Nothing is known of the origin of the Hudson except that it has been grown in the Hudson River Valley for a good many years. About 1870 it attracted the attention of S. D. Willard of Geneva, New York, who, thinking it a valuable acquisition, commenced its propagation. In 1897, it was listed by the American Pomological Society as a successful variety for this region. J. R. Cornell, a well informed fruit-grower of Newburgh, New York, in a letter written February 21, 1910, says, “I recall Hudson very distinctly as it was grown when I was a small boy over fifty years ago. I would not be surprised, if the facts could be obtained, to learn that the variety came from Europe, in fact, I incline to that opinion.”
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, very productive, hardy; branches ash-gray, smooth except for the small, raised lenticels; branchlets slender, with long internodes, greenish-red changing to brownish-red, dull, glabrous early in the season becoming lightly pubescent at maturity, with small, inconspicuous lenticels; leaf-buds below medium in size and length, conical, strongly appressed.
Leaves flattened, obovate or oval, two inches wide, three and three-quarters inches long; upper surface dark green, smooth, sparsely hairy along the grooved midrib; lower surface silvery-green, faintly pubescent; apex acute, base abrupt, margin serrate, eglandular or with small dark glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, lightly pubescent, glandless or with from one to three greenish-yellow glands.
Blooming season short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one and one-eighth inches across, white; borne in scattering clusters on lateral spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels nine-sixteenths inch long, glabrous except for a few scattering hairs; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent at the base; calyx-lobes obtuse, lightly pubescent on both surfaces, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals obovate, crenate, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellowish; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, longer than the stamens.
Fruit late, season of medium length; one and five-eighths inches by one and one-eighth inches in size, long-oval, halves unequal; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt, regular; suture shallow; apex slightly pointed; color dark reddish-purple changing to purplish-black, overspread with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, one inch long, sparingly pubescent; skin thin, tender, sour, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, juicy, rather tender, sweet next the skin but sour towards the center, aromatic; good; stone one and one-eighth inches by five-eighths inch in size, sometimes reddish, ovate, roughened and faintly pitted, acute at the base and apex; ventral suture wide, with numerous ridges; dorsal suture with a wide, shallow groove.
HULINGS
Prunus domestica
1. Prince Treat. Hort. 23. 1828. 2. Kenrick Am. Orch. 261. 1832. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 277. 1845. 4. Horticulturist 1:166. 1846. 5. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 86. 1862. 6. Hogg Fruit Man. 705. 1884. 7. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 435. 1885. 8. Guide Prat. 158, 366. 1895.
Gloire de New York, 6, 7, 8. Huling’s Superb 7, 8. Huling’s Superb 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Huling’s Treffliche 7. Keiser 2. Keyser’s Plum 3, 6, 7, 8. Superbe de Huling 8.
Hulings is one of the largest of the Reine Claude group of plums and a remarkably fine fruit in every respect. It is particularly agreeable to the taste because of its sprightliness, which so many plums of its type lack. As this variety grows in New York it has much to recommend it for commercial plantations. Its lack of popularity among planters is due somewhat to the wholesale substitution by nurserymen of spurious varieties for it. Hulings originated early in the last century with a Mr. Keyser of Pennsylvania who grew it from seed, but Dr. W. E. Hulings of the same state brought it to public notice.