296 FRUIT-GROWING 



Red Jime 



The very best early Japanese plum is the 

 Red June, a very dark, almost black plum of 

 fairly good quality and with a good record for 

 production. It ripens at least two weeks before 

 Burbank, three weeks before Abundance and 

 with those two sorts forms a triumvirate of 

 Japanese sorts that is hard to beat in the com- 

 mercial orchard. Our Red June plums have 

 uniformly sold for more money than any other 

 sort, largely because of their season of ripen- 

 ing. "We prefer other sorts for home use, but 

 always look forward to the Red June season 

 because it brings us the first of the plum crop 

 — and the first fruits of the year are always 

 good. If the same fruit were offered to us later 

 in the season after the keen edge of our appe- 

 tite had been removed we might reject it as un- 

 worthy, 



Reine Claude 



In many sections of the country the Reine 

 Claude is better known under the name of 

 Green Gage. The Green Gage is the recog- 

 nized standard of excellence among plums. 

 The name is also loosely applied to a group of 

 plums having similar characteristics and possi- 

 bly all of the same remote ancestor. These 

 plums originated in France several centuries 

 ago and were introduced into England by the 



