MARKETING PLUMS AND PRUNES 



GEORGE H. HOWE 



Assistant Horticulturist. Xe\v York Agricultural Experiment Station, 



Geneva, X. Y. 



One of the leading problems in marketing plums and prunes 

 is to have good fruit. Given such fruit, a market can usually be 

 developed for almost any quantity. In Xew York there can prob- 

 ably be grown a larger number of varieties of plums than of 

 almost any other cultivated fruit, and the range of flavor, texture, 

 color, size, and form is also greater. With the great variability 

 of this fruit and the adaptation of the different varieties to diverse 

 climatic and soil conditions, the problems of marketing should 

 not be so complex as they are at the present time. One great 

 difficulty with the plum industry today is due to the fact that it is 

 hampered by the marketing systems now in vogue. 



PICKING 



In New York and in most states east of the Mississippi plums 

 are harvested and placed on the market just before, they reach 

 an edible condition. Farther west, however, they are picked 

 much greener. The need of early picking in this state is due to 

 the fact that the fruit may be handled and shipped more readily, 

 and clanger of the crop being destroyed by the brown-rot fungus 

 is lessened. If the weather is warm and muggy it is extremely 

 important that the fruit be picked early. * A delay of a few hours 

 w r ill frequently cause severe loss from brown rot. Many of the 

 Japanese plums may well be picked from a week to ten days be- 

 fore fully mature; even then they will develop a good color and 

 flavor. The Domesticas, on the other hand, need not be picked 

 quite so green. Plums used for jelly or conserves should 

 picked as soon as they are full-grown and long before they ai 

 thoroughly ripe. The fruit should always be perfectly dry wh< 

 harvested ; otherwise it is almost sure to decay before reaching 

 market. 



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