GOLDEN CHERRY 



GONZALES 



201 



a faint apricot flavor, somewhat acid when cooked ; fair 

 in quality ; stone adhering, turgid, oval, abruptly 

 pointed at the base and apex, smooth and with a coating 

 of yellowish-brown, cottony substance. 



GOLDEN CHERRY. P. cerasifera. Mar- 

 ket Plum. Youngken Golden. This plum is 

 one of the few cultivated representatives of 

 P. cerasifera. It offers some attractions be- 

 cause of real merit, and because it adds variety 

 to the list of plums for fruit-growers. Some 

 of its qualities are strongly marked, and the 

 variety might prove of value in plant-breeding. 

 Golden Cherry originated with Samuel Reeves, 

 Salem, New Jersey, as a seedling of Myro- 

 balan, in the early part of the last century. 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, dense-topped, unpro- 

 ductive ; branches slender, sparingly thorny. Leaves 

 oval, 1 inch wide, 2 inches long ; margin finely serrate, 

 with few small glands ; petiole reddish, eglandular ; 

 blooming season early. Flowers well distributed on 

 lateral buds and spurs. Fruit very early ; 1 % inches 

 in diameter, greenish-yellow, changing to pale yellow 

 with a tinge of red, overspread with thin bloom ; flesh 

 pale yellow, very juicy, melting, sweet next to the 

 skin but rather tart at the pit ; aromatic ; good. Stone 

 clinging, oval, with a nearly smooth surface. 



GOLDEN DROP. P. domestica. Coe's 

 Golden Drop. Golden Gage. Silver Prune. 

 Well grown, this variety produces the largest, 

 handsomest, and best of the yellow plums; but 

 in many regions, even in the hands of the 

 most careful growers, the trees do not reach 

 perfection. Thus, in eastern America, trees 

 of Golden Drop lack vigor; and, while hardy, 

 the fruit-buds are often caught by cold; they 

 are slow in growth; and have a precarious 

 existence because of insects and diseases. The 

 fruits need a long season to reach perfect 

 maturity, often failing to ripen where other 

 plums mature well; they are used for all pur- 

 poses to which plums are put for dessert, 

 cooking, canning, preserving, and prune-making. 

 For the last named purpose, the product of 

 Golden Drop is unsurpassed for a light-colored 

 prune. The crop, when carefully picked and 

 handled, keeps for a month or more, shrivelling 

 somewhat, but retaining its flavor and pleasing 

 flesh-characters. Jervaise Coe, St. Edmunds, 

 Suffolk, England, raised Golden Drop from a 

 seed about 1809. 



Tree medium to large, vigorous, spreading or roundish, 

 open-topped, hardy, productive. Leaves oval or obovate, 

 1 % inches wide, 2 % inches long, thick ; apex abruptly 

 pointed or acute ; base acute ; margin serrate, eglandular 

 or with small dark glands ; petiole % inch long, pubes- 

 cent, tinged red, with 2-3 globose, greenish-yellow 

 glands. Season of bloom medium ; flowers 1 inch across, 

 white. Fruit very late; 2 by 1^ inches in size, oval, 

 tapering at the base to a short neck, compressed, halves 

 equal ; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt ; suture shallow 

 and wide ; apex depressed ; color golden-yellow with 

 thin bloom ; dots numerous, small, russet, conspicuous ; 

 stem % inch long ; skin tough, adherent ; flesh light 

 golden-yellow, juicy, sweet, mild ; good to very good ; 

 stone free, oval or ovate. 



GOLIATH. Fig. 194. P. domestica. Cale- 

 donia Emperor. Steers' Emperor. Wilmot's 

 Late Orleans. This old English plum has 

 never been popular in America, and is now 

 scarcely known on this continent. The fruit 

 is large and handsome, but seldom fit for 

 dessert. ''Seldom fit" because it is variable in 



quality in some seasons and under some con- 

 ditions. It is an excellent culinary plum, and 

 its firm, thick, meaty flesh fits it well for 

 shipping. The trees behave well in all respects, 

 and usually bear full crops of plums that 

 would tempt purchasers in any market. It has 



194. Goliath. (XD 



all of the characters usually ascribed to a 

 money-making variety of any fruit, and why 

 not more grown in commercial orchards cannot 

 be said. Nothing is known of the origin of 

 this plum except that it came from England 

 about a hundred years ago. 



Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, dense, hardy, very 

 productive. Leaves obovate, 2 inches wide, 3% inches 

 long ; margin finely serrate, eglandular or with few, 

 small dark glands ; petiole % inch long, thick, heavily 

 pubescent, glandless or with from 1 to 3 large, globose 

 glands. Flowers 1 inch across, white, borne on lateral 

 spurs, singly or in pairs. Fruit midseason, ripening 

 period short ; 1 % inches by 1 ^ inches in size, round- 

 oblong, somewhat oblique, truncate, compressed, halves 

 unequal ; cavity narrow, abrupt, russeted ; suture a line ; 

 apex depressed ; color dark purplish-red, overspread with 

 thick bloom ; dots characteristic, numerous, russet, con- 

 spicuous ; stem thick, % inch long, thickly pubescent, 

 adhering well to the fruit ; skin thin, sour, separating 

 readily ; flesh golden-yellow, dry, firm, sweet ; fair to 

 good ; stone free, round-oval, flattened, blunt at the 

 base and apex, roughened and irregularly furrowed. 



GONZALES. P. salicina X ? Red Gold. 

 Gonzales is a promising plum for the South. 

 It is a chance seedling found in Gonzales, 

 Texas, about 1894, and was introduced by 

 F. T. Ramsey, Austin, Texas, in 1897. It is 

 the product of some Japanese variety pol- 

 linated by a native. The following description 

 is compiled: 



Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, open ; leaves nar- 

 row, oval, tapering at both ends ; upper surface 

 glabrous ; margin minutely glandular, finely crenulate ; 

 petiole short and slender, with 2 glands. Fruit mid- 

 season ; resembles Burbank in size and shape ; skin 

 toughish ; color bright red, sometimes striped and 

 splashed with dark red ; flesh yellow, tinged red, firm, 

 sweet ; good ; stone of medium size, oval, clinging. 



