. =3.= _U. S. D. A. Div. Pom.
Bul._ =10=:22. 1901.
Late Muscatel 2. Späte Muskateller 3. Späte Muskatellerpflaume
1.
This variety was obtained by the United States Department of Agriculture
from the Pomological Institute at Reutlingen, Germany, in 1900, and
was soon after sent to this Station to test. In some respects, in
fruit-characters in particular, the variety is promising, but not
sufficiently so to recommend it to fruit-growers, even for trial.
Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, productive;
branchlets thick; with short internodes, pubescent; leaf-scars
prominent; leaves drooping, folded upward, obovate, one and
five-eighths inches wide, three and three-eighths inches long,
leathery; margin crenate, eglandular or with few, small, dark
glands; petiole thick, pubescent, glandless or with from one
to three glands; blooming season intermediate in time; and
length; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across;
borne in scattering clusters, singly or in pairs; petals white,
creamy-white as they open; anthers tinged red.
Fruit late, season short; medium in size, roundish, slightly
truncate, purplish-brown, splashed and mottled with
russet about the base, overspread with thick bloom; flesh
greenish-yellow, sweet; good to very good; stone often reddish,
clinging, three-quarters inch by one-half inch in size,
somewhat flat, irregular-oval, with slightly pitted surfaces.
LATE ORLEANS
[Illustration: LATE ORLEANS]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 151. 1831. =2.= _Mag. Hort._ 164.
1843. =3.= _Jour. Hort._ N. S. =15=:301. 1868. =4.= Downing
_Fr. Trees Am._ 927. 1869. =5.= _Guide Prat._ 161, 360. 1895.
=6.= _Garden_ =49=:268. 1896. =7.= Rivers _Cat._ 33. 1898.
_Black Orleans_ 1, 2, 5. Late Black Orleans 3, 4. _Late Black
Orleans_ 5. _Late Orleans_ 5. Monsieur Noir Tardif 5. _Orleans
Late Black_ 5.
This is another variety having only a European reputation to recommend it
in America. The fruits of Late Orleans are handsome in color and shape,
but are not large enough to enable them to compete in the markets with
other late purple plums and are so poor in quality as to be worthless as
dessert fruits. In Europe the variety is rated high for culinary purposes
and fruit-growers there like it because it hangs well to the tree and
keeps and ships well. The trees are very satisfactory in practically all
respects. It is doubtful if the variety is worth further trial in America.
Late Orleans was mentioned in the catalog of the Horticultural Society
of London in 1831, but was not described. No account seems to have ever
been published of its origin, but it is probably related to or descended
from the Orleans since they are very similar in tree and shape of fruit,
differing only in size and color of fruit.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, hardy, very productive;
branches smooth, dark ash-gray, with numerous, small
lenticels; branchlets medium to slender, with long internodes,
greenish-red changing to dull reddish-brown, dull, pubescent,
marked with gray scarf-skin and with small lenticels; leaf-buds
intermediate in size and length, conical, appressed.
Leaves flattened, oval or obovate, one and one-quarter inches
wide, two and one-quarter inches long; upper surface sparingly
pubescent, with a deeply grooved midrib; lower surface heavily
pubescent along the midrib; apex abruptly pointed, base broadly
cuneate, margin finely crenate, with small, dark glands;
petiole one-half inch long, slender, pubescent, faintly tinged
with red, glandless or with from one to four small, globose,
yellowish glands usually on the stalk.
Flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white;
borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs;
pedicels one-half inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube,
green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes obtuse, pubescent,
glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, erect; petals
roundish or broadly ovate, entire, short-clawed; anthers yellow
with a reddish tinge; filaments five-sixteenths inch long;
pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit late, season long; about one and one-half inches in
diameter, roundish, slightly compressed, halves equal; cavity
shallow, narrow, flaring; suture a line; apex roundish;
color dark purple, overspread with thick bloom; dots few,
reddish-brown; stem three-quarters inch long, pubescent at
the base, adhering well to the fruit; skin toughish, slightly
astringent, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, dry,
tender, sweet, mild; fair in quality; stone clinging, one
inch by five-eighths inch in size, oval, flattened, slightly
roughened, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture rather
narrow, blunt; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
LAWRENCE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Cultivator_ =10=:167. 1843. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._
54. 1852. =3.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 412. 1854. =4.= Downing _Fr.
Trees Am._ 928. 1869. =5.= _Pom. France_ =7=: No. 29. 1871.
