The Plums of New York

Chapter Iv.—Minor Varieties of Plums 391

BIBLIOGRAPHY, REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS 573

INDEX 581

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS

PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM ROBERT PRINCE Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

ABUNDANCE 136 AGEN 138 AMERICA 142 AMES 144 APPLE 146 ARCH DUKE 148 ARCTIC 150 ARKANSAS 152 AUTUMN COMPOTE 154 BAVAY 156 BELLE 158 BLACK BULLACE 162 BRADSHAW 166 BURBANK 170 CHABOT 172 CHENEY 176 CLIMAX 178 DE CARADEUC 188 DE SOTO 190 DIAMOND 192 DOWNING 194 DRAP D’OR 194 DUANE 196 ENGLEBERT 204 FIELD 208 FOREST GARDEN 210 FOREST ROSE 210 FREESTONE 212 FRENCH 214 GEORGESON 218 GERMAN PRUNE 220 GIANT 222 GOLDEN 224 GOLDEN BEAUTY 226 GOLDEN DROP 228 GOLIATH 232 GRAND DUKE 234 GUEII 236 HALE 238 HAMMER 238 HAND 240 HAWKEYE 242 HUDSON 244 HUNGARIAN 246 ICKWORTH 248 IMPERIAL GAGE 252 ITALIAN PRUNE 254 JEFFERSON 256 JUICY 258 LATE ORLEANS 266 LOMBARD 268 MAQUOKETA 272 MARIANNA 274 MCLAUGHLIN 276 MIDDLEBURG 278 MONARCH 286 NEWMAN 292 NEW ULM 294 OCTOBER 298 OREN 300 OULLINS 304 PACIFIC 306 PEARL 310 PETERS 312 POND 314 POTTAWATTAMIE 316 PRUNUS AMERICANA, BLOSSOMS OF 56 PRUNUS AMERICANA, BARK OF 6 PRUNUS CERASIFERA, BLOSSOMS OF 46 PRUNUS CERASIFERA, BARK OF 6 PRUNUS DOMESTICA, BLOSSOMS OF 12 PRUNUS DOMESTICA, BARK OF 6 PRUNUS HORTULANA, BLOSSOMS OF 64 PRUNUS HORTULANA, BARK OF 6 PRUNUS HORTULANA MINERI, BLOSSOMS OF 68 PRUNUS HORTULANA MINERI, BARK OF 6 PRUNUS INSITITIA, BLOSSOMS OF 34 PRUNUS INSITITIA, BARK OF 6 PRUNUS MUNSONIANA, BLOSSOMS OF 88 PRUNUS MUNSONIANA, BARK OF 6 PRUNUS NIGRA, BLOSSOMS OF 70 PRUNUS NIGRA, BARK OF 6 PRUNUS TRIFLORA, BLOSSOMS OF 50 PRUNUS TRIFLORA, BARK OF 6 QUACKENBOSS 320 ROBINSON 330 SATSUMA 338 SHIPPER 342 SHIRO 344 SHROPSHIRE 344 SMITH ORLEANS 348 SPAULDING 350 SUGAR 354 SURPRISE 356 TENNANT 358 TRAGEDY 360 VICTORIA 364 VORONESH 366 WASHINGTON 368 WAYLAND 370 WHITE BULLACE 374 WICKSON 376 WILD GOOSE 378 WOLF 380 WOOD 382 WORLD BEATER 384 YELLOW EGG 386

THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK

CHAPTER I. Edible Plums

EDIBLE PLUMS

THE GENUS PRUNUS

The great genus Prunus includes plums, cherries, almonds, apricots, peaches, and the evergreen cherries or cherry laurels. Its widely distributed species number a hundred or more for the world, nearly all of which belong north of the equator. The species of the genus are widely distributed in both the eastern and western hemispheres, the flora of eastern America and of western Asia being especially rich in species and individuals. For most part the species of Prunus belong to the Temperate Zone, but several of the evergreen cherries, usually grouped in a section under Laurocerasus, are found in the tropics and sub-tropics.

The species cultivated for their edible fruits are found only in the Temperate Zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Of these the peach and the almond are believed to have come from eastern and southeastern Asia; the apricot is thought to be a native of northern China; the wild forms of the cultivated cherries are Eurasian plants, very generally distributed in the regions to the northward where the two continents meet. The habitats of the cultivated plums are given in detail in the text that follows, as Asia, Europe and America. Presumably the genus had its origin in some of the above regions; but where the center is from which the species radiated can never be known. Indeed, with present knowledge it cannot be said in what region Prunus has most species, is most productive of individuals, or shows highest development and greatest variability,—facts which might give some evidence as to the origin of the genus. It is probable that the greatest number of combinations of the above evidences can be shown for Asia and more especially for the Eurasian region, where Europe and Asia meet; yet North America has two score or more indigenous species about half of which are arborescent.

