68 Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N. Y. 



a native of the Old World and immensely variable, there is strong 

 reason for suspecting that it is only an ojBfshoot of that species; 

 and this presumption finds strong support in other directions. 

 But one need not study far into the European plums until he 

 convinces himself that the essential features of the myrobalan 

 plum are present in several of the wild or half wild forms of 

 southern and southeastern Europe, no matter what the ultimate 

 origin of the fruit may be. Plums from Turlceslau tpresuuiably 

 wild) now growing upon the grounds of Ellwanger & Barry, at 

 Kochester, N. Y., are certainly myrobalan ; and it may be said that 

 the so-called Prunus Pissardi, which has been recently introduced 

 from Persia, is but a purple-leaved myrobalan plum.* I ha^e 

 no doubt, therefore, but that the myrobalan plum is native to 

 Europe or Asia; and it is full time that an American origin be 

 no longer ascribed to it.§ 



The myrobalan plum has long been used m this country as a 

 stock for various plums. Except upon the Pacific coast, it appears 

 to be falling into disuse, however, as it dwarfs the cion and is 

 not suited to all varieties. The endeavor to find some stock which 

 can take the place of the myrobalan has resulted in the popular- 

 izing of the Marianna, but which, if not pure myrobalan, certainly 

 partakes very largely of it. The myrobalan is generally dis- 

 tributed over the country as a stock, and bearing trees of it are 

 occasionally seen. The Golden Cherry plum of Downing** is 

 undoubtedly this species, and the fruit now grown as Youngken's 

 Golden Cherry is certainly myrobalan, and it is probably identi- 

 cal with the variety described by Downing. The fruits may be 

 either yellow or red in various shades. They are round and 

 cherry-like, with a depression at the base, on slender stems, 

 ranging in size from that of a large cherry to an inch and a half 

 in diameter. The myrobalan is very variable, a fact which finds 

 record in che various shapes and sizes of the commercial imported 

 stones. 



* Mr. Kerr has grown a purple-leaved plum from seed of De Caradeuc. 

 t'See also Garden and Forest, i, 178 

 ** Fruits and Fruit Trees, 916. 