=6.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:75. 1866-73. =7.= Hogg _Fruit Man._
710. 1884. =8.= _Cat. Cong. Pom. France_ 349. 1887. =9.= _Guide
Prat._ 364. 1895. =10.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 112. 1901.
_Favorite de Lawrence_ 6, 9. _Lawrence Favorite_ 5. _Lawrences
Reine Claude_ 9. Lawrence’s Favorite 1, 2, 3, 4, 7. _Lawrence’s
Gage_ 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9. _Lawrence’s Favorite_ 6, 8, 9, 10.
Lawrence Gage 8. Prune Lawrence Gage 5. Reine-Claude de
Lawrence 6, 9. _Reine-Claude de Lawrence_ 4, 5, 8.
This variety is surpassed in the quality of its fruits by few plums.
The trees bear young and abundantly and the fruit hangs well on the
tree; unfortunately, the plums do not ship nor keep well and the variety
thus fails as a market sort. It is, however, a delicious dessert fruit,
deserving to be grown in every plum connoisseur’s garden. Lawrence is a
seedling of Reine Claude, and was grown by L. V. Lawrence of Hudson, New
York, some time during the second quarter of the last century. As its
large size and superior quality became known its popularity increased,
until it was cultivated not only in America, but to some extent
throughout western Europe. During the last twenty-five years, however,
it has waned in popularity, having been superseded by better commercial
varieties, though it still ranks high as a dessert plum. The American
Pomological Society placed Lawrence in its catalog in 1852, and retained
it there until 1899.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, productive; trunk
and branches rough, with large lenticels; branchlets brash,
dark reddish-brown, pubescent; leaves folded upward, oval,
two inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long, thick,
leathery, rugose; margin doubly serrate, with small glands;
petiole pubescent, usually with two small glands.
Fruit medium early; one and three-eighths inches in diameter,
roundish, greenish-yellow, covered with thin bloom; skin thin,
tender, slightly astringent; flesh yellowish, fibrous, tender,
sweet, aromatic; very good; stone free, seven-eighths inch by
five-eighths inch in size, oval, turgid, nearly smooth.
LINCOLN
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Lovett _Cat._ fig. 44. 1890-1900. =2.= _Rural N. Y._
=56=:595 fig. 253, 598. 1897. =3.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:242,
246. 1899. =4.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._ =113=:159. 1899. =5.= _Can.
Exp. Farm Bul._ 2d Ser. =3=:53. 1900. =6.= Waugh _Plum Cult._
114. 1901. =7.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 317, 318 fig.
1903. =8.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 254. 1903. =9.= _Ohio Sta.
Bul._ =162=:236, 238 fig., 256, 257. 1905. =10.= _Mass. Sta.
An. Rpt._ =17=:159. 1905.
Lincoln has never been popular in New York, but in Pennsylvania and New
Jersey it is well thought of for home use and the markets. The trees in
this State grow slowly and when fully grown are rather inferior. This is
one of the sorts recommended to be top-worked on better growing varieties
but, as has been said before in these notes, top-working in New York is
far more often a failure than a success with plums. The fruit of this
variety is unusually attractive in size and color and for quality it may
be named among the best of the red plums. Unfortunately, the variety
is readily infected by the brown-rot which when epidemic cannot be
controlled. Lincoln has been so well tested in New York without becoming
popular with plum-growers that it is hardly worth recommending for
further trial, though the fruits in particular have much merit.
This plum originated in York County, Pennsylvania, about forty-five
years ago, supposedly from seed of the Reine Claude, and was named
after Abraham Lincoln. If it be a Reine Claude seedling it comes from
a cross with some other variety, since it shows many characters not in
Reine Claude. Lincoln was introduced by J. T. Lovett and Company, Little
Silver, New Jersey.
Tree of medium size, vigorous, upright-spreading, but somewhat
variable in habit, dense-topped, hardy, productive; branches
ash-gray, rough; branchlets somewhat slender, short, with
long internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, dull,
sparingly pubescent throughout the season, overspread with thin
bloom, with small, inconspicuous lenticels; leaf-buds large,
long, pointed, free; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves somewhat folded backward, oval or obovate, two inches
wide, four inches long, rather stiff; upper surface slightly
rugose, pubescent only in the shallow, grooved midrib; lower
surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, base
acute, margin doubly crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole
nearly one inch long, pubescent, reddish, with from one to four
rather large, globose or reniform, yellowish glands variable in
position.
