310 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



however, whether it is the Peach of this discussion, the name having been 

 applied indiscriminately to several varieties, the Goliath, Nectarine and 

 Apricot in particular. Prince, in 1832, described a Large Peach Plum 

 which he said " had been introduced a few years since " but as his variety 

 is oval and a clingstone, it is not the same as the Peach of Poiteau, the 

 one discussed here, this plum being nearly round and a freestone. Judge 

 James C. Duane of Schenectady, New York, seems to have first imported 

 the Peach plum, with several others, from France, in 1820. The name of 

 this variety was lost during the shipment and as the invoice called for an 

 Apricot Plum, the names Apricot and Duane's Plum became locally applied 

 to what afterwards turned out to be the Peach. C. H. Tomlinson of Sche- 

 nectady and A. J. Downing in 1846 made a careful study of these imported 

 plums and showed conclusively that this Apricot or Duane's Plum was 

 the Peach of the French. In 1862, the American Pomological Society 

 added Peach to the fruit catalog list and recommended it for the eastern 

 and western sections of New York. 



Tree large, very vigorous, spreading, round or flat-topped, hardy, medium in pro- 

 ductiveness; branches stocky, smooth, dark ash-brown, with lenticels of medium 

 number and size; branchlets thick, with internodes one inch long, light brown, cov- 

 ered with short, heavy pubescence; leaf -buds large, of medium length, conical. 



Leaves large, oval, of average thickness; upper surface dark green; lower surface 

 pale green, pubescent; apex obtuse, margin doubly crenate, with small glands; petiole 

 three-quarters inch long, thick, pubescent, with a trace of red, usually with two, small, 

 globose, greenish glands at the base of the leaf. 



Fruit early; thick-set, without a neck, one and seven-eighths inches in diameter, 

 roundish, slightly angular, halves equal; cavity deep, wide, compressed; suture shal- 

 low, distinct; apex flattened or depressed; color dark purplish-red, overspread with 

 thin bloom; dots numerous, large, conspicuous; stem eleven-sixteenths inch long, 

 glabrous, adhering well to the fruit; skin tough, adhering; flesh golden-yellow, medium 

 juicy, firm, subacid, mild; good; stone free, one inch by three-quarters inch in size, 

 roundish-oval, flattened, with rough and pitted surfaces, blunt at the base and apex; 

 ventral suture wide, prominent, often distinctly winged; dorsal suture with a wide, 

 deep groove. 



PEARL 



Prunus domestica 

 I. Burbank Cat. 5. 1898. 2. Am. Card. 21:36. 1900. 3. Waugh Plum Cult. 118. 1901. 



One can grow seedlings of some plums with considerable certainty 

 of getting respectable offspring plums worth having in an orchard 

 but the chances of growing a variety of superior qualities are small indeed. 



