THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 197 



to be a very profitable market plum and if it were only better in quality 

 we could heartily join in recommending it. 



Duane originated as a seedling in the garden of James Duane, Duanes- 

 burgh, New York, about 1820. For several years, the variety was dis- 

 tributed by the Prince nurseries under the name Duane's Purple French. 

 This error was caused by Judge Duane's accidentally sending William 

 Prince, of Flushing, grafts of this seedling instead of a French plum * which 

 he had imported in 1820. When this mistake was discovered by Downing 

 and Tomlinson about 1846, the word French was dropped and the plum 

 became known as Duane's Purple and later, according to the rules of the 

 American Pomological Society, as Duane. In 1856, it was listed by the 

 American Pomological Society as promising well and in 1862 it was placed 

 on the list of the fruit catalog. 



Tree large, vigorous, round and dense-topped, hardy and productive; branches 

 ash-gray, smooth except for the numerous small, raised lenticels; branchlets medium 

 to thick, variable in length, with short internodes, greenish-red changing to dark brownish- 

 drab, dull, thickly pubescent, with raised lenticels intermediate in number and size; 

 leaf-buds of average size and length, conical or pointed, free. 



Leaves folded backward, obovate or oval, one and one-half inches wide, three and 

 one-half inches long; upper surface dark green, pubescent, rugose, with a narrow groove 

 on the midrib; lower surface silvery-green, pubescent; apex acute, base cuneate, margin 

 serrate, eglandular or with small amber glands; petiole one-half inch long, pubescent, 

 tinged with red, eglandular or with one or two small, globose, greenish-brown glands 

 on the stalk or base of the leaf. 



Blooming season rather early, of average length; flowers appearing before the 

 leaves, one inch across, white; developing from lateral buds, singly or in pairs; pedicels 

 nine-sixteenths inch long, thick, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, 

 pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, 

 erect; petals roundish, entire, short-clawed; anthers yellowish; filaments one-quarter 

 inch long; pistil pubescent on the ovary, longer than the stamens. 



Fruit mid-season, ripening period of average length; one and three-quarters 

 inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, broadly oblong-oval or obovate, com- 

 pressed, halves unequal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture variable in depth; 

 apex roundish or depressed; color dark reddish-purple changing to purplish-black 

 on the sunny side, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, light russet; stem 

 three-quarters inch long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin below medium 

 in thickness, tough, sour, separating readily; flesh pale yellow, lacking in juice, firm, sour 

 unless fully ripe; of fair quality; stone adhering, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths 

 inch in size, oval, with pitted surfaces, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture 

 wide, blunt; dorsal suture with a broad, deep groove. 



'This French plum proved to be the well-known Peach. See Horticulturist i: 115. 1846. 



