Revised Opinions of the Japanese Plums. 



Two years ago this station publislied an acconnt (Bulletin 62, 

 " The Japanese Plum in JN'orth America") of the Japanese plums 

 as they were then known in this country. Our knowledge was 

 very fragmentary and imperfect at the time, and it was not ex- 

 pected that final conclusions could be reached respecting most of 

 the questions which were uppermost in the public mind. Yet the 

 confusion in which the whole subject lay was so great that it was 

 thought better to publish such conclusions and facts as we pos- 

 sessed rather than to allow the perplexities and the entanglements 

 of nomenclature to increase. Many of the varieties which were 

 passing under indefinite class names were renamed, and the new 

 nomenclature has been widely adopted by nurserymen. 



The interest in Japanese plums is unabated, and it now seems to 

 be wise to again report upon the subject, adding the experiences 

 of the two past seasons. It will be many years yet before the 

 difliculties of nomenclature can be wholly cleared up, but au occa- 

 sional report of progress may be expected to hasten the final 

 outcome. A few varieties are now fairly well understood, and 

 descriptions of these are printed in large type in this paper. I 

 have attempted to add descriptions of all other varieties, in smaller 

 type, for the purpose of bringing our scattered knowledge together 

 for convenient reference ; but many of these varieties I have not 

 yet seen in fruit and I cannot, therefore, vouch for the accuracy 

 of the descriptions. 



In my former report, I said that "altogether, the Japanese 

 plums constitute the most important type of fruit introduced into 

 i^orth America during the last quarter of a century, and they 

 should receive careful tests in all parts of the country." I am now 

 more fully convinced of the truth of this statement than I was at 

 that time ; but some persons seem to have read it so carelessly as 

 to have obtained the idea tbat I recommend the Japanese plums 

 as superior to the old domestica or European types and to the 