Season of bloom medium; flowers appearing after the leaves,
over one inch across, white; borne on lateral spurs and buds,
singly or in pairs; pedicels about seven-eighths inch long,
slender, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate,
thinly pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, acute, somewhat pubescent
on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, with marginal hairs,
reflexed; petals oval, crenate, with claws of medium width;
anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch or more in length;
pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.
Fruit early, season short; somewhat variable but averaging
about two inches by one and five-eighths inches in size,
oblong-oval, slightly necked, halves usually equal; cavity
very shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow; apex roundish
or depressed; color light or dark red over a yellow ground,
overspread with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, light
russet; stem one inch long, lightly pubescent, adhering poorly
to the fruit; skin thick, rather sour, separating readily;
flesh greenish-yellow, juicy, coarse and fibrous, firm but
tender, sweet, mild, pleasant; good to very good; stone nearly
free, one and one-eighth inches by five-eighths inch in size,
long-oval, flattened, necked at the base, blunt at the apex,
with markedly rough and deeply pitted surfaces; ventral suture
narrow, distinctly furrowed, with a short wing; dorsal suture
with a narrow groove of medium depth.
LOMBARD
[Illustration: LOMBARD]
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._ 268. 1832. =2.= _Ibid._ 224. 1841.
=3.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 303 fig. 124. 1845. =4.= Thomas
_Am. Fruit Cult._ 345 fig. 265. 1849. =5.= Goodrich _N. Fr.
Cult._ 84. 1849. =6.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 412. 1854. =7.= _Am.
Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 190, 210. 1856. =8.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._
929 fig. 1869. =9.= Mas _Le Verger_ =6=:151, fig. 76. 1866-73.
=10.= _Country Gent._ =48=:981. 1883. =11.= Mathieu _Nom.
Pom._ 423. 1889. =12.= _Guide Prat._ 160, 359. 1895. =13.=
_Mich. Sta. Bul._ =169=:242, 246. 1899. =14.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._
=46=:279. 1900. =15.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 114 fig. 1901. =16.=
_Can. Exp. Farm Bul._ =43=:34. 1903. =17.= _Ohio Sta. Bul._
=162=:240, 256, 257. 1905.
_Beekman’s Scarlet_ 3, 6, 8, 11, 12. _Bleecker’s Scarlet_ 3,
4, 6, 8, 12. _Bleeker’s Scarlet_ 11. Bleeker’s Rotepflaume
11. _Bleekers Rothe Pflaume_ 12. _Bleeckers Rothe Pflaume_
9. _Lombard_ 11. _Lombard Plum_ 1. _Montgomery Prune_ 8,
11. _Prune Rouge De Bleeker_ 9, 11. _Rouge de Bleecker_ 12.
_Spanish King?_ 14, 15. Variegated Plum 1.
The Lombard plum is known by all. It is not as largely planted in New
York as a few other varieties, but it is probably more widely grown than
any other plum if the whole continent be considered. The preeminently
meritorious characters which enable it to take first place in American
plum-growing are: The elasticity of its constitution whereby it
adapts itself to widely different soils and climates; the robustness,
healthiness, productiveness and regularity in bearing of its trees; the
fact that the fruits are comparatively free from the scourge of the
crescent sign, plum-curculio; and, lastly, its showy fruits tempting
to the eye and readily salable. The tree-characters of Lombard are all
good, making so superior a tree that it, more than any other variety, is
recommended as a stock upon which to graft weak-growing plums. It is a
virile variety and from it have come a considerable number of offspring
mostly from self-fertilized seeds which have given us several nearly
related varieties and strains. There are also a few very good cross-bred
plums of which Lombard was one parent. Lombard would be preeminently the
plum “for the millions” were it not for a fatal fault—it is very poor
in quality. Canned, cooked, preserved or spiced, it does very well, but
as a dessert fruit it falls in a category with the Ben Davis apple and
Kieffer pear, “good-looking but poor.” The variety ripens so early as to
come in direct competition with the peach and this hurts it not a little
as a market plum. To be at its best the crop should be thinned and should
be allowed to ripen fully on the trees. Lombard is now much used in the
canneries in New York and is also planted in home orchards where only
hardy plums stand the climate. In the markets it is usually a low-priced
plum.
