THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 149 



Arch Duke ought to become one of the leading plums for the market 

 in New York. The qualities which fit it for a high place among com- 

 mercial varieties are: large size, handsome color a rich, dark purple with 

 thick bloom and firmness of flesh and skin so that it both keeps and ships 

 well. The accompanying color-plate does not do the variety justice, 

 either in beauty, color or size of fruit. Arch Duke compared with Grand 

 Duke, known by all plum-growers, is nearly as large, neck thicker, the same 

 color, bloom heavier, quality higher, flesh firmer, stone free and ripens 

 earlier. The tree -characters, like the fruit -characters, are all good. While 

 this variety is suitable for both home and market use it appears after a 

 thorough test in many parts of the State for nearly twenty years to be 

 especially well adapted for a market fruit. 



Arch Duke was raised by Thomas Rivers, Sawbridgeworth, England, 

 from seed of De Montfort, and was sent out in 1883. It was first noted in 

 America by the Ontario Fruit Growers' Association in 1891 and was im- 

 ported into the United States by S. D. Willard 1 of Geneva, New York, 

 about 1892. 



Tree of medium size, upright-spreading, hardy in New York except in exposed 

 locations, very productive; branches smooth, dark ash-gray, with small, raised lenticels; 

 branchlets of medium thickness and length, with long internodes, greenish-red changing 

 to brownish-red, glossy, covered thinly with bloom and with sparse pubescence; lenticels 

 numerous, very small, obscure; leaf -buds large, long, pointed, free; leaf-scars swollen. 



'Samuel D. Willard was born August 24, 1835, near Cayuga, New York. He was educated 

 in the district school, Canandaigua Academy, and Temple Hall, Geneseo, having been graduated 

 at the last named place in 1854. After a successful business career of a decade and a half following 

 his schooling, Mr. Willard engaged in the nursery business in Geneva, New York. He prospered 

 in tree-growing and soon embarked in fruit-growing as well, rapidly attaining distinction as a nur- 

 seryman and as a fruit-grower. He early began to specialize in plum culture and soon became 

 one of the leading growers of plums, one of the chief authorities on varieties, and one of the largest 

 importers of new sorts. In 1 897, with Dr. L. H. Bailey as co-author, Mr. Willard prepared Bul- 

 letin 131, Notes upon Plums, of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. In this 

 bulletin Mr. Willard put on record the results of his long experience in growing plums and gave 

 descriptions of seventy varieties, nineteen of which he had imported from Europe. Besides this 

 bulletin he has published but little on plums, but his spoken words regarding them may be found 

 in nearly every report of the two horticultural societies of New York since 1880, as they are also 

 to be found in the reports of horticultural societies in neighboring states and the provinces of Canada. 

 Besides his work in horticultural societies, Mr. Willard was one of the earliest and foremost insti- 

 tute speakers in New York. He was, too, for many years active 'in the development of the state 

 fair in New York, having charge of the horticultural department, a position which he also held at 

 the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. For nearly a half -century Mr. Willard has been 

 prominent in his profession in the state and nation; he is known by all eastern fruit-growers and 

 his vigorous and enthusiastic utterances in the press, from the platform and in conversation have 

 made him a favorite authority with the fruit-growers of this generation. 



