Fruit mid-season, ripening period long; of medium size, roundish-truncate, dull greenish-yellow, often irregularly splashed and striped with green, overspread with thin bloom; skin thin, slightly astringent; flesh light golden-yellow, rather dry, fibrous, somewhat tender, sweet, pleasant in flavor; of good quality; stone free, seven-eighths inch by five-eighths inch in size, ovate or oval, medium turgid, with rough surfaces. HALE [Illustration: HALE] _Prunus triflora_ =1.= Burbank _Cat._ 19. 1893. =2.= _Ibid._ 1894. =3.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =106=:52. 1896. =4.= _Ga. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ XI. 1897. =5.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 41. 1899. =6.= _Cornell Sta. Bul._ =175=:147, 148, fig. 37. 1899. =7.= _Am. Gard._ =21=:36 1900. =8.= Waugh _Plum Cult._ 136. 1901. =9.= _Mich. Sta. Bul._ =187=:77, 79. 1901. =10.= _W. N. Y. Hort. Soc. Rpt._ 89. 1902. =11.= _Ohio. Sta. Bul._ =162=:254, 255. 1905. =12.= _Ga. Sta. Bul._ =68=:10, 30. 1905. =13.= _Mass. Sta. An. Rpt._ =17=:160. 1905. J 1. _J_ 3. Prolific 2. _Prolific_ 3, 8, 12. It is doubtful if the average person who grows the Hale would recognize it as shown in _The Plums of New York_, as it is supposed to be a yellow plum; nevertheless the illustration is a good one so far as the fruits go at least. When mature on the trees the fruits are yellow with a faint blush, but in storage the color quickly changes into a pale red, becoming, when the plum is at its best in appearance and quality, a light currant-red. Hale, though large and handsome of fruit, is of questionable value, failing both in fruit and tree. The flavor of this plum is good in the judgment of most fruit connoisseurs, but others find it a little too sweet and somewhat mawkish near the skin and close about the pit. All agree, however, that the flesh clings too tightly to the stone for pleasant eating and that the texture is too tender for good shipping. But it is the tree that fails most markedly. Even on the grounds of this Station, where the peach is practically hardy, Hale is but semi-hardy, failing most often because with the best of care the wood does not ripen properly. The habit of growth is not particularly good, the trees are slow in coming in bearing, are not regularly productive and are readily infected by brown-rot and the fruits much infested by curculio. On the whole, it is to be regretted that Mr. Hale did not choose a better plum to bear a name so distinguished in horticulture. Luther Burbank offered this plum, a cross between Kelsey and Satsuma, for sale under the name J, in 1893, and the following year as Prolific. J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, Connecticut, purchased the variety in 1894, and introduced it as the Hale in 1896. In 1899, the American Pomological Society considered it worthy a place on its fruit catalog list.