THE DRUPE-FRUITS 147 



teristic; glabrous or slightly pubescent, coarsely veined; petioles slender, 

 2/3 inch in length, usually glandless. Flowers 1 inch in diameter, two- to 

 five-flowered; pedicels % inch long, slender, glabrous. Fruit globose, 

 conical, oval, or oblique-truncate, 1 inch in diameter, red or yellowish, dull, 

 with or without bloom; dots pale, numerous, conspicuous; cavity shallow 

 or lacking; suture a line; skin thick, tough, astringent; flesh yellow, juicy, 

 fibrous, sweet; stone clinging or free, turgid or flattened, apex pointed, 

 ridged on the ventral and grooved on the dorsal suture; surfaces smootli. 



211. Horticultural characters of Americana plums. — The 

 fruit is red or orange with red varieties predominating. Wild 

 or cultivated, the fruits of the Americana plums vary greatly 

 in season, size, shape, and flavor. In the orchard, the period 

 of maturity covers a range of several weeks, beginning in 

 August and ending in October. The size of the cultivated 

 sorts ranges from that of a Damson to that of some of the 

 Gages ; the shape is round-oval, sometimes oblique and sometimes 

 truncate, and often more or less compressed. The fruits have a 

 pleasant flavor, — when fully ripe the flesh of some sorts is sweet 

 and luscious, hardly surpassed by the best Domesticas. The 

 skin is usually thick and astringent; this with the tenaciously 

 clinging stones is the chief defect although some sorts have an 

 astringent flavor. 



The trees are not very manageable in the orchard. They 

 make a slow growth and are hard to control, producing at 

 maturity many leaning trunks that are often crooked, as are 

 also the branches. Nearly all of the varieties over-bear, and 

 unless thinned the fruits are small ; not infrequently trees die 

 from over-bearing. A few varieties are unfruitful because of 

 defective pollination. Nearly all sucker badly on their own 

 roots, and, except in cold regions, should be grown on other 

 stocks. There are fewer pests to combat with these than with 

 European plums, yet they are far from being exempt and require 

 as much spraj^ng as do other plums. 



All Americana plums are hardy, and some of the varieties can 

 be grown as far north as general agi'iculture is practiced. This, 

 with the Nigras, will probably always be the chief group for dry 

 cold regions between the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains. 

 The flower-buds as well as the trees are hardy, having been 

 kno^\^l to withstand a temperature of forty degrees below zero. 

 Since the blossoms open comparatively late, there is less damage 



