THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



299 



cultivation in America. Ogon also has a flavor qiiite distinct, resembling 

 somewhat that of the apricot, which is agreeable to some and not so to 

 others; as the variety grows on the grounds of this Station it can- 

 not be considered of high quality even for an early plum. The fruits 

 crack rather badly on the tree and seem to be unusually susceptible to 

 the attacks of curculio. In some of the references given, it is reported 

 as making a poor tree and as having a weak constitution, and practically 

 all agree that the variety is improductive. These faults preclude its use 

 in commercial plantations. The variety is distinct and interesting not 

 only in its fruits but in its flowers which bear comparatively few stamens, 

 many of which are abortive and show all degrees between perfect stamens 

 and perfect petals. 



Ogon was imported from Japan by H. H. Berger and Company, San 

 Francisco, California. It was first mentioned as the Ogden in the Georgia 

 Horticultural Society Report for 1886 and in the 1888 report of the same 

 Society it was described as a new fruit. In 1897, the American Pomological 

 Society added Ogon to its fruit catalog list. 



Tree medium to large, vigorous, vasiform, dense-topped, hardy at Geneva, unpro- 

 ductive; branches slender, roughened by numerous spurs, sparingly thorny, dark gray, 

 with numerous, small lenticels; branchlets sometimes swollen at the tips, of medium 

 thickness and length, with intemodes of average length, dark brown often with some 

 green, partly overspread with gray scarf-skin, glossy, glabrous; lenticels medium in 

 number and size, raised; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, plump, free. 



Leaves few, oblanceolate, peach-like, variable in size, averaging one and one- 

 eighth inches wide, four inches long, thin; upper surface light green, shining, glabrous, 

 narrowly grooved along the midrib ; lower surface light yellowish-green, glabrous except 

 at the base of the veins; margin finely crenate, with small, dark amber glands; petiole 

 one-half inch long, glandless or with from pne to four globose, greenish glands on 

 the stalk. 



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

 thirteen-sixteenths inch across, white; borne in clusters on lateral spurs and buds, in 

 threes or in fours; pedicels five-sixteenths inch long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube 

 green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, slightly glandular-serrate, faintly 

 pubescent, erect; petals broadly ovate, entire, tapering below to short claws; anthers 

 yellowish, with a little pink; filaments three-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal 

 to the stamens in length. 



Fruit early, season short; one and one-quarter inches by one and three-quarters 

 inches in size, roundish-oblate, oblique, halves equal; cavity narrow, regular, flaring; 

 suture variable in depth, prominent; apex roundish or slightly flattened; color lemon- 

 yellow, with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, whitish, inconspicuous; stem slender, 



