354 



THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



Fruit small, oval, dark purple, with thick bloom; flesh greenish-yellow, harsh 

 and strongly acid at first but assuming a more pleasant flavor as it shrivels upon the 

 tree. 



SUGAR 

 Prunus domestica 



i. Cal. State Ed. Hon. 47. 1897-98. 2. Burbank Cat. 5 fig- 1899. 3. Waugh Plum Cult. 

 124. 1901. 4. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 275, PI. XXXVI fig. 2. 1903. 

 Sugar Prune i, 4. 



The introduction of Sugar to the Atlantic States was preceded by 

 very flattering accounts of it from the originator, Mr. Burbank, and from 

 Pacific Coast plum-growers. Possibly our expectations were too high; 

 for we have been greatly disappointed in this plum as compared with 

 its parent, Agen, as the two varieties grow at Geneva it shotild be said 

 at once that neither grows nearly as well in New York as in California. 

 The fruits of Sugar on the Station grounds are not larger than those of 

 the Agen, while in California it is said to be twice or three times as large ; 

 the flavor is not as pleasant and the flesh is fibrous in the offspring and 

 not so in the parent at Geneva, though in California the Sugar is said to 

 be of better quality than the Agen. As the two grow here, Sugar is rather 

 more attractive in appearance and ripens earlier, the latter character a 

 distinct advantage since Agen is very late in New York. The trees of 

 the two plums are much alike though those of Agen are larger and more 

 productive than those of Sugar as grown in New York. There are, how- 

 ever, but two trees of the latter variety on the Station grounds and these 

 are young, set in 1899, so that too much importance must not be attached 

 to the comparison of the trees. Sugar is worth further trial in New York 

 under other conditions of soil and climate but it is extremely doubtful 

 whether it will surpass the Agen in this State. 



This plum, a seedling of the well-known Agen, was introduced by its 

 originator, Burbank, in 1899. The California Experiment Station in analyz- 

 ing this plum found it to be richer in sugar than the Agen and states that 

 it is larger and more easily dried. Sugar has become of great commercial 

 importance in the California prune districts and has been top-grafted on 

 other plums and even on almonds to the extent of hundreds of acres in 

 that State and in Oregon. As yet it is only under trial in New York. 



Tree of medium size, usually vigorous, spreading, dense-topped, hardy, productive; 

 branches ash-gray, tinged red, smooth except for the numerous, small, raised lenticels; 

 branchlets slender, with long internodes, green changing to brownish-red, dull, sparingly 



