PLANT BREEDING. 1 25 



hardier varieties became evident. The struggles and faihires 

 and disappointments of Peter M. Gideon in the effort to produce 

 a variety which should withstand the trying cHmate of Minne- 

 sota were finally, after many years and the loss of thousands of 

 seedlings, rewarded by the production of the Wealthy. With 

 the introduction of this variety began a new era in the fruit 

 culture of the northwest — indeed, this was the starting point of 

 successful fruit growing in that region. The introductions of 

 Russian varieties by the Department of Agriculture and by Budd 

 and Gibb, followed by the crosses of these sorts with the hardier 

 commercial varieties and with the native crabs, are recent his- 

 tory. The work of Budd, Harris, Patten, Somerville. Watrous 

 and others in this direction has resulted in a large number of 

 so-called ironclad varieties of very fair quality, many of which 

 will keep until late in the spring. But this work is only begun. 

 A discussion of the varieties originating in Maine will form the 

 subject of an early bulletin from this Station. 



THE PLUM. 



The production and propagation of named varieties of native 

 plums dates from 1814, when the seed which produced what is 

 now known as the Miner plum was planted by William Dodd, 

 an officer under General Jackson.* The Wild Goose was intro- 

 duced in 1850, and Robinson in 1884. The latter is of special 

 importance as one of the parents of some of Burbank's recent 

 novelties. Since i860 the number of valuable seedlings of the 

 native species in the West and South is almost phenomenal. 

 Wayland, Moreman, Golden Beauty, Newman, and others in 

 the Southwest ; Wolf, De Soto, Rollingstone, Forest Garden, 

 Weaver, and the like in the Northwest, to the number of a hun- 

 dred or more, are already grown to an important commercial 

 extent, and it is possible that these will form the foundation of 

 the future orchard plums of the Prairie States. 



Only recently has any attempt at improvement by artificial 

 crossing been made; and this attempt has been mainly at com- 

 bining the native species with the newly introduced Japanese 

 sorts. The work began less than 20 years ago, yet, on the 

 authority of Professor Waugh, there are at the present time 



Cf. Bailey, Evolution of our Native Fruits, 175. 



