716 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 12, 
Ruralisms 
Plum Talk. —While the peach must 
ever reign king of Summer fruits 
there is a growing appreciation of 
plums, that are now to be had in end¬ 
less variety—native Japan, European 
and hybrid—over a season extending 
from early July until October. As a 
dessert fruit the plum must rely en¬ 
tirely on its own savor. Sugar and 
cream cannot be used with it as with 
peaches, but it has naturally a far 
greater range of flavors in the fresh 
state, and it is susceptible of greater 
variety of treatment in cooking and 
preserving. The attractive Pacific 
coast plums, mostly of the Domestica 
and hybrid classes, so abundantly 
offered on city fruit stands, do not meet 
the demand for palatable plums. They 
arc large, inviting in appearance and 
perfectly grown, but of necessity must 
be picked in such immature condition 
that little of the characteristic quality is 
developed. Home-grown plums are 
best liked and are wanted, but the cul¬ 
ture of late years has been so com¬ 
plicated by insect pests and diseases as 
to return little profit. Now that the 
pernicious scale is better under control 
the problems of curculio and M’on- 
ilia rot promise to be met by variety 
selection. Genuine progress in pro¬ 
ducing resistant varieties is already 
evident, and the careful plum-grower 
may now select promising kinds from 
any of the classes, especially adapted 
to his locality. 
Types of Plums. —A greater number 
of natural species are represented 
among cultivated plums than in other 
tree fruits and in consequence methodi¬ 
cal breeding by hybridization and se¬ 
lection has been carried to far greater 
lengths. The European or Domestica 
class was formerly the only one con¬ 
sidered worth growing. It thrives 
BELL HYBRID PLUM. Natural Size. 
Fig. 330. 
fairly well in the Atlantic States north 
of Washington and in restricted areas 
in the Middle West, but only grows in 
perfection on the Pacific Coast, where 
in the form of prunes it is one of the 
chief commercial crops. Where Do- 
mesfica plums succeed little else is 
wanted, but the slow growth of the 
trees, their liability to black knot and 
the great losses' of fruit from curculio 
and rot are serious drawbacks. There 
are also few early varieties. If plums 
before August are wanted in the East¬ 
ern States native Japan and hybrid 
kinds must be planted. The most suc¬ 
cessful Domestica plums in our locality 
are Lombard, Grand Duke, Fellenburg 
and Spaldirlg, the latter of the green 
gage type. 
Native Plums. —The cultivated na¬ 
tive plums have been selected from; sev¬ 
eral species, but Prunus Americana has 
given the greatest number of really 
valuable varieties, .and bids fair to be¬ 
come the predominant type for the 
Northern States generally. Probably 
the highest quality and most captivat¬ 
ing flavors of the entire pltijm family 
have been reached in Americana plums. 
The trees are hardy and productive 
where the climate suits them, and the : 
fruits quite resistant to rot and seldom 
greatly injured by cuculio. The great¬ 
est weakness is in the bloom, _ which 
is so flimsy that pollination is fre¬ 
quently prevented by even moderate; 
rains at flowering time. Varieties .are, 
numerous, hut still quite local. Wyant 
and Surprise grow well here and bear 
plums of the richest quality. Klondyke 
is excellent, Brittlewood No. 1.—there 
:■ "o three Brittlewoods—is a ragged 
grower and must be top-worked, but 
l' e fruits are hard to beat when ripe 
for rich flavor. The Chicasaw, Way- 
1 md and Wild Goose plums, descen¬ 
dants of Prunus angustifolia, are very 
L'-mernus, and thrive best in the Mid¬ 
dle and Southern States. They are 
i erhaps the surest croppers of all, and 
though not of large size, average of 
excellent quality. Some of the varie¬ 
ties ripen as early as the middle of 
July, others extend the season to late 
September. They are healthy, hardy 
in tree and bud, but are even weaker 
in bloom than the Americanas, need¬ 
ing bright weather for full pollination. 
There is a long list to choose from. 
We like Milton, true Wild Goose, Mun¬ 
son and Cluck, ripening here in the 
order named. Japan plums, direct de¬ 
scendants of Prunus triflora of China, 
are now grown with varying success 
everywhere in the United States, ex¬ 
cept in the northern prairie regions. 
There are many faults in tree and fruit, 
and probably more absolutely worth¬ 
less varieties, in proportion to the whole 
number, have been foisted on the pub¬ 
lic, than in any other class of plums, 
but it is agreed that the better ones are 
when suited, the most vigorous and 
productive of all and come into pro¬ 
fuse bearing at an earlier age. There 
is no need to consider the many kinds 
that have fallen out of notice, and the 
list of those really worth planting does 
not take long to enumerate. We 
should say for our locality that Berger, 
small but very early; Ogon, a tricky 
bearer, but good for canning; Red 
June, low quality, but acceptable in the 
markets, and Chabot, reliable, hand¬ 
some and good in quality, about com¬ 
plete the enumeration. Burbank and 
Satsuma have many friends, but fall 
such easy prey to rot that we have 
barred them out. Abundance is of su¬ 
perb quality when properly grown, but 
is dull in color, weak in tree and ter¬ 
ribly susceptible to rot. Probably Kel¬ 
sey, the first Japan variety to reach 
America, is most useful and popular 
along the Gulf Coast and in the Pacific 
States, but it is much too tender for 
the North. 
