THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 153 



line; apex roundish or pointed; color bright currant-red, with thin bloom; dots smallish, 

 white, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem very slender, five-eighths inch long, 

 glabrous, not adhering to the fruit; skin thin, tough, bitter, separating readily; flesh 

 orange-yellow, juicy, fibsous, somewhat tender and melting, sweet at the skin but 

 sour at the center, aromatic; good; stone clinging, three-quarters inch by one-half 

 inch in size, oval, flattened and prolonged at the base, sharp-tipped at the apex; ventral 

 suture acute, faintly ridged; dorsal suture acute. 



AUTUMN COMPOTE 



Prunus domestica 



i. Mclntosh Bk. Card. 2:333. l8 5S- 2. Card. Chron. 26:364. 1866. 3. Hogg Fruit Man. 

 351. 1866. 4. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 897. 1869. 5. Mas Le Verger 6:71, fig. 36. 1866-73. 

 6. Hogg Fruit Man. 685. 18^4. 7. Thompson Card. Ass't 4:156. 1901. 



Autumn Compote 5. Compote d'Automne 5. 



This plum is well and favorably known in England, but it is scarcely 

 grown in America, though it has much in the character of its fruit at least 

 to recommend it. The plums are attractive in appearance and while not 

 of the highest flavor are yet far above the average in the qualities which 

 make a good dessert fruit, while for culinary purposes it ranks among 

 the best. The trees are productive, hardy and fairly vigorous and may be 

 especially noted as holding their crop well. Autumn Compote is a seedling of 

 Cooper, raised by Thomas Rivers, Sawbridge worth, England, about 1840. 



Tree of medium size and vigor, spreading, rather low and open-topped, hardy, 

 very productive; branches smooth, dark brownish-gray, with lenticels intermediate 

 in number and size; branchlets few, slender, very short, with long internodes, greenish- 

 red changing to dark brownish-red, dull, sparingly pubescent early in the season, becom- 

 ing heavily pubescent later, with few, inconspicuous, small lenticels ; leaf-buds long, 

 pointed, free. 



Leaves drooping, folded backward, long-oval or obovate, two and one-eighth inches 

 wide, four and one-fourth inches long, thick; upper surface dark green, smooth, hairy, 

 with deeply grooved midrib; lower surface pale green, pubescent; apex acute, base 

 tapering, margin crenate, eglandular; petiole thick, one-half inch long, tinged red, 

 glandless or with from one to four globose, greenish-yellow, large glands usually on 

 the stalk. 



Season of bloom medium, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one- 

 quarter inches across, in the buds creamy-yellow changing to white as the flowers open; 

 borne in clusters on short lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels nearly one-half inch 

 long, glabrous, green; calyx-tube greenish, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes broad, 

 obtuse, glandular-serrate, sparingly pubescent on both surfaces, reflexed; petals oval, 

 narrowly dentate, with very short and broad claws; anthers yellowish; filaments 

 nearly seven-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens. 



