THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 167 



Unfortunately, the origin of this plum is not known. The Europeans 

 and some Americans have held that it came from America but, since it 

 is identical with the Large Black Imperial, it must be of foreign origin. 

 It was named by C. M. Hovey in 1846, and was described in his Magazine 

 of Horticulture with the following explanation: " For the want of a name 

 to distinguish a very large and excellent plum, exhibited for three or four 

 years in succession, by E. E. Bradshaw, Esq., Charlestown, we have called 

 it the Bradshaw plum." Barry, in 1855, states in the Horticulturist that 

 he " received it from Wm. Kenrick, a nurseryman in Newton, Massachu- 

 setts, tmder the name of Large Black Imperial ; but as it has been described 

 in Hovey's Magazine as Bradshaw, we have adopted that name in our 

 catalog." Though the name Bradshaw is incorrect according to the rule 

 of priority, it would now cause too much confusion to change it. 



Niagara, a well known variety in this State, is identical with Brad- 

 shaw in all characters, in spite of a supposedly distinct origin. According 

 to Mr. George Atwood of the State Department of Agriculture, a Mr. Moody 

 of Lockport exhibited, about 1870, the Mooney plum, afterwards named 

 the Niagara. Being interested in the variety, Mr. Atwood visited Mooney, 

 at Lockport, the man from whom Moody had secured his stock. In 

 Mooney 's yard were found several bearing trees, which had been grown 

 from sprouts taken from the original seedling tree, grown in Canada. 

 These trees could not be told from the Bradshaw. If the Niagara is distinct 

 as to origin, it is probably a seedling of Bradshaw. Bradshaw was recom- 

 mended to fruit-growers as a promising variety by the American Pomological 

 Society in 1856 and has since remained on the fruit list of the society. 



Tree large, vigorous, broad- vasiform, dense-topped, hardy, very productive; 

 branches smooth except for the numerous, small, raised lenticels, dark ash-gray; branch- 

 lets short, with long intemodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, often with 

 heavy gray scarf-skin, dull, sparingly pubescent, with obscure, small lenticels; leaf- 

 buds variable in size and length, pointed, free. 



Leaves drooping, folded backward, obovate or oval, two inches wide, four and 

 one-quarter inches long, thickish; upper surface dark green, rugose, pubescent, with a 

 shallow groove on the midrib; lower surface grayish-green, thickly pubescent; apex 

 acute, base abrupt, margin not regular, varying from coarsely crenate to serrate, egland- 

 ular or with few, small, dark glands; petiole three-quarters inch long, pubescent, red- 

 dish, glandless or with from one to three large, globose, greenish-brown glands on the 

 stalk or at the base of the leaf. 



Season of bloom short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and three-sixteenths 

 inches across, the buds creamy changing to white as the flowers expand ; borne on lateral 