The history of the genus Prunus is one of continual changes. Of the botanists who have done most toward classifying plants, Ray, Tournefort, Dillenius and Boerhaave, pre-Linnaean botanists, placed only the plum in Prunus. Linnaeus adopted the name used by his predecessors for the plum alone, for a genus in which he also placed plums and cherries. Adanson and Jussieu returned to the pre-Linnaean classification but Gaertner followed the grouping of Linnaeus. Necker, DeCandolle, Roemer and Decaisne held that the plum alone belongs in Prunus. Bentham & Hooker, Gray and his co-workers in the several revisions of his botany, and Engler & Prantl, great authorities of the Nineteenth Century, extend the genus to include all of the stone-fruits. On the other hand, Britton and Brown, in their recent flora of northern United States and of Canada restrict the group to plums and cherries. Horticulturists have been less divided in their opinions than the botanists and have very generally placed all of the stone-fruits in one genus. The diversity of views as to what plants belong in Prunus, indicated above, suggests that the differences separating the several stone-fruits may not be many nor very distinct. This is true, and makes necessary a discussion of the characters which distinguish these fruits.

The flowers of true plums are borne on stems in fascicled umbels and appear either before the leaves or with or after them. Flowers of the cultivated cherries are similarly borne, though the fascicles are corymbose rather than umbelliferous. But apricot, peach and almond flowers are stemless or nearly so and solitary or borne in pairs appearing before the leaves.

The fruits of plums and cherries are globular or oblong, fleshy, very juicy, with smooth or slightly hairy skins. Peaches, apricots and almonds are more sulcate or grooved than plums and cherries and the first two have juicy flesh, but that of the almond is dry and hard or skin-like, splitting at maturity thereby liberating the stone; these last three fruits are distinguished from plums and cherries by having very pubescent or velvety skins though rarely, as in the nectarine, a botanical variety of the peach, and in a few cultivated apricots, the skins are smooth.

The stone of the plum is usually compressed, longer than broad, smooth or roughened, thickish and with an acute margin along the ventral suture and thinnish or grooved on the dorsal suture. The stone of the cherry is usually globular, always much thickened, smooth or a very little roughened, ridged and grooved on the ventral suture, with a thin, scarcely raised sharp margin on the dorsal suture. The stone of the apricot is similar to that of the plum though thicker walled, with a more conspicuous winged margin, and is sometimes pitted. The stone of the peach is compressed, usually with very thick walls, much roughened and deeply pitted. In the almond the stone resembles in general characters the peach-stone, but all almond shells are more or less porous and often fibrous on the inner surfaces. The stone is the part for which the almond is cultivated and is most variable, the chief differences being that some have thick hard shells and others thin soft shells.

The leaves of plums are convolute, or rolled up, in the bud. Cherry, peach and almond leaves are conduplicate, that is are folded lengthwise along the midrib in bud while the leaves of the apricot, like those of the plum, are convolute. The manner in which the leaves are packed in the bud is a fine mark of distinction in stone-fruits. In size and shape of leaves, as well as in the finer marks of these organs, the botanist and pomologist find much to aid in distinguishing species and varieties but little that holds in separating the sub-genera. The last statement holds true with the floral organs also.

The near affinity of the stone-fruits is further shown by the fact that plums and apricots, plums and cherries, and the several species of each of the distinct fruits inter-hybridize without much difficulty. It is a fact well-known that hybrids often surpass their parents in vigor of plant and in productiveness and this has proved true with most of the hybrids in Prunus of which we have accounts, thereby giving promise of improved forms of these plants through hybridizing. The great variation in wild and cultivated native plums is possibly due to more or less remote hybridity.

Prunus is a most variable genus. This is indicated by the several sub-genera, the large number of species and the various arrangements of these groups by different authors. At their extremes sub-genera and species are very distinct, but outside of the normal types, and sometimes in several directions, there are often outstanding forms which establish well-graded connections with neighboring groups. For example, among the American plums there are but few species between which and some other there are not intermediate forms that make the two species difficult to distinguish under some conditions. There is also a wide range of variation within the species. The modifications within the species are oftentimes such as to change greatly the aspect of the plant; the trees may be dwarf or luxuriant, smooth or pubescent; may differ in branching habit, in leaf-form, in size and color of the flowers, in the time of opening of leaf and flower-buds, in color, shape, size, flesh, flavor and time of ripening of fruit, in the stone and in all such characters as climate and soil environment would be liable to modify.

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