Although found in some collections in the United States, Glass has never attained commercial importance in this country, probably because its place is taken by the Quackenboss, which it very closely resembles. The fruit is large and attractive in color and shape, but it is not high in quality and it must be rated among Domestica plums as only a mediocre fruit. The tree is said generally to give better satisfaction than the fruit. This variety originated with Alexander Glass, Guelph, Ontario, and has been cultivated extensively by Canadian growers to whom its productivity and hardiness recommend it.
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open, productive, hardy; branches rough, stocky; branchlets rather slender, pubescent; leaves folded backward, obovate or oval, one and three-quarters inches wide, three and one-half inches long; margin finely serrate; petiole reddish, pubescent, with from one to three smallish, globose glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Fruit mid-season; one and one-half inches by one and three-eighths inches in size, oblong-oval, purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; stem adhering firmly to the fruit; skin thin, tender, rather sour; flesh light yellow, juicy, firm, sweet, mild; of fair quality; stone clinging, one inch by five-eighths inch in size, irregular-oval, with oblique apex, the surfaces rough and pitted; ventral suture prominent, winged.
GOLDEN
GOLDEN
Prunus munsoniana × Prunus triflora
1. U. S. D. A. Rpt. 263. 1892. 2. Burbank Cat. 17. 1893. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 74. 1895. 4. Am. Gard. 18:715. 1897. 5. Cal. State Board Hort. 53. 1897-98. 6. Vt. Sta. Bul. 67:12. 1898. 7. Ohio Sta. Bul. 113:161. 1899. 8. Am. Gard. 21:36. 1900. 9. Vt. Sta. An. Rpt. 14:274. 1901. 10. Mich. Sta. Sp. Bul. 30:18 1905. 11. Mass. Sta. An. Rpt. 17:161. 1905. 12. Ga. Sta. Bul. 68:8, 36. 1905. 13. U. S. D. A. Yearbook 500. 1905.
Gold 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11. Gold 6, 9, 13. Late Klondike 5.
It would be hard to name another plum as showy as Golden. Large for its group, beautifully turned, it presents a most striking appearance long before it is ripe, with its bright yellow skin and crimson cheek, the whole plum turning to a brilliant currant-red with a delicate bloom at maturity. But the plum is little more than showy. The flavor is not good, the flesh is fibrous, excessively juicy and adheres to the stone, the skin is tough and astringent. In spite of the juiciness the plum ships well, owing to the tough skin, but the fruits are much attacked by brown-rot and the skin cracks badly under unfavorable conditions. The trees are rather small, uncertain in bearing, often enormously productive but do not hold the crop well, and the plums ripen unevenly. Strange to say, considering the parentage, the variety is hardy, according to Waugh standing the winters at Burlington, Vermont, almost perfectly. In tree and fruit the variety is more like its American parent than the Asiatic one. Golden can never be a money-maker in New York, but it is worth having in a home orchard for its handsome appearance.