PROBLEM OF IMPROVING THE NATIVE PLUM. 3815 
THE PROBLEM OF IMPROVING THE NATIVE PLUM. 
O. M. LORD, MINNESOTA CITY. 
The problem is unsolved, and I fear that I can throw but little light 
upon it. I can only mention the lines of work along which we have sought 
improvement. My first effort was made in 1866. I had planted, since 1854, 
several varieties of the Domesticas, or those commonly grown at the east, 
without any success and concluded that it was useless to try those varieties 
any further, and that our only hope of plums was in the direction of our 
natives. I selected the best I could find and brought them into cultivation 
and was very fortunate in finding a very fine variety. I sought to perpetu- 
ate or propagate it by selecting the seeds of the finest fruit and growing the 
trees, but the fruit of these trees was not what I expected. The fruit of no 
two trees were alike, and none of the fruit was equal in quality to that of the 
parent. 
I have since that time planted seeds nearly every year, with no marked 
results as to quality. I can make no claim to improvement of the native 
plum, except by care in the cultivation to increase the size of the fruit. 
Whatever success I may have reached in producing superior plums has been 
secured by a selection of varieties. Whenever I could hear of a variety hav- 
ing a local reputation for superior quality, I have, if possible, procured trees 
or scions and grown the fruit and have had occasion to discard many kinds, 
as in no respect superior, or that were not adapted to my soil or to my 
methods. It was supposed, several years ago, that we had gone as far as 
we could in improvement by selection from the wild ones, or, in other 
words, that the best varieties to be found had already been brought to no- 
tice. But this supposition occurred without taking into consideration the 
chances of fine production from new seedlings, which chances, though lim- 
ited, have sometimes resulted successfully. 
Mr. Terry has been one of the fortunate ones in growing the Hawkeye, 
Hammer, Milton and some others; Mr. Raymond with the Forest Garden; 
Mr. Penning with the Surprise, and Mr. Patton informs me that he has a 
new one which is superior to any that have yet been brought to general no- 
tice. These varieties are so much superior to ordinary wild plums that it 
may be said here is a marked improvement of the native. 
Though it is said that this success has been attained by pollenizing, 
crossing, or hybridizing, when we consider the immense number of failures 
in contrast with the success it is found that we have no specific law to be 
governed by to insure success. Van Mons, the French scientist, discovered 
several years ago that the plum could be increased in size up to the second 
generation with the seed; after which it would revert or retrograde in size 
unless crossed with other varieties, and this law has been lately demon- 
strated by Dr. Dennis. In crossing the species we know the result is a 
hybrid, beyond which we cannot safely go in production; but in crossing 
varieties the character may be changed, combining the good or the bad 
qualities of both parents. 
Many people suppose that the wild plum is stable in character, like the 
crab apple, the cranberry and other wild fruits, and that its improvement is 
the result of cultivation. This is a mistake, as no wild fruit is naturally 
more variable, and upon this fact we base our hopes of improvement. 
