THE PLUMCOT 197 



The fruit of the Rutland is large, globular, 

 clingstone; both the flesh and the skin are of a 

 deep crimson color. The flesh has an acid flavor 

 until mature, and when fully ripe resembles the 

 Satsuma in its acid qualities. Its principal value 

 is for jams and jellies. There are a dozen or 

 more bearing trees of this variety on the Sebas- 

 topol place, and they have never failed to produce 

 a crop each season. The amount of fruit, how- 

 ever, is too small to make trees valuable com- 

 mercially in this climate. 



The Rutland was a fruit of unusual scientific 

 interest, and was introduced partly under that 

 consideration not merely as a commercial fruit. 

 It was sent out as a curiosity, the type specimen 

 of a new kind of fruit and the forerunner of 

 numerous good varieties that will follow. 



FIXITY OF THE NEW SPECIES 



It might be thought that seedlings from plum- 

 cots would revert to the type of plum or of 

 apricot, but they do not. The combination is 

 complete and permanent. Among the many 

 thousands of seedlings which have been grown, 

 not one has produced either true plum or 

 true apricot. All are plumcots. It is there- 

 fore plain that the new fruit is fixed as a 

 species. 



