Earliest of All 4. Wasse Sumomo 5, 6. Wasse Sumomo 3. Yosobe 1. Yosete 4. Yosebe 5, 6. Yosobe 2. Yosebe 2.
Earliest of All was imported by H. H. Berger of San Francisco from Japan under the name Yosebe, which later became changed to Yosobe, and in 1897 L. H. Bailey gave the variety the name Earliest of All to avoid the confusion in the earlier nomenclature. The Wasse Sumomo introduced by J. L. Normand, Marksville, Louisiana, in 1895, is the Earliest of All. The variety may have some value because of its extreme earliness. It is, however, too small, too unattractive in color and too poor in quality ever to be other than a kitchen plum.
Tree intermediate in size and vigor, vasiform, unproductive; branchlets dark red, marked with thick scarf-skin; leaf-scars prominent; leaves reddish late in the season, narrow-obovate, one and one-half inches wide, three inches long; margin finely serrate, with small, reddish-black glands; petiole tinged red, glandless or with from one to seven glands usually on the stalk; blooming season early; flowers appearing before the leaves, white with a little pink; borne in threes and fours.
Fruit very early; one inch in diameter, roundish or roundish-oblong, light or dark pinkish-red, covered with thin bloom; flesh light yellow, rather dry, soft, inferior in flavor; of poor quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, flattened, oval.
EARLY ORLEANS
Prunus domestica
1. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 2:80, Pl. XX fig. 1. 1768. 2. Forsyth Treat. Fr. Trees 21. 1803. 3. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 150, 151. 1831. 4. Prince Pom. Man. 2:62, 68. 1832. 5. Kenrick Am. Orch. 260, 269. 1832. 6. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 304. 1845. 7. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 286, 289, 294, 382, 383. 1846. 8. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 1:1846. 9. Thompson Gard. Ass’t 516. 1859. 10. Hogg Fruit Man. 360. 1866. 11. Pom. France 7: No. 16. 1871. 12. Mas Le Verger 6:85. 1866-73. 13. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 430. 1882. 14. Traité Prat. Sech. Fruits 172. 1893. 15. Guide Prat. 152, 360. 1895. 16. Soc. Nat. Hort. France Pom. 542 fig. 1904.
Altesse du Roi 16. Damascena Dominicalis Praecox 13, 15. De Monsieur 16. De Monsieur Hâtive 15. Du Roi 15. Early Monsieur 12. Early Monsieur 4, 5. Early Orleans 11, 12, 13, 15. Frühe Herrnpflaume 13. Frühe Herrnpflaume 11. Frühe Herzogspflaume 11, 13, 15. Frühe Hernnpflaume 12. Frühe Herrnpflaume 15. Grimwood Early Orleans 10, 13. Grimwood’s Early Orleans 3, 6, 9, 11, 15. Hampton Court 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15. Königspflaume 11, ?13, ?15. Monsieur 11, 13 & 15 incor. Monsieur Hâtif 1, 7, 11, 12, 15. Monsieur Hâtif 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16. Monsieur Hâtive 4. Monsieur Hâtif de Montmorency 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15. New Early Orleans 3, 6, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15. New Orleans 3, 6, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16. New Orleans 11. Orleans 3. Prune de Monsieur Hâtif 13. Prune de Monsieur Hâtif 8. Prune de Monsieur Hâtive 12. Prunus damascena dominicalis praecox 11. Prune du Roi 14. Prune du Roi 11, 13. Red Orleans 11, 13, 15. Wilmot’s Early Orleans 4, 7. Wilmot’s Early Orleans 3, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15. Wilmot’s Large Orleans 3, 4, 6. Wilmot’s Late Orleans ?7. Wilmot’s New Early Orleans 3, 5, 6. Wilmot’s New Early Orleans 7. Wilmot’s Orleans 3, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15.
Early Orleans has been planted very little in America and then chiefly because of its reputation in Europe. While it appears to be a very good plum in most respects as it grows on the Station grounds, being attractive in appearance, of good flavor, a freestone and firm enough to ship well, it surpasses in none of these characters and the fruit is so small as to make it a poor competitor among the purple plums of its season. It does not deserve the reputation in America that pomologists have given it in Europe. In France the Early Orleans, under the name of Prune du Roi, is used in prune-making but it seems not to have been so used in America.
Early Orleans is old and of unknown origin. Duhamel in 1768 considered it a variety of the Orleans, differing only in the time of ripening but there are additional differences as can be seen in the descriptions of the two. It is true, however, that these two plums are very similar. According to Kenrick, Wilmot’s New Early Orleans was raised by John Wilmot, an Englishman. Though it may be of separate origin it is practically identical with the Early Orleans.