1. Prince Treat. Hort. 26. 1828. 2. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 147, 153. 1831. 3. Kenrick Am. Orch. 260. 1832. 4. Mag. Hort. 9:164. 1843. 5. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 300. 1845. 6. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Gard. 287, 383. 1846. 7. Thomas Am. Fruit Cult. 343. 1849. 8. McIntosh Bk. Gard. 2:531. 1855. 9. Hooper W. Fr. Book 245. 1857. 10. Cultivator 8:25 fig. 1860. 11. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 86. 1862. 12. Hogg Fruit Man. 363. 1866. 13. Mas Pom. Gen. 2:15, fig. 8. 1873. 14. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 432. 1889. 15. Waugh Plum Cult. 105 fig. 1901.
Caledonian 1, 2, of some 5 & 8, 11, 12, 13, 14. Emperor 9. Goliath 1, 3. Goliath 9, 13. Nectarine 1, of some 2 & 8, 11 & 14 incor. Pfirschenpflaume 14. Prune-Pêche? 14. Saint Cloud 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14. Steer’s Emperor 2. Steers’ Emperor 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 14. Wahre Caledonian 13, 14. Wilmot’s Late Orleans 2, 5, 8, 12, 13, 14.
This old English plum has never been popular in America and is now scarcely known on this continent. It is a large, handsome, purple plum, as the illustration well shows, but seldom fit for dessert. “Seldom fit” because it is quite variable in quality in some seasons and under some conditions. It is an excellent culinary plum and its firm, thick, meaty flesh fits it well for shipping. On the grounds of this Station the trees behave very well in all respects and usually bear very full crops of plums that would tempt purchasers in any market. It has all of the characters usually ascribed to a money-maker variety of any fruit and why not more grown in commercial orchards cannot be said.
Nothing is known of the origin of this plum except that it is English. William Prince, in 1828, wrote: “This plum is of very large size, and has attracted much notice in England; but it is only recently introduced to this country, where it has not yet produced fruit that I am aware of.” The Nectarine plum was confused with the Goliath in the early part of the Nineteenth Century, but Robert Thompson,[215] the English horticulturist, separated them so satisfactorily that they have ever since remained distinct in plum literature. He found that this variety had pubescent shoots and fruit-stalks, while the same parts of the Nectarine were glabrous, and that the season of Goliath is considerably later. The American Pomological Society placed Goliath on its fruit list in 1862, but dropped it in 1871.
Tree large, vigorous, round-topped, dense, hardy, very productive; branches stocky, with fruit-spurs numerous, ash-gray, smooth except for the large, raised lenticels; branchlets somewhat thick, short, with internodes of medium length, green changing to dull brownish-drab, heavily pubescent throughout the season, with few, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds of average size and length, conical, free.
Leaves somewhat flattened, obovate, two inches wide, three and five-eighths inches long; upper surface dark green, nearly glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface heavily pubescent; apex obtuse or acute, base acute, margin finely serrate, eglandular or with few, small dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, thick, heavily pubescent, with a faint red tinge, glandless or with from one to three large, globose, greenish-yellow glands usually at the base of the leaf.
Blooming season early to medium, short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white; borne on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, pubescent, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, lightly pubescent; calyx-lobes, broad, obtuse, somewhat pubescent, glandular-serrate, erect; petals unusually large, roundish, finely crenate, not clawed; anthers yellowish; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens, with a large style and stigma.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period short; one and five-eighths inches by one and one-half inches in size, roundish-oblong, somewhat oblique, truncate, compressed, halves unequal; cavity narrow, abrupt, usually russeted; suture a line; apex flattened or depressed; color dark purplish-red, lighter colored on the shaded side, overspread with thick bloom; dots characteristic, numerous, large, russet, conspicuous, clustered about the apex; stem thick, three-quarters inch long, thickly pubescent, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, sour, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, rather dry, firm, sweet, of mild, pleasant flavor; fair to good; stone free, seven-eighths inch by three-quarters inch in size, roundish-oval, somewhat flattened, blunt at the base and apex, roughened and irregularly furrowed; ventral suture wide, winged, heavily furrowed; dorsal suture with a wide groove variable in depth.
GONZALES