Lombard was raised by Judge Platt, Whitesboro, New York, from seed
received from Amsterdam (References, 2). Another writer (References,
10) reports that the trees were brought over from Holland by some of
the earliest Dutch settlers of Utica and Whitesboro. The name was given
to the plum about 1830 by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in
honor of Daniel Lombard of Springfield, who was the first to propagate
the variety in that state. It was previously well known in New York as
Bleecker’s Scarlet (References, 3), but was never formally described
under that name which must, therefore, though the older, be discarded. In
1856, it was placed on the recommended list by the American Pomological
Society. Several varieties, as Communia, Tatge, Spanish King and Odell,
are very similar, if not identical to the Lombard and, consequently,
have caused much confusion in the nomenclature of the variety. This
similarity is probably explained by the fact that the Lombard produces
seedlings very nearly true to type. Professor J. L. Budd, in a letter
written in 1898 to this Station, says, “The fruit of Communia is much
like that of Lombard, but this can be said of a hundred or more east
European varieties.” Professor Budd had traveled much in Europe and knew
plums very well. His statement, therefore, is entitled to credence and
indicates, together with other circumstances, that Lombard is one of an
old group of plums the varieties of which are very similar.
Tree of medium size, round-topped, very hardy, productive;
branches stocky, dark ash-gray, smooth, with few, small
lenticels; branchlets thick, medium to long, with long
internodes, greenish-red changing to dull brownish-red,
marked with gray scarf-skin, glabrous early in the season,
becoming pubescent at maturity, with a few, inconspicuous,
small lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical,
appressed; leaf-scars prominent.
Leaves long-oval or long-obovate, one and five-eighths inches
wide, three and one-half inches long, medium to thick; upper
surface dark green, thinly pubescent, with a grooved midrib;
lower surface silvery-green, lightly pubescent; apex acute,
base somewhat tapering, margin often doubly serrate, eglandular
or with small, dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, thick,
tinged red, pubescent, glandless or with one or two globose,
yellowish-green glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Blooming season short; flowers appearing after the leaves,
one inch across, the buds creamy-yellow, changing to white on
expanding; borne in clusters on short, lateral spurs, singly or
in pairs; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, slender, nearly
glabrous; calyx-tube greenish, campanulate, pubescent only
at the base; calyx-lobes obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces,
glandular-serrate, strongly reflexed; petals oval, entire or
occasionally notched at the apex, short-clawed; anthers yellow;
filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil pubescent only on
the ovary, longer than the stamens.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; one and three-quarters
inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, oval or
roundish-oval, slightly compressed, halves unequal; cavity
narrow, abrupt, roundish; suture usually a line; apex roundish
or flattened; color light to dark purplish-red, overspread
with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, light russet; stem
slender, three-quarters inch long, adhering well to the fruit;
skin thin, tender, separating readily; flesh yellowish, juicy,
slightly fibrous, firm and sweet, mild; inferior in quality;
stone semi-free to free, one inch by five-eighths inch in size,
dark colored, oval, flattened, roughened; base and apex acute;
ventral suture slightly furrowed, acute; dorsal suture widely
and rather deeply grooved.
LONG FRUIT
_Prunus triflora_
=1.= Wild Bros. _Cat._ 27. 1892. =2.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._
=62=:26. 1894. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 26. 1897-99. =4.=
Waugh _Plum Cult._ 138. 1901.
Long Fruited 1.
Long Fruit is noted among the leading varieties of plums in _The Plums
of New York_ chiefly to condemn it. On the grounds of this Station and
elsewhere in New York where tested, the trees are unproductive, the crop
drops badly and the fruits are small and poor in quality. The variety was
imported from Japan in 1885 by Luther Burbank.
Tree large, vigorous, vasiform to spreading, unproductive;
branches roughened by numerous raised lenticels; branchlets
slender, with short internodes, glabrous, marked by scarf-skin;
leaves oblanceolate, somewhat peach-like, one inch wide,
two and one-half inches long, thin; margin finely crenate,
with small, amber glands; petiole slender, tinged with red,
glandless or with from one to five small glands usually on
the stalk; blooming season early; flowers appearing after the
leaves, seven-eighths inch across; borne singly or in pairs;
calyx-tube much swollen at the base.
