WAYLAND 



WICKSON 



219 



color; abundant in juice, yet firm and meaty 

 enough in flesh to keep and ship well; and 

 very good in flavor. The trees are large, hardy, 

 vigorous, and healthy; remarkable for their 

 broad, glossy, abundant leaves; and bear 

 bountiful crops annually at a favorable period 

 of maturity. The variety, however, is not 

 without defects; the fruits are subject to 

 brown-rot; the quality varies greatly in differ- 

 ent locations and years; the trees are slow in 



210. Washington. (XD 



coming in bearing; and the crops are small 

 for some years after fruiting begins. While 

 this variety is almost always worth planting 

 in a home collection, the location for it as a 

 commercial fruit needs to be chosen with care. 

 About the year 1790, the pits of twenty-five 

 quarts of Green Gage plum were planted by 

 the Princes at Flushing, Long Island. From 

 one of these Washington came. 



Tree large, vigorous, round and open-topped, hardy, very 

 productive. Leaves flattened, oval, 2Vfc inches wide, 4^4 

 inches long, leathery, velvety ; apex acute ; base abrupt ; 

 margin serrate, eglandular ; petiole % inch long, green, 

 pubescent, glandless or with 1 or 2 smallish, globose, 

 greenish-yellow glands. Flowers appearing after the 

 leaves, Ify inches across, white, with yellow near 

 the apex. Fruit midseason ; 1% by 1% inches in size, 

 round-oval, compressed, halves equal ; cavity shallow, 

 narrow, flaring ; suture shallow ; apex roundish ; color 

 greenish-yellow, with green stripes and splashes, oc- 

 casionally with a faint blush on the sunny side, with 

 thin bloom ; dots numerous, white, inconspicuous ; stem 

 !/ inch long, with thick pubescence, adhering strongly 

 to the fruit ; skin thin, sour, separating readily ; flesh 

 greenish-yellow, juicy, firm, tender, sweet, mild, pleasant 

 flavor ; good to very good ; stone free, oval, turgid, 

 roughened, somewhat blunt at the base and apex. 



WAYLAND. P. hortulana. Wayland is 

 of little interest to plum-growers who grow 

 the Domestica varieties without difficulty, but 

 in the South and Middle West it is an impor- 

 tant representative of a valuable species. The 

 trees withstand the hot, dry weather in the 

 region south of central Iowa and Nebraska 

 rather better than do those of varieties of other 



species, and the fruits are borne in such quanti- 

 ties and so late that this and kindred sorts be- 

 come important plums. The fruits are quite too 

 firm of flesh, too sour, and too small to be of 

 value for dessert purposes, but they are most 

 excellent for jellies, marmalades, and pre- 

 serves; they are also best adapted for long- 

 keeping and shipping of all the native plums. 

 The trees are large, robust, and hardy as far 

 north as central New York; usually free from 

 attacks of insects and fungi; and, with their 

 abundant, glossy foliage, are strikingly orna- 

 mental. Wayland was found in a plum thicket 

 on the premises of Professor H. B. Wayland, 

 Cadiz, Kentucky. 



Tree very large and vigorous, spreading, somewhat 

 drooping, flat-topped, open, hardy. Leaves long-oval, 

 peach-like, 1 % inches across, 5 inches long, thin ; apex 

 acuminate ; base abrupt ; margin unevenly serrate, 

 glandular ; petiole 1 inch long, slender, pubescent along 

 one side, with a tinge of red, with 1-5 very small, 

 globose, brownish glands. Flowers }f inch across, 

 white, with disagreeable odor. Fruit very late, season 

 long ; 1 % by 1 inch in size, round-ovate, narrowing 

 toward the stem, conical, slightly compressed, halves 

 equal ; cavity deep, narrow, abrupt ; suture shallow and 

 wide, often a distinct line ; apex pointed ; color dark 

 currant-red, with inconspicuous, thin bloom ; dots nu- 

 merous, conspicuous, densely clustered about the apex ; 

 stem slender, % inch long, glabrous, not adhering to 

 the fruit ; skin thick, tough, clinging but slightly ; flesh 

 light yellow, juicy, coarse, fibrous, tender, sweet next 

 the skin but astringent towards the pit ; fair to good ; 

 stone clinging, long-oval, somewhat elongated at the 

 base and apex, turgid with rough and pitted surfaces. 



WEAVER. P. americana. Weaver is an 

 old and well-known Americana, once one of 

 the most popular of its species because of 

 hardiness and productiveness. It is still listed 

 by many nurserymen, and is widely distributed 

 throughout the country, but is now rapidly 

 passing out of cultivation, being superseded by 

 sorts producing larger and better colored fruits. 

 This variety was found growing wild on the 

 Cedar River, in Iowa, by a Mr. Weaver, about 

 1870. 



Tree large, vigorous, well formed, upright-spreading, 

 unusually hardy, productive. Leaves falling late, 4^ 

 inches long, 2 % inches wide, oval, firm, thick, leathery ; 

 apex acuminate ; base acute ; margin deeply and 

 coarsely serrate ; petiole % inch long, stout, reddish, 

 slightly pubescent along one side, usually with 2 large, 

 globose, reddish-brown glands. Flowers large, promi- 

 nently stalked. Fruit midseason or later ; 1 by % inch 

 in size, large, oval or round-oblong, compressed, halves 

 unequal ; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt ; suture shal- 

 low, distinct ; apex roundish or depressed ; color yellow- 

 ish overlaid with purplish-red, mottled with thin bloom ; 

 dots numerous, small, often purplish, inconspicuous ; 

 skin thick, very tough, astringent, adhering to the pulp ; 

 flesh deep yellow, juicy, firm and meaty, sweet, mild ; 

 fair to good ; stone long and narrow, oval, flattened, 

 obscurely pointed at the base and apex, smooth. 



WICKSON. Fig. 211. P. salicinaXP- 

 Simonii. Eureka. Perfection. The fruit of 

 Wickson is the largest of the Oriental plums, 

 if not the largest of all plums; it is of hand- 

 some color and distinct form; the flesh is 

 firm and of a peculiar flavor, generally consid- 

 ered pleasant. These characters and the nar- 

 row upright tree, with its long lanceolate 

 leaves, mark the variety as a new and for some 

 parts of the country a valuable addition to 

 pomology. In the East, the variety is a little 



