364 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



at Alderton in that county. It became known as Sharp's Emperor, and 

 was ultimately sold by a nurseryman named Denyer, in the year 1844 

 at Brixton, near London, at a high price as a new variety under the 

 name of Denyer's Victoria." Pearson in the Journal of the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society for 1897 says the reason that Hogg and other authorities 

 had called these varieties identical is that they had not seen the true 

 variety. At this Station we have not seen Sharp's Emperor but judging 

 from the descriptions it is distinct though very similar. The American 

 Pomological Society placed Victoria on its fruit list in 1862 but in 1871, 

 Sharp's Emperor was substituted as the correct name with Victoria as 

 a synonym. This change was probably made to comply with Downing's 

 nomenclature of 1869. A review of the whole controversy cannot but 

 lead to the conclusion that Victoria is the correct name and it appears 

 also to be in most common use. 



Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, hardy, productive; branches 

 ash-gray, smooth, with few large lenticels; branchlets thick, short, stout, with short 

 intemodes, greenish changing to dark brownish-drab, dull, with thick pubescence, 

 with few inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf -buds large, long, conical or pointed, free. 



Leaves folded backward, obovate, two and three-eighths inches wide, five inches 

 long, thick, stiff; upper surface dark green, rugose, with a narrow groove on the midrib, 

 sparingly hairy; lower surface medium green, thickly pubescent; apex abruptly pointed, 

 base cuneate, margin serrate or crenate, eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole 

 one inch long, covered with thick pubescence, tinged red on one side, glandless or with 

 from one to three globose or reniform, yellow glands usually on the stalk. 



Season of bloom medium, short; flowers appearing with the leaves, one and one- 

 eighth inches across, white, the buds tinged yellow; borne in clusters on lateral buds 

 and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels nearly three-eighths inch long, thick, heavily 

 pubescent; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyic-lobes medium to narrow, 

 obtuse, glandular-serrate, thickly pubescent on both surfaces, reflexed; petals roundish- 

 obovate, entire or occasionally notched, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellow; 

 filaments one-quarter inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens. 



Fruit mid-season, ripening period of medium length; one and seven-eighths inches 

 by one and one-half inches in size, long-oval, oblong, compressed, halves equal ; cavity 

 shallow, narrow, flaring; suture variable in depth, prominent; apex roundish or de- 

 pressed; color dark red, mottled before full maturity, covered with thick bloom; dots 

 numerous, russet, conspicuous; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, very pubescent, 

 adhering strongly to the fruit; skin thin, tender, adhering but slightly; flesh light 

 yellow, juicy, coarse, firm, sweet, mild but pleasant; good; stone free, one and one- 

 eighth inches by three-eighths inch in size, broad-oval, strongly flattened, deeply pitted, 

 roughish, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture narrow, distinctly winged; dorsal 

 suture widely and deeply grooved. 