Fruit early; one inch by one and one-eighth inches in size,
roundish-oblate; cavity deep; color dark red over a yellow
ground, covered with thin bloom; stem slender, adhering
poorly to the fruit; skin thick, somewhat astringent; flesh
greenish-yellow or pale yellow, tender, sweet, mild; poor
in quality; stone semi-clinging, small, one-half inch by
three-eighths inch in size, roundish-oval, turgid, blunt at the
base, the apex terminating abruptly in a small, sharp point,
with smooth surfaces.
LUCOMBE
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= _Pom. Mag._ =3=:99. 1830. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._
281. 1845. =3.= Floy-Lindley _Guide Orch. Gard._ 284, 383.
1846. =4.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 222. 1858. =5.= Hogg _Fruit
Man._ 711. 1884. =6.= _Guide Prat._ 163, 358. 1895. =7.= Waugh
_Plum Cult._ 117. 1901. =8.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 320.
1903.
Incomparable de Lucombe 6. Lucombe’s Nonesuch 2, 3, 5.
Lucombe’s Nonsuch 1, 4. _Lucombe’s Nonsuch_ 6, 7. _Lucombe’s
Unvergleichliche_ 6. _Lucombe’s Nonesuch_ 8. Luccombe’s
Nonesuch 3. Nonsuch 7. Nonesuch 8.
This old plum has a reputation of high excellence and is well entitled to
it. Despite the fact that it must compete for favor with such estimable
plums as Reine Claude, Washington and Hand, belonging to the same group
with these, it is still much grown in England and is well thought of for
home use in America. Hardly in accordance with its reputation, it was
rejected by the American Pomological Society in 1858 for a place in its
list of fruits. Lucombe originated as a seedling about 1825 with a Mr.
Lucombe of Lucombe, Prince and Company, nurserymen, at Exeter, England,
and was first described by Lindley in 1830 in the _Pomological Magazine_.
Tree large, of medium vigor, upright-spreading, productive;
branches covered with numerous fruit-spurs; twigs very short,
with heavy pubescence; leaves one and three-quarters inches
wide, three and one-quarter inches long, dark green; margin
finely serrate or crenate, with small, dark glands; petiole
pubescent, glandless or with one or two small glands usually
at the base of the leaf; blooming season intermediate, short;
flowers appearing after the leaves; petals with a yellowish
tinge as the buds unfold; borne on long naked spurs with tufts
of leaves and flowers at the ends, singly or in pairs.
Fruit mid-season, period of ripening long; one and
three-eighths inches by one and one-half inches in size,
roundish-oblate or roundish-obovate, greenish-yellow, becoming
golden-yellow, indistinctly splashed and streaked with green,
covered with thin bloom; flesh golden-yellow, firm, sweet,
pleasant, mild; very good; stone free, three-quarters inch by
five-eighths inch in size, roundish, slightly necked, with
pitted surfaces.
MAQUOKETA
[Illustration: MAQUOKETA]
_Prunus hortulana mineri_
=1.= _Mich. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 290. 1889. =2.= _Ia. Hort. Soc.
Rpt._ 55, 85. 1890. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:40. 1892.
=4.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =118=:53. 1895. =5.= _Ibid._ =123=:20.
1895. =6.= _Ia. Sta. Bul._ =31=:346. 1895. =7.= _Wis. Sta.
Bul._ =63=:46. 1897. =8.= Budd-Hansen _Am. Hort. Man._ 298.
1903. =9.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =67=:277. 1904. =10.= _Ohio Sta.
Bul._ =162=:256, 257. 1905.
Maquoketa is distinguished as one of the best of the native plums for
culinary purposes. Nearly all of the plums brought in from the wild in
America have so much astringency, most of it coming from the skins, that
they are impalatable to some. Now and then a variety is nearly free from
this disagreeable taste and Maquoketa is one of these. The quality, as
a dessert fruit, is very good for a native and the fruits keep and ship
well. In the South the plums are subject to both curculio and brown-rot.
The trees, like those of nearly all of the Miner-like plums, are rather
better formed and more adaptable to orchard conditions than those of
other species. After the Americana and Nigra plums, Maquoketa is one of
the hardiest of our native varieties, growing even in Minnesota. The
variety belongs in the South and Middle West and there are few, if any,
places in New York where it is worth growing.
The origin of this plum is uncertain. It is reported in the references
given as a native found on the banks of the Maquoketa River in eastern
Iowa and also as a Miner seedling grown under cultivation. It has been
known to fruit-growers since about 1889.
