PREFACE 



The Plums of New York is the third monograph of the fruits of this 

 region published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The 

 aims of these books have been stated in full in The Grapes of New York, 

 but it is considered best to re-state some of these briefly and to indicate 

 some features in which the book on plums differs from the one on grapes. 



Broadly speaking, the aim has been to make The Plums of New York 

 a record of our present knowledge of cultivated plums. The book has 

 been written for New York but its contents are so general in character 

 that the work applies to the whole country and more or less to the world. 

 The first chapter is a historical account and a botanical classification of 

 plums ; the second, a discussion of the present status of plum-growing in 

 America; while the third and fourth are devoted to varieties of plums. 

 The first and last two of these chapters contain the synonymy and biblio- 

 graphy of the species and varieties of plums. In the foot-notes running 

 through the book biographical sketches are given of the persons who have 

 contributed most to plum culture in America; here may be found also 

 matters pertaining to plums not properly included in the text but necessary 

 for its best understanding. Important varieties, so considered from various 

 standpoints, with the bark and the flowers of several species, are illus- 

 trated in colors. 



The Plums of New York is a horticultural and not a botanical work. 

 But in a study of the fruit from a horticultural standpoint one must of 

 necessity consider botanical relationships. It is hoped that in this en- 

 forced systematic study of plums, however, something has been added 

 to the botanical knowledge of this fruit. In classifying the varieties and 

 species, to show their characters and relationships, the author has chosen 

 to dispose of the groups in accordance with his own views though the 

 arrangement adopted is, for most part, scarcely more than a modification 

 of existing classifications. 



Attention must be called to the indefiniteness of species and varieties 

 of plums due chiefly to the extreme responsiveness of the plants to environ- 

 ment. On each side of the specific or varietal types there are wide ranges 

 of variation. Since the relationships between types are often very close it 



