122 



CHERRY PLUMS 



JAPANESE PLUMS 



Claudes to be a hybrid group between this 

 species and the Domesticas, and there is much 

 evidence in the fruit to show that the French 

 Damson is part Domestica. The tree-characters 

 of the Insititia plums, especially as regards 

 vigor, hardiness, productiveness, and freedom 

 from disease are such as seemingly to make 

 hybrids with them very desirable. That this 

 species can be hybridized with Domestica, at 

 least, is certain from work done at the Geneva, 

 New York, Station, where a number of crosses 

 between them have been made. Four groups 

 of plums, the Damsons, Bullaces, Mirabelles, 

 and St. Juliens, comprising nearly a hundred 

 varieties, may be referred to this species. 



The Cherry or Myrobalan Plums 



3. Prunus cerasifera, Ehrh. Tree 25 feet in height ; 

 branches upright, slender, twiggy, unarmed or sometimes 

 thorny ; branchlets soon glabrous, becoming yellow or 

 chestnut-brown. Leaves small, short-ovate ; apex acute ; 

 base cuneate or rounded, thin, membranaceous ; texture 

 firm, light green, glabrous on both surfaces at maturity, 

 though hairy along the rib on the lower surface, margins 

 finely and closely serrate ; petiole % or % inch long, 

 slender, glandless, glabrous. Flowers large, % inch in 

 diameter, expanding with the leaves. Fruit small, ^ inch 

 in diameter, cherry-like, red or yellow ; skin thin and 

 tender ; flesh soft, juicy, sweet, pleasantly flavored ; stone 

 oval, short-pointed at both ends, turgid, ridged on one 

 suture and grooved on the other. 



The Cherry plum first came to notice in 

 pomological literature as the Myrobalan plum, 

 a name used as early as the last half of the 

 sixteenth century, but why applied to this 

 plum is not known. Myrobalan had long be- 

 fore been used, and is still used, as the name 

 of several plum-like fruits of the East Indies, 

 not of the genus Prunus, which are used in 

 tanning, dyeing, ink-making, and embalming. 



There are few cultivated Cerasiferas, but the 

 species is generally distributed wherever plums 

 are grown, because of the use to which it has 

 been put as stocks for other species. For this 

 purpose it is held in high esteem the world 

 over. It is now used more than any other 

 stock, and may commonly be found fruiting 

 here and there from plants set for or used as 

 stocks. In fact, practically all the cultivated 

 varieties have arisen as survivals of plants 

 meant for stocks. It is almost certain that 

 Cerasifera, or Myrobalan stock, as it is uni- 

 versally known by horticulturists, dwarfs the 

 cion, and that it is not equally well suited 

 to all varieties; but it does not "sprout" as 

 badly as some other stocks, is adapted to many 

 soils, and the young trees grow well and are 

 readily budded, giving at the start a strong 

 and vigorous orchard tree. 



Japanese Plums 



4. Prunus salicina, Lindl. Japanese Plum. Tree 

 20-30 feet in height ; trunk 6-12 inches in diameter, 

 straight ; bark thick, rough, numerous corky elevations 

 especially on the branches, reddish or cinnamon-brown, 

 peach-like. Leaves borne abundantly, small or but 

 medium size, oblong-obovate ; point acuminate or abrupt, 

 prominent ; base rounded, firm, thin ; margins finely and 

 closely serrated, sometimes in two series ; teeth usually 

 glandular ; upper surface bright green, glabrous ; lower 

 surface dull, whitish, glabrous or slightly pubescent on 

 the veins ; veins pronounced ; petioles % inch in length, 

 stoutish, tinged with red ; glands few or several, 

 usually globose, greenish. Flowers expanding before, 



with or sometimes after the leaves, first of the plum 

 blossoms to appear, very abundant, % inch in diameter ; 

 3 springing from each flower-bud, often in dense clusters 

 on lateral spurs and lateral buds on one-year-old wood. 

 Fruit varying from very early to late ; large, 1-2 inches 

 in diameter, globular, heart-shaped or conical ; cavity 

 deep ; apex pointed ; suture prominent ; color bright 

 red or yellow, never blue or purple, lustrous, with 

 little or no bloom ; dots small, numerous, conspicuous ; 

 skin thin, tough, astringent ; stem % inch in length ; 

 flesh red or yellow, firm, fibrous, juicy ; stone clinging 

 tenaciously or free, small, rough or lightly pitted, oval 

 to ovate, one edge grooved, the other ridged. 



The Japanese plums are now cultivated in 

 all parts of the world where plums are grown; 

 yet, outside of Japan and China, they have 

 been grown for their fruit less than half a 

 century. Despite the fact that these plums 

 have been grown in Asia for several centuries, 

 the wild form is not known. It is, however, 

 almost certainly a native of China, though it 

 is likely that the habitat of the species cannot 

 be accurately determined until western and 

 southwestern China have been explored by 

 botanists, these regions as yet being almost 

 unknown to foreign scientists. 



This fruit is a most valuable addition to 

 pomology, no less than ninety-two varieties 

 now being under cultivation in America. At 

 first it was thought desirable only for the 

 southern states, but it proves to be nearly as 

 hardy as the Domestica plums in the north- 

 ern states, and is now widely distributed 

 north and south. The plums of this species 

 possess several striking features that commend 

 them to fruit-growers. Undoubtedly the most 

 valuable attribute of the Japanese plums ia 

 their wide range of adaptability, adapted as 

 they are to a much wider range of country and 

 of conditions than the Domesticas. But even 

 where both types of plums succeed, the newer 

 plum introduces several very desirable fea- 

 tures, quite aside from additional variety 

 which the many distinct sorts furnish. Thus, 

 as a species, the Japanese are more vigorous 

 and productive than the Domestica plums, 

 earlier in coming in bearing, and freer from 

 diseases, especially black-knot and leaf-blight. 

 They are also less subject to curculio than 

 most of the native and European species; the 

 . fruits keep longer than those of the better- 

 known Europeans, and ship as well. As com- 

 pared with native varieties, the plums from 

 Japan are larger, handsomer, and better fla- 

 vored, and keep and ship better. Some dis- 

 advantages are that they blossom so early as to 

 be often caught by spring frosts; they are 

 rather subject to brown-rot; for most part they 

 are tenacious cling-stones ; the species, all in 

 all, is less hardy to cold than the Domestica 

 plums; lastly, they are inferior in quality to 

 the varieties from Europe. The last fault is so 

 serious that, though the average for the Jap- 

 anese plums is high, making them unquestion- 

 ably more desirable inhabitants of the orchard 

 than any of the native species, they cannot 

 compete with the Domesticas where the two 

 types can be equally well grown. 



The botanical differences between these 

 Asiatic plums and those from Europe and 

 America are most interesting. In general as- 



