54 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Luther Biirbank (Santa Kosa, Cal.) writes: ''Kelsey blooros here 

 all winter, from December to March.'' In California the tree is 

 said to be nearly evergreen. 



There are still the most conflicting reports respecting the hardi- 

 ness of Kelsey. Some persons declare that it fruits in New York ; 

 but every report, w^hen run down, shows that the party is mis- 

 taken in the variety. The furthest north that I have known 

 Kelsey to fruit is in extreme southern Delaware. J. Yan Lindley 

 says* that in 1893 in North Carolina his Kelsey trees " were loaded 

 with fruit, large and line, quality of the very best.'^ It ripened 

 from the first to the last of August. " The Kelsey," he continues, 

 " stands at the head for canning and preserving, and sells in any 

 market at fancy prices, but it comes into competition with other 

 fruits grown north." Kelsey has been killed by cold in northern 

 Texas; on the other hand, the trees are said to have come through 

 the winter with little injurj^ in Iowa. My first experience with the 

 Kelsey was at Lansing, Michigan, where the trees killed to the 

 snow line the first winter. Professor Tamari, of Tokio, says that 

 the variety is too tender for the northern plum sections of Japan. 

 Mr. H. E. Yan Deinan, formerly pomologist of the Department of 

 Agriculture, wrote me upon the hardiness of Kelsey, in 1892, as 

 follows : " My present opinion is that it is about as hardy as the fig. 

 All reliable information that has come to this oflSce up to this date 

 is to the effect that it is not suitable to the northern states because 

 of its tenderness. I know from personal observation that between 

 here [Washington] and Baltimore trees have been seriously injured 

 by winter-killing. Occasionally I have heard of Kelsey plum trees 

 withstanding severe cold, but in every case yet followed up, it has 

 been found that the trees were not correctly named." I am inclined 

 to think, however, that the Kelsey will sometimes endure a New 

 York winter if the wood has been well ripened ; but I doubt if it 

 will ever bear in this state. 



The following correspondence to the California Fruit Grower 

 (Sept. 14, 1885) still further explains the vagaries of the Kelsey : 



"•The Kelsey Japan plum is surely erratic in disposition, — more 

 or less reliable. 



" My experience teaches me, however, that it bears much more 

 regularly when in close proximity to some other variety of plum. 



♦Thirteenth Rep. N. Oar. Hort. Soc. (1893) 20. 



