Cultivar 407: Hammer

Hammer is a hortulana plum with large fruit of good quality, but it proved poorly adapted to colder northern trial sites. H. A. Terry of Crescent, Iowa, grew it from Miner seed and introduced it in 1892. South Dakota trial records state that seven trees were received from the originator in 1896. [S1]

The fruit was described as large, bright, and attractive, about one and five sixteenths inches in diameter, with firm flesh and good quality. It was reported to be free from pockets and a little later than Forest Garden. Some notes describe it as quite productive, with fair crops reported by A. Norby, and say the fruit was large and fine when the trees were not overloaded. [S1]

Its main weakness on the northern plains was season. The bulletin says Hammer was too late for that latitude and that none of its fruit had ripened in the previous five years before frost. The same source says it was not recommended there. Other defects were also noted: the fruit could crack badly after rain, though the trees were said to withstand drought well. [S1]

The trees grew large and had a spreading habit. They were badly injured when young. The original seven trees showed many dead branches and much kill back, and the variety was described as killing back severely in youth before becoming somewhat hardier with age. Even so, the bulletin says Hammer was not truly hardy in the coldest winters. A Manitoba report from De Soto adds that young trees were sometimes killed back from the top, at times quite badly. [S1]

Hammer shows the limits of plum adaptation on the northern plains. The source connects it to Miner through its seed origin and says it carries some Miner blood, but the full parentage is not given. The record mainly preserves the contrast between attractive, high quality fruit and a tree fruit combination that ripened too late and lacked enough winter hardiness for the coldest prairie conditions. [S1]

Summary source basis

• S1: Plums in South Dakota

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota.

Featured source descriptions

“Originated by H. A. Terry, Crescent, Iowa, from seed of Miner and introduced by him in 1892.”
— ^[1]

“Little later than Forest Garden.”
— ^[1]

“The seven trees showed many dead branches and many others killed back one-third to one-half.”
— ^[1]

“Trees kill back severely while young but appear to become hardier with age.”
— ^[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

• Hammer, hortulana.Plums in South Dakota, p19
• Hammer, hortulana.Plums in South Dakota, p19
• Hammer, hortulana.Plums in South Dakota, p19
• Hammer, hortulana.Plums in South Dakota, p19

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context