174 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



fore, little need of giving any attention to the inferior 

 natives ; and at the present time the fruit-growers 

 of the East care little for and know less of these 

 native fruits. The European plums thrive so well 

 in these states and adjacent territory that they have 

 become spontaneous along roadsides and in copses in 

 many places, where they bear an annual abundance 

 of little fruits which are commonly called damsons, 

 and which are gathered for use in making conserves. 

 Even as early as 1663, John Josselyn writes as 

 follows of some of the fruits of New England : 

 "The Quinces, Cherries, Damsons, set the Dames 

 a work, Marmalad and preserved Damsons is to be 

 met with in every house. It was not long before 

 I left the Countrey that I made Cherry wine, and 

 so may others, for there are good store of them both 

 red and black." 



In Virginia and southward, however, the European 

 plum does not thrive so well, and the inhabitants of 

 those regions, previous to the present generation, have 

 not been noted for their attention to horticultural 

 industries. The result has been that no plum indus- 

 try has developed in the South until very recently. 

 Yet the wild plums have long been gathered and 

 employed in domestic uses, as, indeed, they have in 

 thinly settled portions of Ontario and other parts of 

 the northwestern territory. But it appears to have 

 been chiefly in the newly settled regions, as I have 

 said, that these large -fruited native plums have been 

 sorted out and named. The settlers often suffered for 

 lack of fruit, and were, therefore, eager to seize upon 

 the native productions. Sometimes these plums were 

 carried into the new country by the emigrants, and 



