202 



GRAND DUKE 



HALE 



GRAND DUKE. Fig. 195. P. domestica. 

 Grand Duke is the favorite late-shipping plum 

 in eastern America. Its popularity is due to 

 large size, the true prune shape, which seems 

 most pleasing in the markets, handsome plum- 

 purple color, and firm, meaty flesh, which fits 

 the fruits excellently for shipping. The plum 

 is not more than a second-rate dessert fruit, 

 although it is very good in whatever way 

 cooked. The trees grow poorly in the nursery, 



195. Grand Duke. (XD 



and in the orchard are seldom large and vig- 

 orous enough to be called first class ; they 

 come in bearing slowly, but bear regularly and 

 abundantly and hold the crop well, the plums 

 being unusually free from rot and hanging in 

 good condition a long time. Grand Duke de- 

 serves its popularity as a market plum; prob- 

 ably no better variety can be selected for the 

 last of the season. Grand Duke is another of 

 the many valuable plums produced by Thomas 

 Rivers, Sawbridgeworth, England. 



Tree medium in size, vigorous, upright-spreading, 

 hardy, productive. Leaves flat, obovate, 1^ inches 

 wide, 3 inches long, thick ; apex taper-pointed ; base 

 acute ; margin serrate, with small, dark glands ; petiole 

 % inch long, nearly glabrous, with 1-3 globose, yel- 

 lowish glands. Blooming season intermediate ; flowers 

 1 inch across, white. Fruit late; 2% by 2 inches in size, 

 elongated-oval or slightly obovate, halves unequal ; 

 cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt ; suture wide ; apex 

 flattened, depressed or with a short, blunt tip ; color 

 purplish-black, with thick bloom ; dots numerous, small, 

 brown ; stem % inch long ; skin separating readily ; 

 flesh golden-yellow, juicy, firm, sweet, mild ; good ; stone 

 clinging, sometimes tinged red, irregularly oval, slightly 

 flattened, rough. 



GUEII. Fig. 196. P. domestica. Big Blue. 

 Blue Magnum Bonum. Gueii ranks among the 

 first half-dozen plums in eastern America. Its 

 popularity is due to its being a money-maker, 



196. Gueii. (XD 



as few would care to grow it in a home 

 orchard. The quality of the fruit is poor for 

 dessert, and it cannot even be called a par- 

 ticularly g o o d- 

 looking plum. But 

 the trees bear 

 early and abun- 

 dantly; are large, 

 vigorous, healthy, 

 and hardy; and 

 the plums are 

 hardly surpassed 

 for shipping, espe- 

 cially at the time 

 at which the crop 

 comes upon the 

 market, about 

 midseason, for the 

 best shipping 

 plums mature a 

 little later. The 

 fruit is subject to 

 brown-rot. The 

 stone sometimes 

 clings rather tight- 

 ly, and under other 

 conditions is 

 wholly free. It 

 could be wished 

 that so popular a 

 market plum were 

 better in quality, but since high quality is 

 seldom correlated in plums with fitness to ship 

 well, it would be unfair to condemn Gueii as 

 a market fruit because it cannot be eaten with 

 relish out of hand. Gueii originated with a 

 Mr. Hagaman, Lansingburgh, New York, about 

 1830. 



Tree large, vigorous, open-topped, hardy, very productive. 

 Leaves obovate, 2 inches wide, 4 inches long, thick ; 

 margin doubly crenate, with small black glands ; petiole 

 % inch long, thick, pubescent, tinged red. Flowers 

 1 % inches across, white. Fruit midseason ; medium 

 in size, ovate, halves equal ; cavity abrupt, rarely 

 sutured ; apex bluntly pointed ; color dark purplish- 

 black, with thick bloom ; dots numerous, small, russet, 

 clustered about the apex ; skin thin, tender, separating 

 readily ; flesh greenish-yellow, changing to light golden- 

 yellow, dry, firm, tender, sweet, mild, astringent at the 

 center ; fair in quality ; stone usually clinging, large, 

 ovate or oval, blunt at the base and apex, roughened 

 and pitted. 



HALE. P. salicina. J. Prolific. Hale is 

 of questionable value, failing both in fruit and 

 tree. The flavor of the plum is good in the 

 judgment of some, but others find it too sweet 

 and somewhat mawkish near the skin and 

 about the pit. All agree, however, that the 

 flesh clings too tightly to the stone for pleasant 

 eating, and that the texture is too tender for 

 good shipping. But the trees fail most 

 markedly: they are but semi-hardy; with the 

 best of care the wood does not ripen properly; 

 the habit of growth is not good; they are slow 

 in coming in bearing; not regularly productive; 

 and are readily infected by brown-rot. The 

 fruits are much infested by curculio. Luther 

 Burbank offered this plum under the name J, in 

 1893, and the following year as Prolific. J. H. 

 Hale, South Gastonbury, Connecticut, intro- 

 duced it as Hale in 1896. 



