Perfection in Plums— By J. w. Kerr, ssr 



[Editor's Note. — Mr. Kerr has spent a life-time in studying plums, and possibly has a better acquaintance with the real merits of the different varieties 

 than any other horticulturist. We are fortunate in being able to present this epitomized result of such patient study and thought.] 



IT HAS not been such an overwhelming 

 number of years ago when the average 

 person's knowledge of plums was bounded 

 on the north by an old damson tree in the 

 garden, which bore intermittent crops for 

 the benefit of the preserve closet, and on the 

 south by the often-expressed annoyance 

 that green-gages such as are grown in 

 England were so scarce here, while on the 

 east and west there was no knowledge of 

 plums at all — just a contented, inconsidering 

 ignorance. 



Well, we have changed all that. Even 

 the Average Person nowadays makes some 

 slight effort to appreciate the varieties of 

 the different plum groups which our horti- 

 culturists have so lavishly provided. He 

 plants plums, he eats plums, perhaps he 

 sells plums, in which last case, if his com- 

 mission man is half-way honest, he even 

 makes a good profit on plums. 



I am a great believer in and admirer of 

 our native plums. But here in the United 

 States we ought, once and for all, to get it 

 out of our heads that we can, anywhere, any 

 place and anyhow grow successfully all 

 kinds of plums. It is all very well to look 

 in at a fruiterer's and say that we ought to be 

 able to grow the Japanese plums, for example 

 — but barring the extreme West and the 

 Pacific coast in particular, they are not hardy 

 enough for general planting. As for the 

 domesticas, which are of European origin, 

 they are grown with profit only on the Pacific 

 coast and in western New York State and 

 in some of the little villages in New England 

 where they never plant anything which their 

 great-grandfathers did not plant. 



What the average plum-grower wants 

 when he plants for market is a plum that 

 is a reliable cropper, hardy in tree, and 

 attractive enough in appearance to make the 

 possible customer's mouth water, and his 

 money leap from his hand. 



The home grower, who plants for family 

 use, wants a reliable cropper and a hardy 

 tree, but he wants good quality before 

 appearance, and he is willing also to sacrifice 

 extreme productiveness for an extra measure 

 of size and quality. There are some varie- 

 ties, therefore, which are fine for him, but 

 which wouldn't yield a fraction of profit 

 to the man who is planting for revenue. 



All these points bring us back to where 

 we started — with the native plums. Sup- 

 pose we look up their record and see exactly 

 why they are so much superior for the average 

 grower than either the Japans or the 

 domesticas. 



In hardiness they will compare favorably 

 under any circumstances with the hardiest of 

 the Japans. They are so much less eager 

 than the Japans to bud out in the spring 

 that the frost seldom catches them and thus 

 the regularity of their crop is more assured. 

 Another point in their favor is their greater 



immunity from black knot, and here, too, 

 they shine by contrast with the Europeans, 

 for they are much freer of both black knot 

 and leaf blight than this foreign group. 



So far as general commercial orcharding 

 goes, the natives are less exacting as to soil 

 conditions than either Japans or Europeans. 

 The same culture and care necessary to 

 produce either fruit or trees of the foreign 

 species will ensure both to a much larger 

 and more profitable degree if expended on 

 the best varieties of our native species, while 

 for the successful management of the orchard 

 the details are less exacting. 



Another point in favor of the natives is 

 the long life of the trees. They will outlast 

 two of the Europeans or the Japans. I have 

 now in my orchards Wildgoose plum 

 trees which are forty years old, and are still 

 healthy and bearing fruit freely. 



Wildgoose, one of the best known of the native 

 plums ; very productive, valuable for home use or 

 for market 



Then — the horticultural layman asks — 

 why doesn't everyone grow native plums 

 and still more native plums ? Why does 

 anyone ever cast a thought elsewhere when 

 thinking plums? 



I have often asked the same thing, and I 

 have come to the conclusion that it is because 

 many nurserymen dislike to grow the native 

 plums on account of their thorny growth 

 when very young. This makes them dis- 

 agreeable to cultivate and handle as com- 

 pared with the young trees of the foreign 

 species. The general public, who must be 

 influenced to a large measure by catalogue 

 descriptions, is offered no inducements in 

 the way of carefully chosen adjectives setting 

 forth the merits of plums which the nursery- 

 81 



man would rather not grow — of that we 

 may be sure. 



Yet I must admit that native plums have 

 one weakness — self-sterility. This is not 

 caused by non-production of pollen, but 

 because the pollen does not ripen at the 

 same time the pistil matures. Therefore, 

 he who plants natives must be sure that he 

 has chosen varieties which will interpollinate 

 and thus f ertilize each other. 



In compensation for this, however, let us 

 summarize a few more of their points of 

 superiority to the foreigners. 



They are hardier in bud and open blossom. 



The trees possess much greater recupera- 

 tive powers which give them ability to bear 

 annual crops. 



While the fruit may not command fancy 

 prices in market, the incomparable volume 

 of it assures much greater returns per acre. 



Their fruit is far more resistent to black 

 rot and injury from curculio, when varieties 

 are selected intelligently. 



Taken all around, these make a pretty 

 good recommendation. 



The primary object of the market grower 

 is the greatest return of dollars and cents 

 per acre. It is a proven fact that a man who 

 grows high grade first quality domesticas 

 and Japans will in the end only make one- 

 half the profit per acre that he will make if 

 he grows natives and gives them the same 

 care. 



A variety that stretches its season of 

 ripening to an undue length is a curse to the 

 market grower. What he wants is a plum 

 that ripens up its crop promptly, and does 

 not dally round with a quart or two a day. 

 It must get out of the way of the next variety 

 ripening in succession. A commercial orch- 

 ard must have its varieties selected to cover 

 the season from the earliest to the latest. 

 He will only require half a dozen kinds, 

 for the license in the selection of varieties 

 for the market grower is much more re- 

 stricted than for him who plants for family 

 use. 



The best of the earliest is Milton. It has 

 every requisite of a good market plum. It 

 ripens early, it is very productive, and it is 

 satisfactory in size. Its skin is a brilliant 

 red and its flesh is yellow and juicy. Perhaps 

 its flavor would not appeal to the epicure, 

 but it surely does hit the masses. It is 

 always popular and you can sell it when 

 you cannot sell the finest Green Gages. 



To succeed Milton the market grower 

 should plant Wildgoose and Whitaker. 

 These two plums are identical in season 

 and appearance. They are both red plums, 

 highly and most pleasingly colored. Both 

 have yellow flesh and both are very juicy and 

 sweet. They are both immensely productive, 

 and they are always sure of finding a profit- 

 able market, for people like them and buy 

 them and ask for more, year after year. 



