62 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY, 



PLUMS. 



iFlowers stalked in umbel-like f asides, appearing either 

 before or with the leaves; leaves either conduplicate or con- 

 volute in the bud; fruit more or less globular and covered with 

 a bloom, smooth, with a compressed mostly smooth stone. 



The splendid work of Bailey, Waugh and others in study- 

 ing our cultivated plums has given us a more satisfactory 

 classification of them than of any other fruit. The student will 

 notice that the plum contains more botanical groups than any 

 other tree-fruits, thus indicating that the classification is an 

 extension of the botanical one and that it is natural. The 

 botanical classification has been carried so far that there is 

 really little more for the pomologist to do than to arrange the 

 varieties under their proper species. For a full study of this 

 subject the student is referred to several bulletins by Bailey 

 from the Cornell Experiment Station, and Waugh's "Plum.s 

 and Plum Culture." 



p. domestica, Linn. Common Pi.irM.^Probably Asian; 

 flowers showy (white), more or less fasicled ; leaves large, ovate, 

 •or obovate usually, firm and thick in texture, very rugose, usu- 

 ally pubescent beneath, coarsely serrate ; shoots usually downy ; 

 fruit very various, of many shapes and flavors, but mostly 

 globular-pointed or oblong, the stone large and slightly rough- 

 ened or pitted. Our finest plums, and until recently all of our 

 cultivated varieties, belong here. They may be arranged into 

 six groups though the dividing lines are not at all distinct at 

 some points. 



I. The Damsons ; small, round hard plum of various colors, 

 usually blue, borne in clusters, and of poor quality except for 



