THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 237 



1S99. T.Am Card 21:36 1900. i. V^a.ngh Plum Cult. 136. 1901. 9. Mich. Sia. Bui. 187:77, 

 79. 1901. 10. ir. A', y. Hort. Soc. Rpt 89. 1902. 11. O/u'o Sta. Bid. 162:254, 253. 1905. 12. 

 (Jti. Sta. Bid. 68:10, 30. 1905. 13. Mass. Sta. An. Rpt. 17:160. 1905. 

 J I. 73 Prolific 2. Prolific 3, 8, 12. 



It is doubtful if the average person who grows the Hale would recog- 

 nize it as shown in The Plums of New York, as it is supposed to 

 be a yellow plum; nevertheless the illustration is a good one so 

 far as the fruits go at least. When mature on the trees the fruits 

 are }'ellow with a faint blush, but in storage the color quickly changes 

 into a pale red, becoming, when the pltmi is at its best in appearance and 

 quality, a light currant-red. Hale, though large and handsome of fruit, 

 is of questionable value, failing both in fruit and tree. The flavor of this 

 plum is good in the judgment of most fruit connoisseurs, but others find 

 it a little too sweet and somewhat mawkish near the skin and close about 

 the pit. All agree, however, that the flesh cUngs too tightly to the stone for 

 pleasant eating and that the texture is too tender for good shipping. But 

 it is the tree that fails most markedly. Even on the grounds of this Station, 

 where the peach is practically hardy, Hale is but semi-hardy, failing most 

 often because with the best of care the wood does not ripen properly. The 

 habit of growth is not particularly good, the trees are slow in coming in 

 bearing, are not regularly productive and are readily infected by brown- 

 rot and the fruits much infested by curculio. On the whole, it is to be 

 regretted that Mr. Hale did not choose a better plum to bear a name so 

 distinguished in horticulture. 



Luther Burbank offered this plum, a cross between Kelsey and Sat- 

 suma, for sale under the name J, in 1893, and the following year as Prolific. 

 J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Connecticut, purchased the variety in 1894, 

 and introduced it as the Hale in 1896. In 1899, the American Pomological 

 Society considered it worthy a place on its fruit catalog list. 



Tree above medium in size, vigorous, vasiform, open-topped, semi-hardy, variable 

 in productiveness; branches smooth except for the numerous, small, raised lenticels, 

 somewhat thorny, dark ash-gray, the fruit spurs numerous; branchlets ■willowy, of 

 medium thickness and length, with short intemodes, greenish-red changing to light 

 brown, shining, glabrous; lenticels numerous, small; leaf -buds small, short, obtuse, 

 plump, free. 



Leaves sparse, folded upward, oblanceolate or narrowly obovatc, one and three- 

 quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thin; tipper surface glabrous 

 except for scattering hairs, with a grooved midrib; lower surface light green, glabrous 

 except along the midrib and larger veins; apex acute or abruptly pointed, base acute, 



