Warren? 8.
Newman is one of the oldest but still one of the standard varieties of its species. Its fruits are characterized by a firm, meaty flesh, which fits it well for shipping and storing; the plums are also attractive in shape and color but are too small and too low in quality to make the variety a first-rate one. The trees are large and vigorous and in all respects very satisfactory orchard plants. Both fruits and trees are usually reported as fairly free from diseases and insects. While the variety is gradually going out it still has some value for its crops and ought to make a good parent from which to breed a race of vigorous, firm-fleshed Munsonianas.
The origin of this plum is uncertain. In 1867 a Mr. Elliott of Cleveland, Ohio, reported in the Horticulturist that he had received samples of the “Newman Plum” from D. L. Adair, Esq., of Hawesville, Kentucky, and gave a brief description of the fruit which seems to tally with that of the variety under discussion. The American Pomological Society added this plum to its fruit catalog list in 1875 and removed it in 1891.
Tree large, vigorous, spreading, low and flat, dense-topped, hardy at Geneva, productive, subject to attacks of shot-hole fungus, the trunk shaggy; branches dark ash-gray, rough and shaggy, thorny, zigzag, with numerous, rather inconspicuous, large, elongated lenticels; branchlets very slender, twiggy, with internodes of average length, greenish-red, changing to dark brown, glabrous, with few, conspicuous, large, raised lenticels; leaf-buds small, short, obtuse, plump, nearly free.
Leaves lanceolate, peach-like, one and one-quarter inches wide, four inches long, thin; upper surface smooth, glabrous, with a grooved midrib; lower surface glabrous except along the midrib and larger veins; apex taper-pointed, base acute, margin finely crenate, with small, amber glands; petiole slender, seven-eighths inch long, lightly pubescent along one side, reddish, glandless or with from one to four very small, globose, yellowish-red glands on the stalk.
Blooming season late and long; flowers appearing after the leaves, three-quarters inch across, in the buds tinged yellow, changing to white on expanding, odor disagreeable; borne in clusters on lateral spurs and buds, in twos or in threes; pedicels eleven-sixteenths inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes small, narrow, slightly obtuse, pubescent on the inner surface, glandular-serrate and with marginal hairs, erect; petals ovate or oval, crenate, tapering at the base into long, narrow claws; anthers yellow, tinged with red; filaments five-sixteenths inch long; pistil slender, glabrous, equal to the stamens in length.
Fruit mid-season, ripening period very long; one inch by seven-eighths inch in size, strongly oval, not compressed, halves equal; cavity shallow, narrow, flaring; suture a distinct dark red line; apex depressed; color bright currant-red, with thin bloom; dots grayish, rather conspicuous, clustered near the apex; stem very slender, seven-eighths inch long, glabrous, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, very tough, astringent, separating readily; flesh deep yellow, juicy, tender and melting, sweetish next to the skin, but tart at the center; fair in quality; stone clinging, five-eighths inch by three-eighths inch in size, long-oval, turgid, necked at the base, blunt-pointed at the apex, with finely pitted surfaces; ventral suture narrow, inconspicuous; dorsal suture with a narrow, shallow groove.
NEW ULM
NEW ULM