18 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



Feb. 



For the Western PomologiBt. 



The Miner and Chickesa'w Plums. 



Perhaps in our whole list of hardy valu- 

 able fruits there is not one whose history and 

 even place in botany is involved in more 

 doubt than that of the Miner Plum. Its 

 remarkable producliveuess, its extreme 



JUKE It LEAF. 



hardiness, and e.xcellent quality of fruit has 

 so conunended it to tlie peojile, that its spread 

 fr; m ueighborliod to neighborhod, in Wis- 

 consin and Norllieru Illinois and Iowa, has 



'■cdrigh 



CU1CKE,SA\V LEA 



Like all fruits 

 disseminated in 

 tliis quiet way, 

 it has obtained 

 ditlerent local 

 namt'S, the best 

 known of which 

 are Townsend, 

 Hinkley, and 

 Miner. There 

 are many rea- 

 .sons for believ- 

 ing- the latter to 

 lie the original 

 and most cor- 

 rectly applied 

 name. A cer- 

 tain Mr. Jliuer 

 brought this 

 |)lLim to Lan- 

 caster, Wiscon- 

 -in, some six- 

 teen y e a r s 

 ■•ince, with the 

 statement that 

 it was produced 



from pits planted by him of the Yellow Egg 

 or Magnum Bonum Plum a number of years 

 previous, and that it had been disseminated 

 alone from the sprouts taken from the orig- 

 inal seedling tree as planted by him. A 

 strong confirmation of this story is found in 



CHICKESAW PLUM. 



the habit of growth of the Miner, and the 

 character of its fruit. The Yellow Egg is an 

 American Plum of extreme hardiness, and 

 is a variety that has shown a strong tendency 

 to run into many sub-varieties, similar in 

 many characteristics to the Miner. We see 

 it often stated in our journals that the Miner 

 is simply a variety of the Chickesaw. This 

 statement is wholly absurd. The extreme 

 difflerence in the size, shape, and seprations 

 of the leaves of the Miner and Chickesaw 

 plums are shown in the annexed cuts. The 

 color and net veining of the leaves are far 

 more distinct than can be shown in this con- 

 nection. And this extreme and entire dif- 

 ference from the Chickesaw extends to the 

 whole tree and to its fruit. I can think of 

 no feature they have in common except it be 

 in the tripple buds peculiar to the twigs of 

 both. I am sorry to say that on account of 

 this peculiarity in the arrangement of its 

 buds many thousands of cions have been 

 sent out by ignorant or unscrupulous parties, 

 and grafted and sold to 

 the people as Miner plum. 

 Tlie cions of the Miner 

 are stouter, lighter in 

 color, and have none of 

 the uncultivated look 

 peculiar to those of the 

 Chickasaw. The true 

 Miner in its leaf, color of 

 bark and youug twigs, 

 habits of growth, furrow- 

 ing of its fruit pits, and 

 even in taste of fruit, 

 Avhen cooked, more nearly 

 approaches the peach 

 than any plum with 

 which I am familiar. So 

 nuirked is this appearance 

 of tree in nurseries that 

 parties have often wou- 

 d e r e d " what peculiar 

 looking kind of peach " 1 1 



2 1 



-Miuei cion. 



- Chickesaw cion. 



was growing in nursery. Like its supposed 

 parent, the yellow ^Magnum Bonum, the 

 Miner is peculiarly a valuable culinary sort. 

 Its skin, unlike our wild plums, and most 

 cultivated varieties, when cooked, becomes a 

 paletable pulp. When made into sauce it 

 has an unmistakable peach JUivor, which has 

 been universally remarked where this plum 

 has come into general use. 



Wherever introduced in Wisconsin, North- 

 ern Illinois or Iowa, and in bearing, it has 

 become popular and in demand for planting, 

 maicly on account of its certainty of pro- 

 ducing a crop. Even our wild plums under 

 culture are liable to be destroyed by the 

 curculio. And the culture of the cultivated 

 varieties, with the excnption perhaps of the 

 Lombard, has become almost hopeless on 

 account of the ravages of the " little Lurk." 

 At first it was thought that crops of the 

 Miner were obtained when all others failed 

 on account of some peculiarity of the skin 

 making the fruit curculio proof Later 

 observation, however, has demonstrated that 



MENBR PLUM. 



its escape from this pest was mainly on 

 account of its peculiar lateness in blossoming 

 and in ripening its fruit, it being fully three 

 weeks later than any of our wild or culti- 

 vated sorts. The main crop of the insects 

 seem out of the way at the time the Miner 

 gets large enough for puncturing, and the 

 plums that are punctured develop so fast 

 after the warm weather is fairly inaugurated, 

 that the deposited eggs seems in most cases 

 to be fairlj' drowned out and "sloughed off" 

 by the abundant sap. The bearing habits 

 of this plum, combined with its peculiar 

 value for culinary use, will soon make it an 

 everywhere common praiaie fruit, if no 

 new insect or disease is developed to change 

 its present habits. 



Joseph L. Budd. 

 Sliellsburg, Imea. 



— The first step towards self-improvement 

 is, to leiive off " crying over spilled milk." — 

 Let the past go, and bend every energy to 

 the improvement of the present. 



