March 7, 1894.J 



Garden and Forest. 



99 



remedies during the past season or two, but, so far, with rather 

 unsatisfactory results. In some instances an improvement has 

 been noted, in others but little advantage has resulted in the 

 quality of fruit, although the foliage has been more vigorous. 

 These seeming failures should not discourage the growers. It 

 will require both patience and experience to discover the 

 best fungicide and to apply it most effectively. Those who 

 have read the careful experiments conducted at the Cornell 

 Experiment Station by Professor Lodeman must feel en- 

 couraged at the prospects of suppressing this pest. 



The fruit of certain varieties of Apples seems to be affected 

 by the scab but little, or not at all, and for this reason some 

 orchardists in the Province of Quebec have been selecting 

 these varieties for recent planting. Such apples as Fameuse 

 and St. Lawrence are among those worst afflicted ; Walbridge 

 and Wealthy are less so ; Red Astrachan and Pewaukee keep 

 comparatively clear and salable. The fruit of Tetofsky, Char- 

 lottenthaler (Yellow Transparent), Duchess, Alexander and 

 Golden Russet remains clear, but in some cases the foliage is 

 more or less affected. Pears, such as Flemish Beauty, are also 

 liable to serious damage by the scab. It is probably not safe 

 to plant any variety with the idea that it will always be exempt 

 from injury, and certainly where the foliage is affected the 

 fungicides should be applied. As most of the older orchards 

 about Montreal are composed of the favorite Fameuse, one of 

 the kinds most affected, the injuries by the fungus have caused 

 greater loss and discouragement here than in some other dis- 

 tricts where other varieties predominate. 



Arnold Arboretum. Jr> &< Jack. 



Recent Publications. 



Japanese Plums in the United States. 



In 1870 a Mr. Hough, of Vacaville, California, secured 

 through Mr. Bridges, the United States Consul in Japan, 

 several Plum-trees from that country, and the trees, having 

 passed into the possession of the late John Kelsey, of 

 Berkeley, first ripened fruit in 1876. This variety of Plum, 

 which was afterward named for Mr. Kelsey, was soon 

 found by California growers to be very valuable for gen- 

 eral cultivation, and it was largely propagated some ten 

 years ago. Since then Mr. Luther Burbank and others 

 have imported several varieties from Japan, and, contrary 

 to general expectation, a considerable portion of them have 

 been found adapted to our northern states. It is not to be 

 wondered at, therefore, that during the past four or five 

 years these plums have attracted more attention than any 

 other fruit of recent introduction. The best of them will 

 compare well in quality with our own plums, and while 

 many of them are inferior in this respect to our best fruit 

 of the Domestica type, they have, among other desirable 

 characteristics, vigor and productiveness, freedom from 

 disease, great beauty and long-keeping qualities. 



Bulletin 62 of the Cornell University Experiment Station 

 is devoted to the Japanese Plums in North America, and 

 Professor Bailey, who has prepared it, has made a most 

 interesting monograph, in which he discusses the origin 

 and botanical position of the plants, and then, after at- 

 tempting a provisional classification of them, he describes 

 the varieties which are already known here. We have 

 only space for a brief summary of this paper, and 

 recommend all those who are interested in these new fruits 

 to secure the bulletin as the most complete statement yet 

 published of what is absolutely known, and what may 

 reasonably be expected of these new plums. 



