THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 387 



The references and synonyms show that Yellow Egg is a plum with 

 an interesting history, but unfortunately the accounts of its origin and 

 subsequent history have been but poorly preserved. Rea, in 1676, de- 

 scribed the Yellow Egg as the Bonum Magnum or Dutch Plum; we may 

 infer from this that the English obtained the variety from Holland. 

 Knoop of Holland, in 1771, described the variety under the name Prune 

 d'Oeuf Blanche, indicating a French origin. Knoop describes the Prune 

 De Monsieur as similar and this plum has ever since been held as doubt- 

 fully identical. Duhamel, in Traite des Arbres Fruitiers, 1768, described 

 Yellow Egg as the Dame Aubert. Kraft in Pomona Austriaca, 1796, 

 gave it as the Die Grosse Weisse Glanzende, oder Die Albertus Damen- 

 pflaume. These references show that Yellow Egg was well known at an 

 early date. Because of its close resemblance to many varieties, probably 

 due to the propagation of seedlings from it, much confusion exists in the 

 nomenclature of Yellow Egg. White Imperial was separated by Duhamel 

 and Prince; but Miller, Thompson and most of the subsequent writers 

 give it as the same. Duhamel believed the Imperial Blanche (White 

 Imperial) to be the Grosse Datte. So, too, the Wentworth was at first 

 separated but, later, was recorded as identical. Koch calls Yellow Egg 

 one of the Datterpflaumen (Date Plums) though he states that there is 

 another Date Plum known by Tragus more than three hundred years ago 

 as Prunidactyla. De Candolle seems to hold to the names Dame d'Aubert 

 and Aubertina for this plum. Professor Budd in exploring southwest 

 Russia and Poland found a Dame Aubert differing from our Yellow Egg 

 only in minor characters which he was told came from central Asia. 



The exact date of the importation of Yellow Egg to this country is 

 unknown. Coxe, in 1817, described it as the Mogul and later Prince gave 

 it the name Yellow Egg. Owing to this change in name, we find America 

 now and then given as its place of origin by both American and English 

 writers. In 1862, the American Pomological Society added it to its fruit 

 catalog list under the name White Magnum Bonum but in 1871, the name 

 was changed to Yellow Egg. The Darwin Peach, sent out by Fell, a nur- 

 seryman in England, has proved to be identical at this Station and its 

 distributor, in a recent letter, states that this plum, which has been grow- 

 ing on his place thirty years, " is apparently identical to the White Magnum 

 Bonum " which is of course Yellow Egg. 



Tree, large, vigorous, round-topped, open, hardy, very productive; trunk roughish; 

 branches numerous, ash-gray, nearly smooth, with rather large lenticels; branchlets 



