THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 1 77 



the wild plvun of Canada and of northern United States. The accompany- 

 ing description shows that while the fruit of this variety is not such as 

 to recommend it where other species can be grown, the tree has some 

 characters most desirable wherever plums are grown — ^hardiness, vigor, 

 productiveness and good form — so that this variety might well be used in 

 breeding plums. The trees are very ornamental whether in flower, full 

 leaf or fruit, but especially when in fiill bloom as they bear a great pro- 

 fusion of large white flowers which change to a pleasing pink before falling. 

 This plum, according to a letter from the discoverer, E. Markle, of 

 La Crosse, Wisconsin, was fotmd in the brush on a ridge, in Vernon County, 

 Wisconsin, about twenty-five or thirty years ago. Mr. Markle thought it 

 must have sprung from a seed dropped by an early voyager of the Missis- 

 sippi River as there were no similar pliims in the region. Noting its good 

 qualities Mr. Markle introduced the variety, the date of introduction being 

 about 1887. The American Pomological Society added Cheney to its fruit 

 catalog list in 1897, where, however, it remained but two years. 



Tree large, vigorous, spreading, dense-topped, hardy, productive, bears early, 

 somewhat susceptible to disease; branches numerous, dark brownish-gray, very thorny, 

 with large lenticels; branchlets long, with long intemodes, greenish-red changing 

 to dull reddish-brown, dull, thickly pubescent early in the season, the pubescence de- 

 creasing at maturity, with raised lenticels which are variable in size; leaf -buds smallish, 

 short, conical, free. 



Leaves folded upward, oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and five- 

 eighths inches long, thin; upper surface dark green, nearly smooth, pubescent only 

 along the midrib which is deeply grooved; lower surface yellowish-green, pubescent 

 along the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed, margin crenate, usually 

 in two series, sometimes with small, dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, rather 

 slender, pubescent, tinged red, glandless or with from one to three small, globose, green- 

 ish-yellow glands usually on the stalk. 



Blooming season intermediate in time and length; flowers appearing after the 

 leaves, showy, about one inch across, white changing to pink; borne in clusters on lateral 

 spurs, in pairs or in threes, very fragrant; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, pubescent, 

 green with a trace of red; calyx-tube obconic, glabrous, red on the outer surface but 

 green within and pinkish along the margin; calyx-lobes obtuse or acute, serrate, with 

 small red glands and with marginal hairs, narrow, sparingly pubescent on the inner 

 surface, reflexed; petals broadly oval, crenate, often toothed, tapering below to long 

 narrow claws; anthers yellowish; filaments nearly one-half inch in length; pistil glab- 

 rous, shorter than the stamens. 



Fruit mid-season, ripening period very long; medium in size, irregular roundish- 

 oval, strongly obhque, halves equal; cavity shallow, regular, flaring; suture shallow 



