PLUM 



PLUMBAGO 



1379 



some and showy, and is rated, on its style, a good seller 

 in both the local and distant markets. The Tragedy— a 

 seedling of the old Mission prune — belongs, together 

 with the (Jlynian (a California seedling), Giant (Bur- 

 bank's), Royal Hative, 8iraon and Peach, to the list of va- 

 rieties most popular for early market — especially for 

 eastern shipment. For canning, ('oe Uolden Drop and 

 the Imperial Gage are the most popular. The Brad- 

 shaw, (Johimbia, Damson, Duane Purple, Green Gage, 

 Jefferson, Washington, and Yellow Egg are all highly 

 regarded, and planted more or less widely, as they suit 

 the different climatic regions. Many of the Japanese 

 Plums are represented in California orchards. The 

 most prominent of these has been the Kelsey, the 

 pioneer in this country of this class of fruits. In the 

 interior valleys it is in some disfavor on account of its 

 failure to develop color in these sections; but where it 

 colors well it is profitable for shipping, and is highly 

 regarded everywhere for domestic use; lately the Bur- 

 bank and Wickson are largely replacing it. The Abun- 

 dance and Red June are very popular for early ship- 

 ment, while the Satsuma, Burbank, Normand, and 

 Wickson (a Burbank hybrid) are all highly esteemed, 

 especially for local market and domestic use. 



During the past ten years elaborate investigations of 

 the composition and food value of different fruits grown 

 in the state have been carried on at the California 

 Experiment Station. Many interesting results have 

 been obtained, tending to show the vast influences of 

 differing soil and climatic conditions upon the character 

 and quality of the crops. Herein, too, may perhaps be 

 found some explanation for the reason why the home- 

 grown fruits have so readily displaced the foreign in 

 the markets of our country ; for the analyses have 

 shown that our fruits are sweeter, more nutritious and 

 contain less mineral matter than the European. In the 

 average sugar percentages represented in the analysis 

 of the juice, the figures are 18 per cent to 6.15 per cent 

 or about as 3 to 1 in favor of the California prune. In 

 albuminoids, or flesh-forming substance, the average 

 percentages stand: for prunes, Californian 1.01 per 

 cent, European .78 percent; for Plums, Californian 1.13 

 per cent, European .40 per cent. Here it may be men- 

 tioned that the California analyses have shown the fig 

 to stand highest in nutritive value, the apricot and 

 Plum second, and the prune and orange about equal for 

 third place. The figures for soil ingredients withdrawn 

 show the California crop to contain less than the 

 European, comparing as follows: European 6.30 pounds 

 of ash per 1,000 pounds of fruit, Californian 4.86; for a 

 crop of 30,000 pounds, 189 pounds for European and 

 145.80 for Californian. The amounts of important soil 

 ingredients withdrawn per 1,000 lbs. in California are: 

 of potash 3.1 pounds, lime .25 pound, phosphoric acid 

 .95 pound and nitrogen 1 .62 pounds. From these figures, 

 the actual draft of the crop can be determined, and this, 

 with the knowledge of the amounts of available plant- 

 food in the soil, together with a consideration of its 

 physical conditions, forms the basis of an intelligent 

 judgment of fertilization requirements. 



See Wickson's "California Fruits and How to Grow 

 Them," the Reports of the California State Board of 

 Horticulture, and the Reports and Bulletins of the Cali- 

 fornia Experiment Station. 



Arnold V. Stubenkauch. 



PLUM, CHERRY. Prunus cerasifera. 



PLUM, COCOA. Clirysobalamus Icaco. 



PLUM, DATE. Diospyros. 



PLUM, GOVERNOR'S. See Flacourtia RamontcM. 



PLUM, JAPAN. Properly Prunus triftora ; improp- 

 erly applied to the Loquat, Eriobotrya Japonica. 



PLUM, MARMALADE. Lncuma mammosa. 



PLUMBAGO (from Latin for lend; because of some 

 old tradition). Plumbagindcece. Leadwort. About 10 

 species of subshrubs or herbs, sometimes climbing, in- 

 habiting warm countries, chiefly of Europe, Asia and 

 Africa. Leaves usually alternate and entire, various : 

 flowers spicate or racemose on the ends of the branches, 



gamopetalous, salverform, the tube usually slender, 

 the corolla blue, violet, rose or white; calyx tubular, 

 5-toothed and somewhat angled, glandular; stamens 5, 

 free from the corolla-tube: ovary attenuated at the top, 

 the single style with 5 stigmas: fr. a membranaceous 5- 

 valved capsule. For P. Lorpentce, consult Oeratostujttia. 

 Two species of shrubby Plumbagos, P. Capensis and 

 P. roaea, are deservedly well known. In the middle 

 and northern states they are treated as greenhouse pot- 

 plants and are iisually turned out to flower in summer. 

 They are readily propagated by cuttings taken either in 

 the fall from plants growing in the open or in the spring 

 from stock plants. They require an intermediate 

 temperature. 



A. Fls. blue or white. 



Cap6n8is, Thunb. Fig. 1860. Climbing shrub but a 

 straggling upright plant as grown under glass, some- 

 what glaucous, glabrous except in the inflorescen&e: 



1860. Plumbago Capensis (X Vz). 



Ivs. scattered, oblong-ovate to oblong-spatulate, nearly 

 or quite obtuse, narrowed into a short petiole : racemes 

 relatively short, the fls. sometimes appearing as if um- 

 belled: fls. azure-blue, with a very slender tube IM in. 

 long and several times longer than the glandular-hairy 

 cylindrical calyx-tube, the corolla-lob.es obovate and 

 phlox-like. S.Africa. B.M. 2110. B.R. 5:417. Gn.44,p. 

 380; 46, p. 245; 48, p. 344; 58, p. 20. Var. Alba, Hort., 

 has white flowers.— A well-known greenhouse plant. 

 Old plants turned into the soil in late spring in a sunny 

 exposure bloom profusely until frost. Plants struck 

 from fall cuttings also give good bloom the following 

 summer, but younger plants usually do not bloom so 

 well. Plants can be kept in a cellar during winter, or 

 they may be grown under glass for spring and summer 

 bloom. It is an excellent rafter plant. In southern 

 California it climbs trees 15 or 20 ft. higL if undis- 

 turbed. 



Zeyldnica, Linn. Half-climbing, glabrous except the 

 inflorescence, which is glandular-hairy: Ivs. ovate ob- 

 tuse or acute, the base of the short-winged petiole clasp- 

 ing the stem: fls. white, shorter than in the above, the 

 exserted part of the tube scarcely longer than the obovate 

 refuse corolla-lobes, the calyx glandular-hairy. Tropics 

 of Asia and Africa, and east to Australia and Hawaii. 

 B.R. 32:23. — Little grown now, as it is inferior to the 



