NOTES UPON PLUMS. 



I. Gkneral Remarks. 



Of all the important fruits, the common plum has the smallest 

 American literature.* The time is perhaps not yet ripe for any- 

 extended treatise upon the plum, for in a large part of the country 

 plum growing is yet in an experimental stage. In western New 

 York, the business is reduced to a more definite and established 

 basis than elsewhere in the country — unless possibly upon the 

 Pacific coast — and a few notes upon this industry may therefore 

 serve a useful purpose until a fuller treatise shall appear. 



The types of plums. — The plum industry is very complex, 

 because so many distinct species are concerned in the genesis of 

 the cultivated varieties. In this state, only the European or 

 domestic plums are grown to any extent, except that the Japanese 

 types are now attracting much attention ; yet it will be worth our 

 while to get a broad view of the subject by fixing the general 

 basis of the plum industry in our minds. The plums cultivated 

 in the United States belong to the following groups : — 



I. Domestica or European types, Primus do7nestica. Native to 

 western Asia. Comprises the common or old-time plums, 

 such as Green Gage, Lombard, Bradshaw, Yellow Egg, 

 Damsors, and the like. The leading plums from Lake Mich- 

 igan eastward and north of the Ohio, and on the Pacific 

 slope. 



II. The myrobalan or cherry plum type, Pru?ius cerasifera. 

 Native to southeastern Europe or southwestern Asia. Much 

 used for stocks upon which to bud plums, and also the par- 

 ent of a few named varieties, like Golden Cherry ; and DeCar- 

 adeuc and Marianna are either ofi shoots of it or hybrids be- 

 tween it and one of the native plums. See Bulletin 38. 



III. Japanese types, /'r/^?;z^5/r//^^ra. Probably native to China. 

 The type seems to begenerally adapted to the United States, and 



* The only American book T know devoted wholly to the plum is Kliphas 

 Cope's "Practical Treatise on Plum-Growing," New Lisbon, O , i8b8, 16 mc 

 PP- 45. 



