The Japanese Plums. ii 



and recent reports indicate that some varieties bear so far 

 north as Ottawa, Ontario, and in the trj'ing winters of central 

 Iowa ; and one, at least, of Professor Budd's Russian plums is of 

 this species. Several pomologists have been struck with this 

 similarity of the Japanese and native types ; and, strangely enough, 

 Dr. A. B. Dennis of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in endeavoring to ex- 

 plain this relationship in a recent paper before his State Horticul- 

 tural Society, by supposing a former land connection between 

 northwestern America and Asia, has independently hit upon one 

 of the important points in the coincident evolution of the Japanese 

 and eastern American floras, the discussion of which, over thirty 

 3" ears ago, made Asa Gray famous. 



It may be well, in passing, to consider for a moment the possi- 

 ble efiect of this new class of plums upon the further development 

 of our native species. I am sorry to hear from some of my friends 

 who have given careful attention to the amelioration of the na- 

 tives, that they shall now relax their efforts upon the native types 

 and accept the Japanese sorts in their stead. It is true that the 

 Japanese plums are now better in fruit, for all that we can see, 

 than the natives, but we can depend upon it that they will develop 

 weak points somewhere, even in comparison with the little im- 

 proved natives ; and we should further consider that all types of 

 plums now in the country, or likely to come in, add variety- and 

 diversity to the foundation upon which our horticulture must 

 build, and make it possible to develop fruits for every variety of 

 country and use. And if the Japanese plum promises more for 

 large areas of our country than the European or Domestica type 

 because of its evolution in conditions somewhat like our own, 

 certainly the native species must possess still greater promise. 

 The native species are yet scarcely rescued from the woods, while 

 the other two have been cultivated for centuries ; but while the 

 latter have sprung from a single species in their respective coun- 

 tries, our native stock offers at least a half dozen species, and it 

 is from them, without a doubt, that the greater part of the Ameri- 

 can plum industry will some day be found to have sprung. 



Nomenclature afid classification of varieties. — There is much 

 confusion in the nomenclature of the Japanese plums. If the 

 varieties imported from Japan have been named at all, they have 