Tree of medium size and vigor, spreading, low-topped, open,
hardy, variable in productiveness, susceptible to attacks of
shot-hole fungus, the trunk shaggy; branches slender, rough,
zigzag, with few thorns, dark, dull ash-gray, with numerous
lenticels; branchlets slender, long, with internodes of medium
length, green, changing to dull reddish-brown, glabrous, with
numerous, conspicuous, small, slightly raised lenticels;
leaf-buds very small, short, obtuse, appressed.
Leaves falling early, folded upward, broadly lanceolate,
peach-like, one and three-quarters inches wide, four and
one-half inches long; upper surface light green, changing
to a dull red late in the fall, glossy, glabrous, with a
narrowly grooved midrib and veins; lower surface silvery-green,
thinly pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base rather abrupt;
margin with serrations in two series, with very small, black
glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, tinged with dull red,
hairy, with from one to four globose, rather large, dark
brownish-yellow glands.
Blooming season late and of medium length; flowers appearing
after the leaves, one inch across, yellowish as the buds begin
to open, changing to white, with a disagreeable odor; borne in
clusters on lateral spurs and buds, varying from two to four
flowers in a cluster; pedicels five-eighths inch long, slender,
glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, narrowly campanulate,
glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, slightly obtuse, nearly glabrous
on the outer surface, but pubescent within, serrate, with
dark colored glands and marginal hairs, reflexed; petals
oval or ovate, with long, tapering claws of medium width,
sparingly hairy at the base; anthers yellowish; filaments
seven-sixteenths inch in length; pistil glabrous, slender,
shorter than the stamens.
Fruit late, ripening period short; below medium in size, ovate
or roundish-ovate, halves equal; cavity shallow, rather wide,
rounded, flaring; suture a distinct line; apex roundish or
slightly pointed; colors some time before fully ripe becoming
dark carmine, covered with thin bloom; dots numerous, small
to medium, light brown, clustered about the apex; stem rather
slender, glabrous, parting readily; skin thick, tough,
astringent, semi-adherent, removing a thin layer of pulp when
detached; flesh deep yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, nearly
melting next to the skin, becoming firmer toward the center,
sweet at first but astringent near the pit, with a strong
flavor; inferior in quality; stone adhering, of medium size,
oval, turgid, bluntly pointed at the base and apex, with
slightly roughened surfaces; ventral suture acute, ridged;
dorsal suture a narrow, shallow groove.
MARIANNA
[Illustration: MARIANNA]
_Prunus cerasifera_ × ?
=1.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 28. 1886. =2.= _Gard. Mon._
=29=:148. 1887. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 38. 1889. =4.= _Neb.
Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 56. 1889. =5.= _Ill. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 63.
1890. =6.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =38=:66, fig., 71, 83, 86. 1892.
=7.= _Tex. Sta. Bul._ =32=:479, 480 fig. 1894. =8.= _Rev.
Hort._ 278. 1894. =9.= _Rural N. Y._ =54=:600. 1895. =10.=
_Mich. Sta. Bul._ =152=:210. 1898. =11.= Bailey _Ev. Nat.
Fruits_ 208, 213. 1898. =12.= _Vt. Sta. An. Rpt._ =13=:336-369.
1900. =13.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 36, 232. 1901. =14.= _Ga. Sta.
Bul._ =67=:277. 1904. =15.= _S. Dak. Sta. Bul._ =93=:67. 1905.
Marianna has little or no value for its fruit. It is illustrated and
discussed at length in _The Plums of New York_ for two reasons. First,
because it has long been an enigma which has baffled both horticulturists
and botanists; second, because it is extensively used as a stock upon
which other kinds of plums are propagated. In 1884, a plum of unknown
species was introduced to the trade. Some said the new variety belonged
to _Prunus cerasifera_ and others that it was an offspring of some native
species. The characters of the first named species are so apparent in
Marianna that all are now agreed that this variety is from either a self
or a cross-fertilized seed of _Prunus cerasifera_; if the latter the
other parent must have been some native species, the particular variety
possibly being Wild Goose, one of the Munsoniana plums. Its behavior on
these grounds, its robustness and semi-sterility and its not fitting
exactly into any known species, mark it as a hybrid. A curious character
peculiar to this variety is that it grows very readily from cuttings and
for this reason it is a cheap stock for plums of all kinds and is used
even for peaches and apricots. Besides rooting readily, the Marianna
does not sprout and may be budded as late or later than the peach. It is
chiefly used in propagation in the South, but, for reasons stated in the
discussion of stocks in 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.