1. Rural N. Y. 44:645. 1885. 2. Minn. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 279. 1885. 3. N. J. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 186. 1885. 4. Wis. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 32. 1885. 5. Minn. Sta. Bul. 10:73 fig. 1890. 6. Cornell Sta. Bul. 38:41, 86. 1892. 7. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 24. 1897. 8. Wis. Sta. Bul. 63:56, 58 fig. 28. 1897. 9. Colo. Sta. Bul. 50:45. 1898. 10. Ohio. Sta. Bul. 113:153. 1899. 11. Waugh Plum Cult. 162. 1901. 12. Ga. Sta. Bul. 67:280. 1904. 13. Ohio Sta. Bul. 162:256, 257. 1905.
Minnesota 2. Rolling Stone 3, 4.
Rollingstone is an old Americana sort which has been kept in cultivation chiefly because it is of very good quality for one of its species. The fruit is rather dull in color and small but not unattractive in appearance; the plums are little troubled by either the brown-rot or the plum curculio and ship very well because of the tough skin. The tree is dwarfish with a crooked trunk, shaggy bark, unkempt top and very twiggy—a typical Americana and most difficult to grow into a good orchard plant. The variety is characterized by long, conspicuous stamens, stigmas frequently defective and by very large leaves. The variety has little or no value in New York.
Rollingstone was found near an old Indian camping ground on the Rollingstone Creek, Winona County, Minnesota, by Mr. O. M. Lord,[220] Minnesota City, about 1852. Mr. Lord planted trees of this plum in his garden and found that they improved greatly under cultivation, so much so that they soon became very popular in the local market. About 1882 he introduced the Rollingstone to fruit-growers in general. Mr. H. M. Thompson of St. Francis, according to the Minnesota Horticultural Society Report for 1885, sent this plum out under the name Minnesota but fortunately it has not been distributed under its synonym widely enough to cause much confusion. In 1897 the American Pomological Society added Rollingstone to its fruit catalog list.
Tree dwarfish, variable in vigor, spreading, flat-topped, hardy, productive, healthy; trunk shaggy; branches dark ash-gray, thorny, rough, zigzag, with numerous, rather large lenticels; branchlets slender, twiggy, medium to short, with internodes of average length, greenish turning to dark brown, glossy, glabrous, with conspicuous, small, raised lenticels; leaf-buds medium in size and length, appressed.
Leaves falling early, folded upward, obovate or long-ovate, one and one-half inches wide, three and one-half inches long, thin; upper surface smooth, glabrous, with a narrow groove on the midrib; lower surface silvery green, lightly pubescent, the veins prominent; apex taper-pointed, base rather acute, margin coarsely and doubly serrate, eglandular; petiole slender, five-eighths inch long, tinged red, sparingly pubescent, glandless or with one or two small, globose, reddish glands on the stalk.
Blooming season late and short; flowers appearing after the leaves; three-quarters inch across, the buds creamy-white changing to white as the flowers expand; borne in clusters on lateral buds and spurs, in threes or in fours; pedicels seven-sixteenths inch long, below medium in thickness, glabrous, green; calyx-tube reddish-green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes narrow, acute, eglandular, glabrous on the outer surface but lightly pubescent within, heavily pubescent on the margin and with irregular deep serrations, erect; petals oval or slightly ovate, dentate, tapering below into narrow claws reddish at the base; stamens conspicuous; anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length; stigma often abortive.
Fruit mid-season or earlier, ripening period short; about one inch in diameter, roundish, halves equal; cavity shallow, flaring, marked before maturity with light-colored, radiating streaks; suture a line; apex roundish; color dark purplish-red, with thin bloom; dots numerous, small, light russet, inconspicuous; stem slender, nine-sixteenths inch long, adhering poorly to the fruit; skin thick, tough, semi-adherent; flesh orange-yellow, juicy, slightly fibrous, tender and melting, sweet, strongly aromatic; good; stone semi-free, five-eighths inch by one-half inch in size, roundish-oval, flattened, smoothish, blunt at the base and apex; ventral suture acute, faintly ridged; dorsal suture acute, with a narrow, shallow, indistinct groove.