Cultivar 469: Van Deman

Van Deman is an Americana plum recorded in the upper Midwest and northern Plains as a large fruited, very productive sort with serious fruit defects. It was originated by H. A. Terry of Crescent, Iowa, from seed of Hawkeye, with 1891 attached to the origin note. [S1] South Dakota sources also show it had fruited locally by 1897, apparently for the first time there in the previous season. [S2]

The cultivar was presented as an American plum selection, not a European prune type. Its recorded parentage is simple: a seedling of Hawkeye. [S1] The surviving origin note does not explain the name Van Deman, but it does place the selection with Terry in western Iowa at the end of the nineteenth century. [S1]

South Dakota descriptions make the fruit sound promising at first: large, borne in full crops, and produced on a good, very productive tree. [S1] The problem was the fruit itself. Reports called it late, said it cracked badly before ripening, and in 1904 added that it also scabbed before maturity. [S1] Because of that combination, the fruit was judged almost worthless despite the tree's heavy bearing. [S1]

The tree appears to have been vigorous and dependable in crop, with one report summarized as "Full crop always." [S1] But that reliability did not translate into practical value because the plums failed before they could mature cleanly. [S1] The South Dakota bulletin does not place Van Deman in the station orchard itself, so the detailed performance remarks come from reported observation rather than a station planting on that page. [S1]

No explicit hardiness zone is given in these sources. The clearest evidence is geographic: Van Deman fruited in South Dakota and was discussed in northern Plains plum testing and recommendation literature, which at least places it in that cold climate trial context. [S1] [S2] The same record also shows that prairie performance was not enough to make it worthwhile, because cracking and scab ruined the crop before maturity. [S1]

Van Deman matters less as a celebrated fruit than as a clear example of what experiment station observers were screening out. It had the productivity and size a grower might want, but not the fruit quality or ripening reliability needed for recommendation. [S1]

Summary source basis

• S1: Plums in South Dakota
• S2: Fruit Culture

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota, with 1 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“The fruit was described as late and as cracking badly before ripening.”
— ^[1]

“For 1904, the tree was described as good and very productive.”
— ^[1]

“Mr. Norby reported 'Full crop always.'”
— ^[1]

“For 1904, the fruit was said to crack and scab before maturity so as to be worthless.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

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Derived or downstream cultivar links

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Source-story quotations

• Van Deman, Americana. Originated by H. A. Terry, Crescent, Iowa, from seed of Hawkeye, 1891.Plums in South Dakota, p42
• Van Deman, Americana. Originated by H. A. Terry, Crescent, Iowa, from seed of Hawkeye, 1891.Plums in South Dakota, p42
• Van Deman, Americana. Originated by H. A. Terry, Crescent, Iowa, from seed of Hawkeye, 1891.Plums in South Dakota, p42
• Van Deman, Americana. Originated by H. A. Terry, Crescent, Iowa, from seed of Hawkeye, 1891.Plums in South Dakota, p42

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context