CORNELL UNIVERSITY EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 235- 



91. De Caradeuc. — Rather large (1 to IJ^ in- diam.), globular, deep, dull purple-red 

 when ripe with a prominently colored suture, but yellowish green splashed with red 

 when it tirst becomes edible; flesh thin, very juicy and sweet; cling, the stone round - 

 ovate, rather turgid, scarcely pointed and evenly pitted; leaves rather firm, ovate-oblong. 

 Early. In central New York it ripens from the first to the middle of August. Tree aa 

 erect grower. This plum appears to agree with the myrobalan in all important botan- 

 ical characters, gven to the broad and strongly reflexed calyx lobes and stalked flowers. 

 About a year ago I became convinced that De Caradeuc is Prunus cernnifera, and I 

 was glad to have my opinion confirmed by so good a nurseryman as P. J. Berckmans of 

 Georgia, who named the variety; and the origin of the plum, which I have since learned 

 corroborates my conclusion. It originated with A. De Caradeuc upon his farm near 

 Aiken, South Carolina, about the years 185G to 1854. Mr. De Caradeuc imported 

 some French plums, from the seed of which this variety came. There were several 

 Chickasaw plums in the vicinity of the French trees and Mr. De Caradeuc thinks that 

 the variety under consideration is a hybrid, but I am unable to discover any evidence 

 of hybridity. The original tree of the variety "outgrew the parent, and reached a 

 diameter of head of fifteen feet, was entirely free from thorns and suckers, and bore a 

 remarkably rich and beautiful foliage." The variety blooms very early, some days 

 ahead of the Marianna, and the flowers, as in all varieties of P. eerasifera, are some- 

 what scattered and less abundant than in the native species. C. 



92. Marianna. (Fig. 8). — Large, round-oblong, short stemmed as compared with th© 

 DeCaradeuc, bright red and finely speckled and covered with a thin bloom; flesh soft 

 and sweet, juicy; semi-cling, the stone like that of DeCaradeuc (see Fig. 8) ; flowers 

 small, sessile or short-stalked, in dense lateral clusters like the native varieties, the 

 calyx lobes, narrow and erect; leaves much as in DeCaradeuc, but thinner. A little 

 later than DeCaradeuc, but ripens before the Wild Goose. Tree a very spreading 

 grower. C. 



From the above description it will be seen that the Marianna is in sev- 

 eral respects intermediate between Prunus eerasifera as represented in 

 DeCaradeuc, and the native American plums, particularly in the short- 

 stemmed fruit, small, nearly sessile, and clustered later flowers, and erect, 

 narrow calyx lobes, and spreading habit. It is therefore little surprise to 

 learn that the originator considers it a seedling of Wild Goose. It origin- 

 ated as a seedling in a mixed orchard at Marianna, Polk Co., Texas, the 

 property of Charles G. Fitze. So far as I can learn, the seed was not 

 hand sown, and there is a chance for error in the history. The variety 

 was introduced in 1884 by Charles N. Eley, Smith Point, Texas. 



The Marianna grows readily from cuttings, and this, in connection 

 with the hardiness and vigor of the variety and the readiness with which 

 it unites in graftage, with several species of prunus has made it very pop- 

 ular as a stock. The myrobalau itself grows from cuttings, but in most 

 cases not to a profitable extent. I have recently made a small experiment 

 upon the rooting of cuttings of myrobalan, De Caradeuc, and Marianna in 

 identical conditions, under heat. Of myrobalan cuttings, less than ten 

 per cent, grew; of De Caradeuc, less than twenty per cent.; of Marianna, 

 about seventy per cent. I do not know where the Marianna could have 

 obtained this peculiarity to grow readily from cuttings; but it is idle to 

 attribute it to hybridity until we have determined if all varieties of myro- 

 balans grow with equal difiiculty from cuttings. The question will at 

 once arise if the Marianna is reliable as a stock, seeing that it is probably 

 partly of myrobalan origin; and in reply I can ordy say that experience 

 alone can determine the value of a stock. Thus far the Marianna has 

 given good results. I apprehend that some of the dissatisfaction with 

 Myrobalan stock should be laid to the indiscriminate use of variable seed- 

 lings; in order to obtain uniform results a particular variety or strain of 

 myrobalan should be used. In this connection I may observe that the 

 flowers of Marianna appear with the leaves in New York, while they 

 appear before the leaves — as shown in Fig. 8 — in the middle and southern 



