THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 19I 



DIAMOND 



Prunus domestica 



I. Land. Horl. Soc. Cat. 146. 1831. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 259. 1832. 3. Downing Fr. Trees 

 Am. 298. 1845. 4. Lee Gen. Farmer 6:141. 1845. S- ■^''*- Po^t. Soc. Cat. 222, 244. 1858. 6. 

 Hogg Fruit Man. 6g6. 1884. "j. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 2,2-]. 1889. Z. Guide Prat. iS9, iSS- 1895. 

 9. Mich. Hon. Soc. Rpt. 382. 1895. 10. Cornell Sta. Bui. 131:183, fig. 40 VI. 1897. 11. Am. 

 Pom. Soc. Cat. 25. 1897. 12. Vt. Sta. An. Rpt. 12:214, 217. 1899. 13. Mich. Sta. Bui. 169:244. 

 1899. 14. W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 92. 1899. 15. Garden 56:168. 1S99. 16. Can. Exp. Farm 

 Bui. 43:33. 1903. 17. Can. Exp. Farms Rpt. 423. 1903. 



Black Diamond 9. Black Diamond 11, 13. Diainant 8. Diamantpflaume 8. Dymond 15. 

 Kentish Diamond 17. Kingston 14 incor. Smith's Prune 7. Smith Prune 14. 



To judge Diamond by appearance would be a grievous error. It is 

 a large, beautifully colored, well-formed plum, tempting the palate ; but one 

 taste out of hand is a sufficiency. The flesh is coarse and the flavor not at 

 all pleasant to one accustomed to good plums. Hogg says, in the reference 

 given, that Diamond is one of the best preserving and cooking plums but 

 in this case we doubt Hogg's judgment unless, as may be, Diamond is 

 much better in England than in America. The firm flesh and tough skin 

 of the variety commend it as a market plum and the trees are above the 

 average in size, vigor, hardiness and productiveness — all characters except- 

 ing quality bespeaking the favor of plum -growers. It is planted largely 

 for the markets where, of course, it sells upon its appearance. 



According to Downing, this variety was raised from seed by an Eng- 

 lishman, in Kent, named Diamond. Kenrick and Hogg, however, state 

 that it was raised in the nursery of a Mr. Hooker, in Kent. The London 

 Horticultural Society briefly described this variety in its fruit catalog 

 for 1 83 1 so that its origin antedates that year. The American Pomo- 

 logical Society rejected Diamond for its catalog in 1858 but placed it in 

 its fruit list in 1897. 



Tree above average in size and vigor, upright-spreading, somewhat dense-topped, 

 hardy, very productive; branches ash-gray, roughish, with numerous, small lenticels, 

 the bark marked with transverse lines; branchlets of medium thickness and length, 

 with long intemodes, greenish-red changing to dark brownish-red, dull, somewhat 

 pubescent, with numerous, small lenticels; leaf -buds large, long, pointed, appressed. 



Leaves folded upward, obovate or oval, one and seven-eighths inches wide, three 

 and one-quarter inches long; upper surface dark green, with few hairs and with a grooved 

 midrib; lower surface pubescent; apex obtuse to acute, base acute, margin serrate, 

 with small, brown glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, slender, pubescent, reddish, 

 with from one to four small, globose or reniform, greenish-yellow glands on the stalk 

 or base of the leaf. 



