142 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



plum but is later. In Eiirope this variety is well known and highly es- 

 teemed for its quality, but unfortunately it is almost unknown in America. 

 The variety is well worth trial in this country as a fine plum of the Reine 

 Claude group. Altham is a seedling of Reine Claude, raised by Herr 

 Prochaska, gardener to Count Michael Joseph Althann, of Swoyschitz, 

 in Bohemia. It was noted in the English Journal of Horticulture for 1869 

 as a new plum sent out by Thomas Rivers. 



Tree of medium size, upright-spreading, dense-topped, productive; leaf-scars promi- 

 nent ; leaves folded upward, obovate, two and one-quarter inches wide, nearly four inches 

 long, very thick, leathery; margin doubly crenate, with few, small, dark glands; petiole 

 thick, with from one to four globose, yellowish-green glands on the stalk; season of 

 bloom intermediate, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, yellow- 

 ish at the apex of the petals; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in twos. 



Fruit mid-season; one and one-half inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, 

 oblate, strongly truncate at the base, compressed; color dark purplish-red over a yellow 

 ground, covered with thick bloom; dots russet surrounded with a dark red.ring; stem 

 adhering strongly to the pulp; flesh light golden-yellow, firm but tender, sweet, mild, 

 pleasant; very good to best; stone semi-clinging, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch 

 in size, flattened, irregular-oval, with pitted surfaces, contracted at the base into a short 

 oblique neck; ventral suture prominent, heavily furrowed, often with distinct wing; 

 dorsal suture wide, deep. 



AMERICA 



Prunus munsoniana X Prunus trifiora 



I. Burbank Cat. 3. 1898 2. Vt. Sta. Bui. 67:5. 1898. 3. Rural N. Y. 59:706. 1900. 

 4. Vt. Sta. An. Rpt. 14:273. 1900. 5. Mich. Sta. Bui. 205:37 1903. 6. Del. Penin. Hort. Soc. 

 Rpt. 36. 1905. 7- Ohio Sta. Bui. 162:254, 255. 1905. 8. Ga. Sta. Bid. 68:8, 33. 1905. 



America is illustrated and described in full chiefly because it is the 

 most promising cross between Prunus munsoniana and Prunus trifiora. 

 The fruit of the variety is unusually attractive in appearance, golden- 

 yellow with a red cheek and waxy lustre tiuning ctirrant-red when ripe, 

 ships exceptionally well and is of very good quality for cooking, but is 

 without merit as a dessert plum. The trees are large, very vigorous, as 

 hardy as either of its parents or possibly more so, and enormously pro- 

 ductive. The qualities of fruit and tree are such that the variety ought 

 to succeed in commercial plantations where any but the hardiest native 

 plums are cultivated. America is almost phenomenally free from rot, con- 

 sidering its parentage. 



This variety is one of Luther Burbank's productions, grown from 

 a seed of Robinson fertilized by pollen from Abundance. It was introduced 



