THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 193 



than one type. It is worthy of note that the double blossoms, except in 

 strong soils, are apt to degenerate and become single. The following 

 description is compiled. 



Tree irregular and spreading, unproductive; branches brown on the shaded side 

 and blood-red on the sunny side; flowers large, semi-double, with from twelve to eighteen 

 petals; fruit mid-season; large, spherical; suture shallow, sometimes a line; flesh 

 greenish-yellow, tender, soft, juicy, sweet, agreeably aromatic; clingstone. 



DOWNING 



Prunus munsoniana 



I. la. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 287. 1887. 2. Ibid. 275, 448. 1893. 3. Ibid. 334. 1894. 4. Wis. Sia. 

 Bui. 63:24, 30. 1897. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 24. 1897. 6. Waugh Plum CuU. 185. igoi. 7. 

 Wis. Sta. Bui. 87:12. 1901. 8. la. Sta. Bui. 46:269. 1900. 9. la. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 445. 1903. 

 10. Ohio Sia. Bui. 162:247 fig., 254, 255. 1905. 11. S. Dak. Sta. Bui. 93:15. 1905. 



Charles Downing j., 2, 3, 4, 7. Charles Downing 5, 6, 8, 11. 



Downing is one of the best varieties of its species. The trees are large, 

 usually productive, not often sterile as are some of its near of kin sorts and 

 for a southern plum the variety is remarkably hardy, never having suf- 

 fered in Geneva from cold. The only fault that can be found with the 

 tree is that the foliage is quite susceptible to the shot -hole fungus. The 

 fruit is particularly attractive with its bright, solid, garnet-red skin, golden 

 flesh and sweet, pleasant flavor. Unfortunately the flesh is a little too 

 fibrous and clings too tenaciously to the stone for pleasant eating. Downing 

 adds a pleasing variety to any collection of plums and in some regions 

 ought to sell with profit to the grower for the markets. 



H. A. Terry of Crescent, Iowa, grew Downing from seed of the 

 Wild Goose, which the originator thinks was fertilized by some Ameri- 

 cana variety. The Downing, however, shows no traces of Americana parent- 

 age. It is reported as originating in 1882 and first fruiting in 1885. The 

 American Pomological Society placed this variety on its fruit catalog 

 list in 1897. 



Tree large, spreading, flat-topped, hardy in New York, variable in productiveness; 

 branches rough, dark gray, with a few large lenticels; branchlets slender, with very 

 short intemodes, greenish-red changing to dull reddish-brown, glossy, somewhat pubes- 

 cent, with numerous, small, slightly raised lenticels; leaf -buds small, short, obtuse, 

 appressed. 



Leaves folded upward, broadly lanceolate, peach-like, one and three-eighths inches 

 wide, three inches long, thin; upper surface reddish late in the fall, smooth, glabrous, 

 with deeply grooved midrib; lower surface glabrous except along the midrib and larger 



