THE PLUM IN KANSAS. 7 



4. The ^VLTQ-pean grovLY) (P. do?ri est ha). Most of the finest plums 

 which have been cultivated in the United States until quite recently 

 belong to this class. They are all of European or Asiatic origin. 

 Except in certain localities, they are invaluable. The Myrobalan 

 and Marianna plums, which belong to this group, are largely used for 

 stocks. 



5. The Japanese plums {P. triflora). These fruits were imported 

 into the United States about twenty-five years ago, and have grown 

 steadily in popularity. They are generally of large size, brilliantly 

 colored, and excellent in quality. Many seedlings and hybrids from 

 this stock are being introduced. They are not all equally adapted for 

 all sections of the country. Some are not hardy North, some bloom 

 too early, and others do not do so well in the Southern states as far- 

 ther north. 



THE PLUM {Prunus domestica). 



Fondceir, of botanists. Prnnicr, of the French; PflaumenbmDu, German; 

 PrufpKi, Italian; Cinielo, Spanish. 



The original parent of most of the cultivated plums of our gardens is 

 a native of Asia and the southern parts of Europe, but it has become 

 naturalized in this country, and in many parts of it is produced in 

 greatest abundance.* That the soil and climate of the Middle states 

 are admirably suited to this fruit is sufficiently proved by the almost 

 spontaneous production of such varieties as the Washington, Jeffer- 

 son, Lawrence's Favorite, etc. ; sorts which equal or surjDass in 

 beauty or flavor the most celebrated plums of France or England. 



Uses : The finer kinds of plums are beautiful dessert fruits, of rich 

 and luscious flavor. They are not, perhaps, so entirely wholesome as 



* There are three species of wild pkim indigenous to this country of tolerable 

 flavor, but seldom cultivated in our gardens. They are the following: 



1. The Chickasaw plum (/^ c/n'casa Michaux). Fruit about three-fourths of 

 an inch in diameter, round, and red or yellowish red, of a pleasant, subacid flavor, 

 ripens pretty early. Skin thin. The branches are thorny, the head rather bushy, 

 with narrow lanceolate, serrulate leaves, looking at a little distance somewhat 



ike those of a peach tree. It usually grows about twelve or fourteen feet high; 

 but on the prairies of Arkansas it is only three or four feet high, and in this form 

 it is also common in Texas. The Dwarf Texas plum, described by Kenrick, is 

 only this species. It is quite ornamental. 



2. Wild red or yellow plum {P. ainrr/cana Marshall). Fruit roundish oval, 

 skin thick, reddish orange, with a juicy, yellow, subacid pulp. The leaves are 

 ovate, coarsely serrate, and the old branches rough and somewhat thorny. Grows 

 in hedges and by the banks of streams from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Tree 

 from ten to fifteen feet high. Fruit ripens in July and August. 



3. The Beach plum or Sand plum (A //?a/v7/?/;rr Wang). A low shrub, with 

 stout straggling branches, found mostly on the sandy seacoast, from Massachu- 

 setts to Virginia, and seldom ripening well elsewhere. Fruit roundish, scarcely 

 an inch in diameter, red or purple, covered with a bloom. Pleasant, but some- 

 what astringent. Leaves oval, finely serrate. 



