FOTHERINGHAM
Prunus domestica
1. Rea Flora 208. 1676. 2. Langley Pomona 91. 1729. 3. Miller Gard. Dict. 3:1754. 4. Forsyth Treat. Fr. Trees 19. 1803. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 299. 1845. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 286, 383. 1846. 7. Thompson Gard. Ass’t 517. 1859. 8. Hogg Fruit Man. 701. 1884. 9. Waugh Plum Cult. 102. 1901.
Foderingham 1. Fotheringay 8. Foderingham Plum 2. Grove House Purple 5, 7, 8. Red Fotheringham 8. Sheen 2, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Fotheringham is probably one of the oldest varieties of plums now cultivated. Although but little if at all grown in this country, it has maintained its place among standard English varieties for at least two and a half centuries. The exact time of its origin is not certain, but it was undoubtedly during the first half of the Seventeenth Century as Hogg records a reference made to it by Rea in 1665. It was first grown extensively at Sheen, in Surrey, England, about 1700 by Sir William Temple, who gave it the name Sheen. The variety is described as follows:
Tree hardy, vigorous, productive. Fruit matures just before Reine Claude; of medium size, obovate; suture distinct; stem one inch long; color reddish-purple with thin bloom; flesh greenish-yellow, sweet, sprightly; good; freestone.
FREEMAN
Prunus domestica
As this variety grows in the Station orchard it is a remarkably fine plum. The fruits are attractive, of high quality and the tree-characters are for most part very good. It is certainly a desirable plum for any home plantation, and if it proves as productive elsewhere as about Geneva, it may well be worth growing in commercial orchards.
Freeman is a chance seedling found in the yard of a Mr. Freeman of Cortland, New York, about 1890 and shortly afterwards introduced by E. Smith & Sons of Geneva, New York, but is as yet hardly known by plum-growers.