Old Southern Orchards

CHABOT

"Yellow ground, nearly covered with carmine red; flesh ornge-yellow, very solid, subacid; quality very good; clingstone; valuable for tble, market and drying; July 20" [Atlanta Nursery Catalog 1895, Atlanta GA p. 7]. "Large, heart-shaped, or oblong conical; color at West yellow overspread on sunny side with cherry-red, with blue bloom; stalk short, stout, in abrupt, quite large cavity; suture not distinct usually. Flesh yellow, juicy, rich, and sweet; quality good to very good." [American Horticultural Manual Vol 2; The Foreign Varieties Of The Plum and their Hybrids-C."] The tree is a strong, upright grower, productive, and the fruit is handsome, very firm, and of good quality" [William Barnes, The Plum in Kansas (1900), 27-28.]

A Japanese plum imported by a resident of Oakland named Anthony Chabot and then adopted by Luther Burbank who commercialized it in 1886, the Chabot proved an immediate favorite and began collecting names as nurserymen attempted to pass it off as a proprietary strain: Bailey's, Chase, Paragon, Furujiya, and Yellow Japan were the most common alternate denominations. One of their singular virtues was an ability to bear fruit at an extraordinarily early age. Two year old trees would be laden. The firmness of the fruit enabled it to be shipped with little loss in transit. Usually the fruit is picked before ripening and cured in a dark storage room.

Nurseries selling the Chabot Plum prior to 1920:

Alabama Nursery, Huntsville AL; Allens Nursery, Salisbury MD; Atlanta Nursery, Atlanta GA; Bay View Pecan, Ocean Springs MS; Blacknall Nursery, Kittrell NC; Bluegrass Nursery, Lexington KY; Cedar Cover Nursery, Salem NC; Cherokee Nursery, Waycross GA; Colmant Nursery, West End AL; Comol Springs Nursery, Dallas TX; Concord Nursery, Concord GA; Delaware Nursery, Milford DE; Dixie Garden, Chatanooga TN; Downer's Nursery, Fairview KY; Eastern Shore Nursery, Denton MD; Emporia Nursery, Emporia VA; Excelsion Nursery, Rome GA; Frederick Nusery, Frederick MD; Fruitland, Augusta GA; Geraty Nursery, Yonges Island SC; Greensboro Nursery, Greensboro NC; Guilford Nurseries, Vandalia NC; Hales Southern Fruit, Fort Valley GA; Hill-side Nursery, Marksville LA; Kentucky Nursery, Louisville KY; Lakeland Nursery, Lakeland FL; Peachland Nursery, Seaford DE; Spring Hill Nursery, Charlottesville, VA; Van Lindley Nursery, Pomona NC.

Image: U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection. Rare and Special Collections, National Agricultural Library, Beltsville, MD 20705, Ethel Schutt, 1907.

David S. Shields