272 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



in America have so much astringency, most of it commg from the skins, 

 that they are unpalatable to some. Now and then a variety is nearly free 

 from this disagreeable taste and Maquoketa is one of these. The quality, 

 as a dessert fruit, is very good for a native and the fruits keep and ship well. 

 In the South the plums are subject to both curculio and brown-rot. The 

 trees, like those of nearly all of the Miner-like plums, are rather better 

 formed and more adaptable to orchard conditions than those of other 

 species. After the Americana and Nigra plums, Maquoketa is one of the 

 hardiest of our native varieties, growing even in Minnesota. The variety 

 belongs in the South and Middle West and there are few, if any, places in 

 New York where it is worth growing. 



The origin of this plum is uncertain. It is reported in the references 

 given as a native found on the banks of the Maquoketa River in eastern 

 Iowa and also as a Miner seedling grown under cultivation. It has been 

 known to fruit-growers since about 1889. 



Tree of medium size and vigor, spreading, low-topped, open, hardy, variable in 

 productiveness, susceptible to attacks of shot-hole fungus, the trunk shaggy; branches 

 slender, rough, zigzag, with few thorns, dark, dull ash-gray, with numerous lenticels; 

 branchlets slender, long, with internodes of medium length, green, changing to dull 

 reddish-brown, glabrous, with numerous, conspicuous, small, slightly raised lenticels; 

 leaf-buds very small, short, obtuse, appressed. 



Leaves falling early, folded upward, broadly lanceolate, peach-like, one and three- 

 quarters inches wide, four and one-half inches long; upper surface light green, changing 

 to a dull red late in the fall, glossy, glabrous, with a narrowly grooved midrib and veins; 

 lower surface silvery-green, thinly pubescent; apex taper-pointed, base rather abrupt; 

 margin with serrations in two series, with very small, black glands; petiole five- 

 eighths inch long, tinged with dull red, hairy, with from one to four globose, rather 

 large, dark brownish-yellow glands. 



Blooming season late and of medium length; flowers appearing after the leaves, 

 one inch across, yellowish as the buds begin to open, changing to white, with a disagree- 

 able odor; borne in clusters on lateral spurs and buds, varying from two to four flowers 

 in a cluster; pedicels five-eighths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube 

 green, narrowly campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, slightly obtuse, nearly 

 glabrous on the outer surface, but pubescent within, serrate, with dark colored glands 

 and marginal hairs, reflexed; petals oval or ovate, with long, tapering claws of medium 

 width, sparingly hairy at the base; anthers yellowish; filaments seven-sixteenths inch 

 in length; pistil glabrous, slender, shorter than the stamens. 



Fruit late, ripening period short; below medium in size, ovate or roundish-ovate, 

 halves equal; cavity shallow, rather wide, rounded, flaring; suture a distinct line; 

 apex roundish or slightly pointed; colors some time before fully ripe becoming dark 



