244 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



Hudson is limited in cultivation, belonging almost wholly to the 

 Hudson River Valley where it has long been somewhat of a favorite for 

 both home and market planting. The variety has few qualities of fruit 

 to commend it especially outside of the region where it is now grown and 

 even here its value is probably overrated. The fruits are of only medium 

 size, not markedly attractive in appearance and the quality is below the 

 average among standard plums. The trees are for most part very good in 

 constitution and habit of growth and in particular bear very well; they 

 have the faults of not bearing early and of being subject to black -knot. 

 The variety, and perhaps it is well, is being less planted than formerly. 



Nothing is known of the origin of the Hudson except that it has been 

 grown in the Hudson River Valley for a good many years. About 1870 

 it attracted the attention of S. D. Willard of Geneva, New York, who, 

 thinking it a valuable acquisition, commenced its propagation. In 1897, 

 it was listed by the American Pomological Society as a successful variety 

 for this region. J. R. Cornell, a well informed fruit-grower of Newburgh, 

 New York, in a letter written February 21, 19 10, says, " I recall Hudson 

 very distinctly as it was grown when I was a small boy over fifty years 

 ago. I would not be surprised, if the facts could be obtained, to learn that 

 the variety came from Europe, in fact, I incline to that opinion." 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, very productive, hardy; branches ash-gray, smooth 

 except for the small, raised lenticels; branchlets slender, with long intemodes, greenish- 

 red changing to brownish-red, dull, glabrous early in the season becoming lightly pubes- 

 cent at maturity, with small, inconspicuous lenticels; leaf-buds below medium in size 

 and length, conical, strongly appressed. 



Leaves flattened, obovate or oval, two inches wide, three and three-quarters inches 

 long; upper surface dark green, smooth, sparsely hairy along the grooved midrib; lower 

 surface silvery-green, faintly pubescent; apex acute, base abrupt, margin serrate, 

 eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, lightly 

 pubescent, glandless or with from one to three greenish-yellow glands. 



Blooming season short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth 

 inches across, white; borne in scattering clusters on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; 

 pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, glabrous except for a few scattering hairs; calyx- 

 tube green, campanulate, pubescent at the base; calyx-lobes obtuse, lightly pubescent 

 on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals obovate, crenate, tapering to short, 

 broad claws; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, 

 longer than the stamens. 



Fruit late, season of medium length; one and five-eighths inches by one and one- 

 eighth inches in size, long-oval, halves unequal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt, reg- 

 ular; suture shallow; apex slightly pointed; color dark reddish-purple changing to 



