Cultivar 390: Cheney

Cheney is a native plum in the Prunus nigra group. It is a northern form tied to cold climate plum growing in the upper Midwest and prairie region. It was found wild in Mormon Ravine near La Crosse, Wisconsin, and E. Markle introduced it about 1887. Early South Dakota sources describe it as one of the largest and handsomest native plums. Later prairie notes still treat it as a hardy, productive, upright tree worth noting among plums and plum hybrids. [S2] [S4]

The record presents Cheney less as a formal breeding product than as a wild selection brought into cultivation. South Dakota reports say seven trees were planted by 1896 and were productive. Later Minnesota and Manitoba references show the cultivar remained known across the northern plains. The Minnesota State Horticultural Society recommended it for general cultivation in December 1904. Manitoba correspondence from 1905 named it as one of the few plums that ripened reliably there. [S2] [S3]

South Dakota described the fruit as very large, roundish, and flattened, often uneven or lop sided, with some specimens obscurely diamond shaped. The skin was bright yellow with a thin lively mottled red overlay, a light lilac bloom, and many gray dots. The flesh was light yellow, tender, juicy, pleasantly acid, and of good quality. The pit was notably large, and the skin was thin and not astringent. Another prairie source gives a shorter description and calls the fruit medium, oblate, deep red, and yellow fleshed. This suggests either a different local impression or a simplified handbook description. [S2] [S4]

Cheney was valued more for kitchen use than for keeping. South Dakota growers called it one of the largest, finest, and best hardy plums for cooking, and especially praised it for canning. It brought high market prices in some places, but it did not keep after picking and was said to deteriorate once fully ripe. Reported South Dakota ripening dates run from mid to late August, with specific observations from August 16 to September 2 in different years. A later prairie note places the season in the second week of September. [S2] [S4]

The tree was described as upright, thrifty, productive, and hardy, though not always an annual bearer. Nebraska work also found Cheney compatible on sand cherry stock, with buds setting and first year growth doing well. Orchard reports also warned that it could bear heavy crops of plum pockets instead of marketable fruit, and it was noted as subject to curculio. South Dakota observers also reported sunscald, with some trees dying back, and suggested low headed or bush form training as a safer way to manage native plums under those conditions. [S1] [S2] [S3] [S4]

Its cold climate reputation is one of the strongest parts of the record. Cheney was listed among varieties that fruited in South Dakota in the 1890s, was recommended for Minnesota planting in 1904, and in Manitoba was praised as the best plum one grower had tested there. Another Manitoba report said Cheney and Aitkin were the only plums brought to full ripeness at that site and called them perhaps the hardiest of the northern named plums. Even so, one South Dakota bulletin judged the broader Prunus nigra class to have little value in that section, which suggests Cheney's reputation improved farther north. [S2] [S3]

In the archive, Cheney matters as a named wild northern plum that linked Wisconsin, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba. The record remembers it for size, cooking quality, prairie usefulness, and strong far northern performance, not for controlled parentage or breeding pedigree. [S2] [S4]

Summary source basis

• S1: The Western Sand Cherry
• S2: Plums in South Dakota
• S3: Fruit Culture
• S4: TreeFruitsGrownInPrairieOrchards WRLeslie 1946 HQ

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota, with 2 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“Cheney was found wild in Mormon ravine near La Crosse, Wisconsin.”
— ^[1]

“Size very large, one of the largest of the native plums; form roundish flattened at ends, usually quite lop-sided, extreme specimens being obscurely diamond shaped longitudinally.”
— ^[1]

“Pit very large, flat, round, oval, edges often sharp; skin thin, not astringent.”
— ^[1]

“The variety appears quite subject to plum pocket.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• The Cheney Plum in Manitoba.-"Ihave succeeded in growing apples, crabs and plums here, but one thing surprises me. Ifind the Cheney plum away ahead the best of all the varieties Ihave grownPlums in South Dakota, p13
• The Cheney Plum in Manitoba.-"Ihave succeeded in growing apples, crabs and plums here, but one thing surprises me. Ifind the Cheney plum away ahead the best of all the varieties Ihave grownPlums in South Dakota, p13
• The Cheney Plum in Manitoba.-"Ihave succeeded in growing apples, crabs and plums here, but one thing surprises me. Ifind the Cheney plum away ahead the best of all the varieties Ihave grownPlums in South Dakota, p13
• The Cheney Plum in Manitoba.-"Ihave succeeded in growing apples, crabs and plums here, but one thing surprises me. Ifind the Cheney plum away ahead the best of all the varieties Ihave grownPlums in South Dakota, p13

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context