THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 297 



oval, nearly two inches wide, three and one quarter inches long; margin coarsely and 

 doubly serrate; petiole densely covered with short hairs; blooming season intermediate 

 in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, seven-eighths inch across, dull 

 white; borne in scattering clusters almost entirely on one-year-old wood, many lateral 

 buds remaining undeveloped, the bare limbs carrying tufts or clusters of blossoms, 

 in threes or fours; petals long-obovate, nearly three times as long as wide, tapering to 

 long claws, reddish at the base; stigma distinctly reddish when the flowers first open. 

 Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; one inch by seven-eighths inch in size, 

 ovate or roundish-ovate, slightly oblique, dull light to dark carmine over a yellow ground, 

 somewhat mottled, overspread with thick bloom; skin slightly astringent; flesh dark 

 golden-yellow, tender, melting, sweet, aromatic, pleasant in flavor; fair to good; stone 

 dark colored, nearly free, three quarters inch by one-half inch in size, roundish-oval, 

 turgid with smooth surfaces; ventral suture markedly winged. 



OCTOBER 



Prunus triflora 



i. Cornell Sta. Bui. 106:58. 1896. 2. Cal. State Bd. Hort. 52. 1897-98. 3. Am. Card. 20: 

 162 fig. 1899. 4. Rural N. Y. 59:104, 690. 1900. 5. Am. Card. 21:36, 660. 1900. 6. Nat. 

 Nur.8:iog, 123. 1900. 7. Waugh Plum Cult. 139. 1901. 8. Rural N. Y. 62:756. 1903. 9. Ohio 

 Sta. Bui. 162:250 fig., 256, 257. 1905. 10. Mass. Sta. An. Rft. 17:160. 1905. 



October Purple i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10. October Purple 7. 



There are but few late plums in Prunus triflora worth cultivating 

 and one of the needs of horticulture is a late plum of superior quality in 

 this species. At present October is the nearest approach to the plum 

 desired but because of several faults it falls considerably short of filling 

 the need. The fruits are large, at tractive -looking, fairly suitable for des- 

 sert, very good for culinary purposes, hang well to the tree and keep and 

 ship much better than the average Triflora variety; but still they are not 

 far enough from mediocrity to make the variety especially desirable. The 

 trees are well shaped, usually robust and healthy and the fruit is well 

 borne on lateral spurs distributed over the old wood ; but in New York, at 

 least, the trees are very tardy in coming in bearing and cannot be depended 

 upon to bear satisfactory crops regularly a fatal fault in a Triflora plum. 

 October might be sparingly planted in New York to the pleasure of the 

 amateur and possibly to the profit of the commercial fruit-grower who 

 has a good local market. 



October is said to be a cross of Satsuma and a seedling Triflora plum; 

 it was first fruited by Luther Burbank in 1892 and was introduced by 

 Stephen Hoyt's Sons, New Canaan, Connecticut, in 1897. The variety 

 was named October Purple by Burbank but " Purple " has been dropped 

 in accordance with the rules of the American Pomological Society. 



