The characters of Yellow Egg were given in the discussion of the group which bears its name and but little more needs to be said of the variety. As the largest and handsomest of the yellow plums it is worth consideration by either the amateur or the commercial fruit-grower in New York. At best, however, it is fit only for cooking and is none too good for culinary purposes. The trees are very satisfactory on all but very light soils. As has been suggested before, this plum ought to be crossed with varieties of better quality with the hope of getting as handsome a fruit but one which could be used for dessert purposes.
The references and synonyms show that Yellow Egg is a plum with an interesting history, but unfortunately the accounts of its origin and subsequent history have been but poorly preserved. Rea, in 1676, described the Yellow Egg as the Bonum Magnum or Dutch Plum; we may infer from this that the English obtained the variety from Holland. Knoop of Holland, in 1771, described the variety under the name Prune d’Oeuf Blanche, indicating a French origin. Knoop describes the Prune De Monsieur as similar and this plum has ever since been held as doubtfully identical. Duhamel, in Traite des Arbres Fruitiers, 1768, described Yellow Egg as the Dame Aubert. Kraft in Pomona Austriaca, 1796, gave it as the Die Grosse Weisse Glanzende, oder Die Albertus Damenpflaume. These references show that Yellow Egg was well known at an early date. Because of its close resemblance to many varieties, probably due to the propagation of seedlings from it, much confusion exists in the nomenclature of Yellow Egg. White Imperial was separated by Duhamel and Prince; but Miller, Thompson and most of the subsequent writers give it as the same. Duhamel believed the Imperial Blanche (White Imperial) to be the Grosse Datte. So, too, the Wentworth was at first separated but, later, was recorded as identical. Koch calls Yellow Egg one of the Datterpflaumen (Date Plums) though he states that there is another Date Plum known by Tragus more than three hundred years ago as Prunidactyla. De Candolle seems to hold to the names Dame d’Aubert and Aubertina for this plum. Professor Budd in exploring southwest Russia and Poland found a Dame Aubert differing from our Yellow Egg only in minor characters which he was told came from central Asia.
The exact date of the importation of Yellow Egg to this country is unknown. Coxe, in 1817, described it as the Mogul and later Prince gave it the name Yellow Egg. Owing to this change in name, we find America now and then given as its place of origin by both American and English writers. In 1862, the American Pomological Society added it to its fruit catalog list under the name White Magnum Bonum but in 1871, the name was changed to Yellow Egg. The Darwin Peach, sent out by Fell, a nurseryman in England, has proved to be identical at this Station and its distributor, in a recent letter, states that this plum, which has been growing on his place thirty years, “is apparently identical to the White Magnum Bonum” which is of course Yellow Egg.
Tree, large, vigorous, round-topped, open, hardy, very productive; trunk roughish; branches numerous, ash-gray, nearly smooth, with rather large lenticels; branchlets slender, short, with long intemodes, greenish-red changing to dull brownish-red, dull, lightly pubescent throughout the season, covered with thin bloom, with few, inconspicuous, small lenticels; leaf-buds above medium in size, long, pointed, free.
Leaves flattened or somewhat folded backward, oval, two and one-half inches wide, four and one-quarter inches long, leathery; upper surface dark green, pubescent, slightly rugose, with grooved midrib; lower surface medium green, thickly pubescent; apex abruptly pointed or acute, base acute, margin doubly serrate, with few dark glands; petiole five-eighths inch long, thick, reddish-purple, pubescent, glandless or with one or two globose, yellowish-green glands variable in position.
Blooming season short; flowers appearing after the leaves, one inch across, white, with a yellowish tinge at the tip of the petals; borne on lateral buds and spurs, singly or in pairs; pedicels one-half inch long, covered with thick pubescence, greenish; calyx-tube green, campanulate, pubescent; calyx-lobes broad, obtuse, pubescent, glandular-serrate, reflexed; petals roundish-oval, crenate or sometimes slightly notched, tapering to short, broad claws; anthers yellow; filaments three-eighths inch long; pistil pubescent, longer than the stamens; stigma oblique.
Fruit late, season short; two inches by one and five-eighths inches in size, long-oval, compressed, halves nearly equal; cavity of medium depth, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow, often a line; apex roundish; color golden-yellow, covered with thick bloom; dots numerous, small, white, inconspicuous; stem slender, one and one-quarter inches long, pubescent, adhering well to the fruit, surrounded at the cavity by a fleshy collar; skin thin, slightly astringent, separating readily; flesh golden-yellow, rather juicy, moderately coarse, firm, of average sweetness, mild; good; stone semi-free or free, one and one-quarter inches by three-quarters inch in size, oval, rather flat, acute at the base and apex, with roughened and pitted surfaces; ventral suture wide, heavily ridged, often distinctly winged; dorsal suture widely and deeply grooved.
YELLOW GAGE
Prunus domestica