THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 39 



French Damson is part Domestica. The tree -characters of the Insititia 

 plums are such, especially as regards vigor, hardiness, productiveness and 

 freedom from disease, as to seemingly make hybrids with them very desir- 

 able. That this species can be hybridized with Domestica, at least, is 

 certain from work done at this Station where we have made a number of 

 crosses between them. 



Four groups of plums, the Damsons, Bullaces, Mirabelles and St. 

 Juliens, in all eighty-six varieties mentioned in The Plums of New York, 

 may be referred to this species. There are so few real differences between 

 these divisions, however, that it is hardly possible, logically, to sub-divide 

 Insititia plums into more than two groups. But since the groups of 

 plums given above are so often referred to in pomological works it is neces- 

 sary to discuss them. 



The Damsons. — The description given the species fits this division 

 of it closely, the differentiating character for the fruit, if any, being oval 

 fruits, while the Bullaces, most nearly like these, are round. The origin 

 of the Damsons, as we have seen, was in Syria and near the ancient city, 

 Damascus, their written history dating back several centuries before Christ. 

 This plum has escaped from cultivation in nearly all the temperate parts 

 of Europe and more or less in the eastern United States, the wild forms 

 often passing under other names, as the Wild, Wheat, Spilling, Donkey, 

 Ass, Hog and Horse plums. The true Damsons have a fine spicy taste, 

 which makes them especially desirable for cooking and preserving, but 

 a very decided astringency of the skin makes most of the varieties of Dam- 

 sons undesirable to eat out of the hand ; this astringency largely disappears 

 with cooking or after a light frost. Nearly all Damsons are sour, though 

 a few sweet Insititias are placed in this group. 



Since the seeds grow readily and the sprouts are very manageable, 

 the Damsons, with the other Insititias, are much used as stocks upon 

 which to work other plums, especially the less hardy and less thrifty 

 Domesticas. Although less used now than formerly for stocks it is a 

 question if these plums, or some of their near kin, do not make the best 

 obtainable stocks. There seems to be much difference in the varieties of 

 Insititia in their capacity to send up sprouts. The forms which send up the 

 fewest sprouts are much the best for use as stocks. 



Curiously enough, the Damsons are highly esteemed now only by the 

 Americans and English, being grown much less at present in Continental 

 Europe than a century or two ago. Late pomological works and nursery- 



