The Cultivated Native Plums and Cherries. 



I. THE PLUMS. 



§ 1. Classificarf:ioii of the cultivated native plumeL 



A. The Americana group. 



B. Ttie Wild Gk)ose group. 



C. The Miner group. , 



D. The Chickasaw group. 



E. The Marianna group. 



F. The Beach plum. 



G. Prunus subcordata, 

 H. Hybrids. 



I. Unclassified varieties. 

 § 2. Cultivation of the native plums. 



1. Impotent varieties. Planting. 



2. Propagation. ! 



3. Varieties. 



4. Insects and diseajses. 



Since the introduction of the Wild Goose plum some forty 

 years ago there has been a steadily growing interest in the amelio- 

 ration of our native plums. The native species possess certain 

 advantages over the common plums of the Prunus domestioa 

 type,* and they are so widely distributed and are naturally so 

 variable that they have been easily brought into cultivation under 

 a great number of forms. Over 150 varieties have been named 

 and more or less disseminated, and the following pages record 140. 

 There has been no attempt, so far as I know, to make a compre- 

 hensive study of these fruits, and, as a consequence, our knowledge 

 of them is vague and confused. In fact, the native plums consti- 



* The common plums and the prunes belong to the European species Prunes domestica. In 

 the following pages these fruits are often referred to as the domestica plums. 



