80 Plums and Plum Culture 



nock of Colorado, J. S. Breece of North Carolina 

 and others. 



The number of introductions in this class is rap- 

 idly increasing. In the fall of 1898 the present writer 

 published the first general discussion of the hybrid 

 plums.* In this bulletin notes were given of 50 varie- 

 ties for which a hybrid origin had been suggested, a 

 few of which were decided not to be hybrids, but most 

 of which were thought to be authentic. 



The career of the hybrid plums was thus fairly 

 and officially begun. An epoch in plum development 

 was opened. No one can foresee the consequences; but 

 anybody who considers the case in its various bearings 

 will readily see that there are wonderful possibilities in 

 the hybridization of plums. Hybridity has played an 

 important role among American grapes; but the cir- 

 cumstances all promise more important results from 

 the crossing of plums. 



It will be well to recur at this point to present 

 beliefs, elsewhere set forth, regarding the origin of the 

 ^reat Hortulana series, comprising the Wildgoose, 

 Wayland and Miner groups. These are now thought 

 to be natural hybrids in various degrees of combination 

 between Pnuius amcricana and P. angustifolia. We 

 thus find that plums hybridize freely when growing 

 wild in the woods. Abundant evidence recently accu- 

 mulated goes to show that they also hybridize exten- 

 sively when grown together in the orchard. With 

 certain favorable combinations of species growing to- 

 gether (e. g., Primus triflora with P. angustifolia), 

 probably a large majority of the fruits are cross polli- 

 nated; and if the seeds be planted the resulting off- 

 spring will show more hybrid than purebred 

 specimens. 



♦Vermont Experiment Station Bulletin No. 67. 1898. 



