This fruit was found at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century at
Chambourcy, France, in the garden of M. Bourgeois; no record of its
parents seems to have been made. M. Latinois introduced it into commerce
in 1885-1886 and consequently his name became attached to the variety.
The plum is not well known in America, there being only one published
American reference. This Station received the variety for testing in 1899
from the United States Department of Agriculture. It has value on account
of its high quality and its lateness, and is worthy of extensive testing.
Tree small, upright-spreading, dense-topped, productive;
branchlets develop fruit-spurs near the base; leaf-buds
strongly appressed; leaves folded upward, long-oval or obovate,
one and five-eighths inches wide, three and three-quarters
inches long, somewhat leathery; margin doubly serrate or
crenate, with small dark glands; blooming season intermediate
in time and length; flowers appearing after the leaves, over
one inch across; borne in thin clusters on lateral buds and
spurs, singly or in pairs.
Fruit very late, season of medium length; nearly one and
one-half inches in diameter, roundish, slightly truncate,
yellowish-green, with a delicate bloom and a pink blush on the
exposed cheek; flesh greenish-yellow, very juicy, firm but
tender, sweet, aromatic, of high flavor; very good to best;
stone semi-free or free, three-quarters inch, by one-half inch
in size, irregular-oval, flattened, rather blunt at the base
and apex, with roughened surfaces; ventral suture strongly
furrowed, often with a distinct wing.
CHAMPION
_Prunus domestica_
=1.= Wickson _Cal. Fruits_ 360. 1891. =2.= _Oregon Hort. Soc.
Rpt._ 147. 1893. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 150. 1895. =4.=
_Oregon Sta. Bul._ =45=:30. 1897.
Champion Prune, 1, 2, 3.
The Champion was introduced with the expectation that it would be a
valuable fruit for curing into prunes. It has not proved to be a good
plum for prune-making, as it is too juicy, about three-fourths of its
bulk evaporating, but the western plum-growers have found it a very
good plum for shipping in the fresh state. It is very attractive in
appearance, firm, free of stone, sweet and pleasant and withal of rather
high quality. The tree-characters, as the plums grow in Geneva, are in
the main very good, falling short, if at all, in productiveness. They
are such as to lead to the recommendation of a trial for this plum by
plum-growers in general in New York.
This variety is a seedling of the Italian Prune produced by Jesse
Bullock, Oswego, Oregon, about 1876, and introduced by C. E. Hoskins,
Springbrook, Oregon. Since the Italian Prune comes nearly true to seed it
is very doubtful if this variety is a pure-bred seedling judging from the
characters of the fruit as given below:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account