206 



KELSEY 



LATE MUSCATELLE 



delicate blush and bloom, and is large for a 

 plum in the Heine Claude group. It fails as 

 a market variety because the trees are late in 

 coining in bearing, a little particular as to 

 soils, and not quite hardy. Both tree and 



199. Jefferson. (Xl) 



fruit are too delicate for market-growers and 

 market-men. As to its value for private places, 

 there can be no doubt it is one of the choicest 

 varieties. Jefferson was raised by Judge Duel, 

 Albany, New York, about 1825. 



Tree medium to large, vigorous, spreading, open- 

 topped, hardy, productive. Leaves obovate, 1% inches 

 wide, 3 % inches long, thick ; apex and base acute ; 

 margin serrate, with small, dark glands ; petiole % 

 inch long, tinged purplish-red along one side, with 1-3 

 small, yellowish glands. Flowers 1 inch across, white. 

 Fruit midseason ; 1 % inches in diameter, round-oval, 

 halves equal ; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt ; suture 

 very shallow, indistinct ; apex round ; color bronze- 

 yellow, sometimes with faint pink blush on the exposed 

 cheek ; dots numerous, very small, gray or reddish ; 

 stem 1 inch long, thinly pubescent ; skin thin, tough, 

 adhering ; flesh deep yellow, juicy, firm but tender, 

 sweet, pleasant ; very good ; stone semi-free, flattened, 

 broadly oval, abruptly tipped, with a short neck at 

 the base, blunt at the apex, with rough and pitted 

 surfaces. 



KELSEY. P. salicina. Botankin. Hat- 

 tankio. Kelsey's Japan. Smomo. Togari. 

 This variety is not much hardier than the fig, 

 and cannot be safely planted north of Wash- 

 ington and Baltimore. The tree is vigorous, 

 well formed, and productive, having for its 

 worst fault susceptibility to shot-hole fungus. 

 The plums are large, very attractive in color; 

 and the flesh is firm, with a rich, pleasant, 

 aromatic flavor, making the fruit very good 

 in quality. In the South, both curculio and 

 brown-rot attack the fruits rather badly. Kel- 

 sey, the first of the Japanese plums introduced 

 into America, was brought into the country 

 by a Mr. Hough, Vacaville, California, in 1870. 

 John Kelsey, Berkeley, California, obtained 

 trees from Hough and propagated it. The fol- 

 lowing description is compiled: 



Tree vigorous, upright, vasiform, tender, productive, 

 an early and regular bearer. Leaves somewhat scant, 

 small, lanceolate, narrow ; blooming season early. Fruit 

 very late, season long, keeps and ships well ; large, 

 cordate, conical, halves unequal ; suture variable in 

 depth ; apex pointed ; color rather unattractive yellow, 

 tinged and splashed with red, often overspread with 

 purple, with attractive bloom, more or less marked 

 with conspicuous dots ; stem sometimes adhering poorly 

 to the fruit ; skin tender ; flesh delicate yellow, juicy, 

 firm and meaty, rich, pleasant, aromatic ; good to very 

 good ; stone clinging unless well ripened, small, in an 

 irregular cavity larger than the pit. 



KING. P. insititia. The fruit of King runs 

 large for a Damson, and the flavor is agreeable, 

 so agreeable that the variety is a very good 

 dessert fruit late in the season. This Damson 

 is little grown in America and deserves much 

 wider cultivation. A peculiarity of the flower 

 is that there is always more or less doubling of 

 the petals. Very little is known regarding the 

 history of this excellent variety, but it seems 

 probable that it originated in Kent, England, 

 where it is much grown. 



Tree small, lacking in vigor, upright-spreading, dense- 

 topped, productive. Leaves obovate, 1 inch wide, 2% 

 inches long ; margin serrate, usually with small dark 

 glands ; petiole with 1 or 2 glands on the stalk. Flowers 

 usually with more than 5 petals, 1 inch across, white 

 with a yellow tinge at the apex. Fruit late, season 

 long ; 1 inch in diameter, oval, slightly necked, black, 

 with thick bloom ; flesh greenish-yellow, juicy, firm, 

 sprightly, becoming sweet late in the season ; of good 

 quality ; stone clinging, irregular-ovate, slightly necked. 



LATE MIRABELLE. P. insititia. In 

 France, where all of the Mirabelles are highly 

 esteemed, Late Mirabelle is much grown. The 

 variety is practically unknown in America, but 

 well deserves widespread trial, as do all the 

 Mirabelles. The history of this variety is 

 unknown other than that it is an old sort, 

 having been mentioned in the London Horti- 

 cultural Society catalog as long ago as 1831. 



Tree medium in size and vigor, very hardy, produc- 

 tive ; branches smooth. Leaves small, oval, 1 *4 inches 

 wide, 2 inches long ; margin finely serrate, with few, 

 dark glands ; petiole slender, glandless or with 1 or 2 

 glands at the base of the leaf. Fruit late ; small, 

 round-oval, greenish-yellow, often with a light blush 

 on the sunny side, covered with thin bloom ; stem 

 short, slender ; flesh yellow, very juicy, aromatic, sweet ; 

 good ; stone semi-free. 



LATE MUSCATELLE. P. domestica. 

 Late Muscatelle has been fruiting for fifteen 

 years at the New York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, and has come to be regarded as one of 

 the best late plums out of the 500 or more that 

 have been fruited with it. The plums are 

 large and somewhat truncate, of a pleasingly 

 rotund shape; the color is a beautiful purple- 

 brown, slightly splashed and mottled with 

 russet; the skin is thicker and tougher than 

 one wishes in a first-class dessert plum, but 

 these qualities are valuable assets in shipping; 

 the flesh is tender, meaty, firm, juicy, sweet, 

 and delicious. A pleasing characteristic is that 

 the flesh is about the freest from the stone of 

 that of any plum. The crop is late to ripen and 

 keeps well, but, if kept too long, the fruits 

 shrivel somewhat. The trees are hardy and 

 relatively free from insects and diseases, but 

 are not quite so vigorous as one could wish. 

 For home use and local market, Late Musca- 



