18 THE PLUM IN KANSAS. 



sweet flesh, containing a flattened, sharp-edged stone. Original dis- 

 tribution : Not certainly known, but probably in Asia Minor. Among 

 the many varieties of this species now grown in the eastern United 

 States the following are given by Professor Bailey : Lombard, Bavay, 

 Green Gage, Bradshaw or Niagara, Coe's Golden Drop or Silver Prune, 

 French and Shropshire Damsons, German Prune, Fellenberg, Gueii, 

 Moore's Arctic, Green Gage, Prune d'Agen, Hungarian Prune, Copper, 

 Jefferson, Imperial Gage, Quackenbos, Yellow Egg, Washington, and 

 French Prune. 



Japanese Plum {P. triflora Roxb.) A small tree, with smooth, 

 oval or ovate leaves, one and a half to three inches long, and half as 

 wide ; flowers usually in threes, on short stalks ; fruit globose, purple, 

 with reddish-yellow flesh. Original distribution : Northern China. 

 Of this species, which has but recently been introduced from Japan, 

 Professor Bailey gives the following varieties : Kelsey, Burbank, 

 Abundance, Satsuma, Chabot, Maru, Ogon, Red Nagate. Some of 

 these may prove hardy in Kansas. 



AMERICAN PLUMS FOR AMERICA. 



Read before the American Pomological Society, in September, 1899, by E. S. Goff, professor, 

 University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis, 



It would be folly to claim, for the sake of argument, that the intro- 

 duced plums have proven a failure in the United States. Our fruit 

 markets during the plum season would belie such a proposition. The 

 European plum, with iDroper culture, succeeds over a very considerable 

 part of our country, and its choicer varieties are among the most de- 

 licious of fruits. The more recently introduced Japanese plums have 

 doubtless gained ground faster in our culture and in our markets than 

 any other exotic fruit that has been brought to our country. The 

 remarkable vigor and prolificacy of this species will insure its perma- 

 nence on our soil, and while the average quality of its fruit is very 

 low, the excellence of a few of its varieties leaves no reason to doubt 

 that it will yet furnish plums as delicious as the choicest European 

 sorts. But both the European and Japanese jolums have inherent de- 

 fects that must forever prevent either of them from becoming the 

 national j)lum of North America. The flower-buds of neither are re- 

 liable to endure the winters of the Mississippi valley much north of 

 Mason and Dixon's line. The European plum is so susceptible to 

 the curculio that its fruit can be secured only at the price of inter- 

 minable warfare against this insect. The Japanese plums bloom so 

 early in spring that they are comparatively unsafe, even in many lo- 

 calities where their flower-buds have passed the winter. 



