BELLE
BELLE
Prunus domestica
1. Horticulturist 10:71. 1855. 2. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 394. 1857. 3. Flor. & Pom. 144, Pl. 1863. 4. Hogg Fruit Man. 351, 384. 1866. 5. Mas Le Verger 6:27, fig. 14. 1866-73. 6. Le Bon Jard. 341. 1882. 7. Barry Fr. Garden 410. 1883. 8. Decaisne & Naudin Man. Am. des Jard. 4:382. 9. Mathieu Nom. Pom. 449, 451. 1889. 10. Garden 50:295. 1896. 11. Rivers Cat. 33. 1898. 12. Fish Hardy-Fr. Bk. 2:55. 13. Thompson Gard. Ass’t 4:156. 1901. 14. Waugh Plum Cult. 96. 1901.
Autumn Beauty 11. Autumn Beauty 9. Belle de Septembre 9, 11, 14. Belle de Septembre 1, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 13. Gros Rouge de Septembre 3, 4, 9. Lawrence Early 9. Regina nova 6. Reine-Claude Rouge 9. Reine-Claude Rouge de Septembre 5, 9. Reine-Claude Rouge of September 2. Reine-Claude Rouge de Van Mons 5, 6, 8. Reine-Claude Rouge de Van Mons 9. Reine-Claude Rouge Van Mons 4, 9. Reine Nova (Berre) 9. Reina Nova 2, 3, 4, 9. Rote Claude 9. Reine Nova 9. Schöne September Königspflaume 9. Van Mons Königspflaume 9. Van Mons Königspflaume 5. Van Mons Red 9. Van Mons’ Red 4. Van Mons Red Gage 5, 9.
Belle is an unusually large, handsome plum but unfortunately is not of very high quality. It is much like Pond but is brighter red, a little smaller, less necked, the stem is shorter, the apex more blunt and it is more of a clingstone. European authorities say that Belle is second to none for culinary purposes and its handsome appearance gives it value across the seas as a dessert plum. As Belle grows on the grounds of this Station—it seems not to be found elsewhere in New York—the tree-characters are quite above those in the average variety of plums and when considered with the fine, late fruits, indicate that the variety might be grown with profit for market purposes. It well deserves to be tried by commercial plum-growers.
Belle came from Brussels, Belgium, and was propagated by the famous horticulturist, Van Mons. Nothing further is known of its origin.
Tree above medium in size, vigorous, upright, open-topped, hardy, productive; branches smooth, dull dark ash-gray, with small, numerous, raised lenticels; branchlets thick, with short internodes, green changing to brownish-red, often marked with scarf-skin, dull, very pubescent early in the season becoming less pubescent as maturity advances, with numerous, small lenticels; leaf-buds of medium size and length, conical, free.