The consideration of hybrid plums is 
too extensive a matter for limited 
BURBANK’S OCCIDENT PLUM. Natural 
Size. Fig. 331. 
space. Varieties from many sources, 
covering combinations of all cultivated 
plum species have been tested on the 
Rural Grounds. A fdw have “made 
good,” but the proportion of failures is 
even greater than in the typical class. 
Those showing staying qualities are 
Burbank’s First, ripening about July 
10; America, mid-season, handsome 
and marketable, but not very good to 
eat; Occident, fine for dessert and can¬ 
ning, but too subject to, rot; Waugh, 
and Best of All, very late, said to be 
a Miner-Abundance cross, but showing 
little of the Japan blood. Shiro prom¬ 
ised well for a few seasons, but the 
trees rapidly lost vigor. None of Bur¬ 
bank’s hybrids showing.the influence of 
Prunus Simoni, such as Climax, Chaleo, 
Maynard and Wickson, appear to be 
worth planting in this locality.. The 
trees have little vitality, and the fruits, 
though fine when perfect, ,are subject 
to many fungus^ trou'bljes. The richest 
in quality of all the hybrid plums: we 
have tried is Kelbalan, a cross between 
Kelsey and a Myrobalan variety. The 
tr^e is very upright and fairly vigor¬ 
ous, but somewhat sensitive to frost in 
this latitude. The plums are of good 
size, very l'oiind in form, bright clear 
yellow, in color with deep-golden flesh 
clinging to a small- stone. The .flavor 
is rich and sugary. It is here , pnly 
a moderate, cropper, but does not rot 
to Any : great extent. Many hybrids are 
inferior to thieif parents in quality, but 
this one appears to equal if not exceed 
Kelsey in, this respect. The tree was 
sent us several yepr? ago by J. W. 
Kerr, Denton, Maryland. Kelmyro and 
Kelroba, probably with the same par¬ 
entage, are fine varieties for home use, 
but do not bear as well as Kelbalan. 
Our Illustrations. —We present on 
this and a preceding page portraits in 
natural size of Waugh, Occident and a 
new early hybrid sent in by Levi Bell, 
Sparkill, N. Y. Waugh, originated and 
distributed by J. W. Kerr, is a most 
interesting blend of Chabot and Way- 
land, the latter a prime favorite in the 
South. Waugh is usually pronounced 
a fine but delicate variety, sby in bear¬ 
ing and subject to rot. Our trees be¬ 
have better. They grow with much 
vigor and bear heavily, losing no more 
fruits by rot than is good for them. 
The original tree, received from Mr. 
Kerr in 1902, ripened this year more 
than a bushel of plums. The color is 
reddish purple and the quality sprightly 
and pleasant. It is the handsomest of 
all plums in bloom, the flowers hav¬ 
ing a peculiar starry outline and very 
pure in coloring. As a canner the fruit 
ranks with the best, the flavor being 
excellent and the cooked juice particu¬ 
larly brilliant red. A fruiting twig is 
shown in Fig. 329, page 711. 
Occident, Fig. 331, is also a good 
canning plum and here one of the most 
successful of Burbank’s seedlings. Al¬ 
though classed as a hybrid it appears to 
be of nearly or quite pure Satsuma 
parentage. An imported Japan variety 
received in 1898 though the U. S. De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, under the 
name of Cycamono, bears plums iden¬ 
tical with "Occident, but ripening two 
weeks later. The tree is also of more 
upright habit. Occident has dark red 
flesh of very pleasant flavor and is a 
good cropper. 
The Bell Hybrid, Fig. 330, is evi¬ 
dently a cross of Ogon uoon Abun¬ 
dance. It is extremely early, ripening 
before Red June and is of better qual¬ 
ity. The color is a good dark red, and 
the flesh firm enough to ship well. Mr. 
Bell says the tree is healthy and ex¬ 
ceedingly productive w. v. f. 
Preparing Sod for Potatoes. 
G O. L., Rei/nohlsviUe. Pa .—I have a 
piece of old Timothy sod that I would like 
to plant in potatoes next season and would 
like vour advice as lo which is the better 
plan, to leave the plot as it is and plow 
in the Spring, or plow now and seed to 
wheat or rye and plow that, under in the 
Spring. If rye were used would it be ad¬ 
visable to use a little lime, or would it 
have a tendency to produce scabby potatoes? 
Ans. —We should plow the sod early, 
tear it up well with the spring-tooth, 
then work it fine and sow rye. Early in 
Spring, before the rye gets too large, 
we would cross-plow—that is, across the. 
furrows made this Fall, and fit the field 
as well as possible before planting. We 
have not had satisfactory results in 
turning over an old sod for potatoes in 
Spring. It is hard to fit such a sod 
properly, and the field is grassy all 
Summer long. The Fall plowing and 
working will make a cleaner field. 
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