The so-called Japanese Plum belongs to the species 

 Prunus triflora, which is unknown in a wild state, 

 but which is supposed to be a native of China. About 

 thirty varieties have been imported and disseminated 

 through different sections of the United States. The fruit 

 is distinguished from that of the common Domestica type 

 by being generally more pointed or heart-shaped ; it has a 

 deep suture upon one side, a pit which is generally less 

 winged, and flesh which keeps longer after it is ripe. The 

 trees differ botanically from our ordinary cultivated Plums 

 in bearing, as a rule, three or four winter buds at a joint, 

 instead of one, in light-colored rough bark ; the flowers are 

 usually in twos or threes ; the leaves long-obovate or ellip- 



tical and finely serrate. An important fact is that they are 

 quite closely allied in their botanical characters to some 

 types of our native Plums. While importations from Japan 

 have been freely made, there are probably many more 

 good varieties in that country which have not yet reached 

 America, and we must look for permanent progress in the 

 future mainly to seedlings raised in America. The im- 

 ported plants differ among themselves greatly in hardiness 

 — some of them, like the Kelsey, being adapted only to states 

 south of Virginia and the warm parts of the Pacific coast, while 

 others are fully hardy in parts of Connecticut, Ontario, New 

 York and Iowa. Those known to be hardy in the Plum re- 

 gions of New York are Burbank, Abundance, Willard, Ogon, 

 Satsuma, Chabot, Yosebe and Berger, and others still give 

 promise of being quite as hardy. The period during which 

 the various kinds ripen extends over a long season, running 

 from the middle of July to the middle of September in New 

 York. The same variety does not always appear to ripen 

 at the same period in different years. This is especially 

 true of the Kelsey, which sometimes varies through a period 

 of three months. Of the market varieties tested in New 

 York, Willard is the earliest, followed by Ogon, then Abun- 

 dance and Berckmans, with Burbank still later. Kelsey is gen- 

 erally latest of all. Most of these plums keep for several days, 

 and some of them even for two weeks, after they are ripe, 

 Satsuma being one of the best keepers, so far as observed in 

 the north. The greater portion of the varieties are red, with 

 deep yellow flesh, while the Satsuma and a few of the less- 

 known varieties have deep red flesh. Four well-known 

 varieties are yellow, and eight of them are free-stones. Kel- 

 sey is recommended for the south ; the best of the others 

 are Abundance, Burbank, Willard, Kerr, Berckmans, Maru, 

 Red Nagate, Chabot, Satsuma, and, perhaps, Ogon. One 

 weakness of many of the Japanese Plums is that they blos- 

 som too early, and others are liable to a fruit-rot fungus. 

 They are not, however, so subject to the black-knot and 

 leaf-blight, nor are they so subject to injury from curculio 

 as other Plums. 



It is true that these Plums are better in fruit than our own 

 native Plums, but we may depend that they will develop 

 weak points somewhere in comparison with our little im- 

 proved natives, and, therefore, it is important that those 

 who have been endeavoring to improve our native species 

 should not now relax their efforts and accept these Japa- 

 nese sorts in their stead. We should welcome every new 

 type which adds diversity to the material out of which we 

 hope to develop fruits for every part of our country and for 

 all uses. Our native species have hardly been rescued 

 from the woods, while the Japanese and European types 

 have been cultivated for centuries. These latter, too, have 

 each sprung from single species, while our native stock 

 offers half a dozen species to select from, so that on the 

 whole our native species are the most promising as a foun- 

 dation stock, at least ; and while the infusion of this Japa- 

 nese blood may help us, it is, nevertheless, true that the 

 best Plums of the future in this country will probably be 

 those which are borne on our native stock, improved by 

 crossing and selection. 



Notes. 



Although there are more lemons in stock than are needed 

 for present demands, and they are very cheap, prices are not 

 likely to improve, inasmuch as 193, 000 boxes and more are 

 now in transit from Mediterranean ports. As a rule, three- 

 fourths of the importations of lemons into this country come 

 to this port. 



In a recent number of the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical 

 Club, Mr. A. A. Heller notes that the European Iris Germanica 

 is well established in a grassy meadow on the banks of the 

 north fork of the Shenandoah River, in Rockingham County, 

 Virginia, and has been flourishing there for a number of years 

 at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the nearest 

 house. 



Mr. V. M. Spalding, professor of botany in the University of 

 Michigan, has recently published an Introduction to Botany, a 



