THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 307 



short, with short internodes, grecnish-rcd changing to brownish-red, covered with 

 heavy bloom and sparingly pubescent, with indistinct small Icnticels; leaf -buds plump, 

 of medium size and length, obtuse, free. 



Leaves obovate, two inches wide, four inches long, the oldest thick and leathery; 

 upper surface dark green, covered with fine hairs, with a widely and deeply grooved 

 midrib; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex acute or obtuse, base acute, margin 

 crenate, with small dark glands; petiole seven-eighths inch long, thick, pubescent, 

 tinged red, with from two to four large, globose, yellowish-green glands usually on 

 the stalk. 



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

 three-sixteenths inches across, white; borne on lateral spurs and buds, singly or in 

 pairs; pedicels five-sixteenths inch long, thick, pubescent; calyx -tube green, campanu- 

 late, pubescent only at the base; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, lightly pubescent on both 

 surfaces but heavily pubescent along the serrate margin, reflexed; petals oval, dentate, 

 tapering to short, broad claws; stamens inclined to develop into rudimentary petals; 

 anthers yellow; filaments seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the 

 stamens in length. 



Fruit intermediate in time and length of ripening season; two inches by one and 

 five-eighths inches in size, ovate, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture 

 shallow, indistinct; apex bluntly pointed; color bluish, overspread with thick bloom; 

 dots small, brown, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem thick, one-half inch 

 long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tough, separating readily; flesh 

 pale golden-yellow, juicy, firm, sweet, spicy; good; stone free, one inch by five-eighths 

 inch in size, flattened, irregularly broad-oval, obliquely contracted at the base, blunt 

 at the apex, with rough and pitted surfaces; ventral suture narrow, with numerous 

 deep furrows, usually blunt; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved. 



PALATINE 

 Prunus domestica 



This plum, scarcely known outside of two counties in New York, is 

 of distinctly good quality and if all accounts are true is fairly immune to 

 black -knot. In size and appearance the fruits are superior to many other 

 Reine Claude plums, with which it must be compared, so much so that the 

 variety is probably worth growing outside the region where the following 

 interesting history shows it has been cultivated for nearly a century and 

 a half. 



Palatine, according to Mr. Washington Garlock of New York, origi- 

 nated in 1760 when a family of Palatines by the name of Best came from 

 Germany to the United States and settled in Livingston Manor (East 

 Camps) now Columbia County, New York. They brought with them 

 plum pits which they planted and from them secured one tree. In 1762 



