July 27, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



359 



In his first group the author arranges " the hardy strong- 

 growing varieties which have come from the nortli-west, and 

 which arc characterized by a firm, meaty, usually compressed, 

 dull-colored, late fruit, with thick, and usually very tough, 

 glaucous skin, and large, more or less llattened, stone, which 

 is often nearly, or ciuite, free, and by large obovate, thick, 

 veiny, jagged dull leaves." The plants of this group are re- 

 ferred to the P. Americana of Marshall, with which Professor 

 Bailey unites the so-called Canada Plum, which Alton de- 

 scribed a century ago under the name of P. nigra. It is true 

 that some of the cultivated varieties which obviously belong 

 in this group show in the herbarium characters which are in- 

 termediate lietwcen those of the wild types of the Canadian 

 Plum and of the species of the middle, southern and western 

 states, upon which Marshall bestowed the name of P. Ameri- 

 cana ; liut as the two trees appear growing wild, one in the 

 north and the other in the south, tlicy diller so constantly in 

 haliit, in the time of flowering, in the size of the llowers, in the 

 character antl covering of the calyx-lobes, and in the form of 

 the stone of the fruit, that it is impossible to believe that they 

 can be specifically united from the point of view of the botanist. 



In the Americana group forty-five varieties, now pretty gen- 

 erally distributed in cultivation, are described. The plants of this 

 group are said to succeed best in the northern states of the Mis- 

 sissippi valley, and they are the only ones which are able to 

 withstand the climate of the northernmost limits of the native 

 Plum-belt, as Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. There arc 

 some varieties, however, which succeed as far south as Texas, 

 although in the Atlantic states the varieties are not grown far 

 south. 



We suspect that the varieties that succeed in the extreme 

 north-western states will be found to have sprung from the 

 Canadian Phmi, which was brought into New England at a 

 very early day, probably by the Indians, and where it has now 

 become established in many places in which it is not probable 

 that it grew naturally. It is possible, therefore, that this tree 

 was carried by the Indians or the early voyageurs into the re- 

 gion beyond the Great Lakes, and that it was from these intro- 

 duced plants that some of the varieties now esteemed by the 

 pomologists of Wisconsin and Minnesota have descended. 

 Certainly it is hard to find any trace of the P. Americana of 

 Marshall in such trees as Weaver and Purple Yosemite, while 

 in De Soto, Cheney and Forest Rose it is difficult to discover 

 the blood of P. nigra. 



The Wild Goose group, which is considered by Professor 

 Bailey " the most important group of native Plums, includes 

 varieties characterized by strong wide-spreading growth and 

 mostly smooth twigs, a firm, juicy, bright-colored, thin-skinned 

 fruit, which is never flattened, a clinging, tm-gid, compara- 

 tively small, rough stone, which is sometimes prolonged at the 

 ends, but is never conspicuously wing-margined, and by com- 

 paratively thin and firm, shining, smooth, flat, more or less 

 Peach-like, ovate-lanceolate or ovate long-pointed leaves, 

 which are mostly closely and obtusely glandular-serrate, and 

 the stalks of which are usually glandular." The species from 

 which this group is evidently derived has only been recently 

 recognized by botanists, and it is Professor Bailey himself, in 

 a recent issue of this journal, who raised to specific rank, under 

 the name of P. hortulana, the Plum-tree of the middle Missis- 

 sippi region which earlier botanists had confounded with the 

 Chickasaw Plum, a plant of a more southern origin. 



In the Hortulana group Professor Bailey finds two more or 

 less clearly marked types, one characterized by thin and very 

 smooth Peach-like leaves, which are finely and evenly serrate, 

 and the other by thicker, duller and more coarsely and irregu- 

 larly serrate leaves. In the first of these groups is placed the 

 Wild Goose Plum, which was first brought to notice by James 

 Harvey, of Columbia, Tennessee. The history of this variety, 

 which is the most popular probably of all the native Plums 

 and the one which has done more than any other variety to 

 extend their cultivation, is, as Professor Bailey tells it, as fol- 

 lows: " The Wild Goose was first brought to notice by James 

 Harvey, of Columbia, Tennessee. Some time before 1850 a 

 man shot a wild goose near Columbia, and on the spot where 

 the carcass was thrown this Plum came up the following 

 spring. It was introduced about 1852 by the late J.S. Downer, 

 of Fairview, Kentucky. This is tiie first Plum introduced into 

 general cultivation, although the Miner was first known and 

 named." Plants of the Wild Goose type, as a whole, appear 

 to be best suited to the middle latitudes, being grown with 

 satisfaction from Illmois and Indiana, and the southern part of 

 Michigan and New York to Maryland, Virginia and Tennessee, 

 and in the south-west to Texas. The varieties which are most 

 highly prized are Golden Beauty, Indian Chief, Missouri Apri- 

 cot, Moreman, Wayland and Wild Goose. 



The Miner Group, as defined by Professor Bailey, "includes 

 a few anomalous varieties, which appear to be intermediate 

 between P. hortulana and P. Americana. They may be 

 an offshoot of P. hortulana, or it is possible that they consti- 

 tute a distinct species. The Miner is particularly well marked, 

 but there: arc others which it is sometimes difficult to separate 

 from P. hortulana." To this group are referred Clinton, Idol, 

 Miner and several others. It is described as a strong and 

 hardy race, which is particularly adapted to the northern limits 

 of the cultivation of the Hortulana family. The varieties are 

 much alike. The Miner is the most popular member of the 

 group, and it succeeds even in northern Illinois. In New York 

 the varieties ripen from late September to late October. 



The members of the Chickasaw group, derived from the so- 

 called Chickasaw Plum, the P. angustifolia of Marshall, 

 differ from the plants of the Wild Goose group "by a more 

 slender, spreading and zigzag growth, usually smaller size of 

 tree, red twigs, by smaller, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 

 very closely serrate shining leaves, by early small flowers, 

 which, upon old wood, are densely clustered upon the spurs, 

 and by an early red or rarely yellow and more or less spotted 

 translucent fruit, the flesh of which is soft, juicy, and more or 

 less stringy and very tightly adherent to the small, broad, 

 roughish stone." Professor Bailey is of opinion that the 

 type of the Chickasaw Plum grows wild from southern Dela- 

 ware to Florida and westward to Kansas and Texas, although 

 it has usually been considered an introduced plant in the east- 

 ern states, where it is generally found growing in the neigh- 

 borhood of dwellings or along the borders of cultivated fields 

 — that is, in situations to whicli it might have been expected 

 to escape from gardens. Michaux, the French botanist, who 

 resided in South Carolina toward the end of the last century, 

 was told tliere that the Chickasaw Plum had been brought from 

 the West Indies, and there are many indications which point 

 to the southern origin of this plant, although it is fair to say, 

 in support of Professor Bailey's theory, that it is not known 

 anywhere outside the limits of the United States. We should 

 suspect, from its inability to support cold and its truly domestic 

 habits, that it had been brought into the southern states, perhaps, 

 before the coming of Europeans from the high lands of Mexico 

 or from some Andean region, although, if tfhis had been the 

 case, it is remarkable that it has never been found growing 

 wild in those countries. It is the small-sized fruit of the wild 

 or naturalized bushes of this species which is sold in the mar- 

 kets of the middle states as Mountain Cherries. Eighteen va- 

 rieties of this group are described by Professor Bailey, who 

 finds them particularly adapted to the southern states, the 

 leading varieties being Caddo Chief, Jennie Lucas, Lone Star, 

 Pottawattamie and Yellow Translucent. 



In the Marianna group are placed the Marianna and the De 

 Caradeuc Phuns, and probably also the Hattie. These form 

 a distinct class, "differing in habit of tree, very early flower- 

 ing, elliptic-ovate, rather small and finely serrate dull leaves, 

 glandless leaf-stalks, and soft spherical very juicy plums of a 

 'sugar and water' character, and broad ovate stones which 

 are scarcely pointed and are prominently furrowed on the 

 front edge." These plants, which have long perplexed po- 

 mologists. Professor Bailey believes are derived from Prunus 

 Myrobalan, an Old World species, probably of eastern origin, 

 although long considered by European botanists a doubt- 

 ful plant, and once considered an inhabitant of the New 

 World. It is evident, however, that it is not American, 

 although it has been cultivated in this country for many years, 

 especially as a stock upon which to graft the varieties of the 

 Old World P. domestica, and it is doubtless from such stocks 

 that the varieties of this group have been derived. 



Professor Bailey describes and figures, too, the dwarf 

 Cherries, which either for the beauty of their flowers or the 

 promise of their fruit are now attracting attention among 

 horticulturists ; he explains the methods best suited for culti- 

 vating and propagating our wild Plums and Cherries ; he dis- 

 cusses the fungal diseases which infest them, and the insects 

 which prey upon them, and tabulates the estimates obtained 

 from representative growers in all parts of the country of the 

 value of the leading varieties of Plums. 



Pomologists and botanists will find in this paper a mine of 

 information, and the author has earned their thanks for cut- 

 ting what he very rightly describes as " the hardest knot in 

 American pomology." Certainly before the result of his inves- 

 tigations was made known no group of plants cultivated in 

 America was so inextricably confused or so difficult to under- 

 stand as the American Plums, and in future, although much 

 additional information will, no doubt, in time be gathered 

 about them as they are more generally appreciated and culti- 

 vated, every serious pomologist must begin his investigations 



