PACIFIC COAST PLUM 217 



plums, and vice-versa. This Sisson plum is locally 

 cultivated in parts of California, and it is thought 

 by some to give promise of a new race of plums. 



The fruits shown in the accompanying photograph, 

 received from California, were light herryred, marked 

 with many minute golden dots. They were depressed- 

 globular, with a distinct suture, a short stem, and a 

 firm, meaty, rather dry, insipid flesh, and freestones. 

 Mr. Burbank sends me fruits of hybrids of this species 

 with the Robinson (one of the Chickasaws), which 

 are an improvement in quality. 



Wickson, in his "California Fruits," writes as fol- 

 lows of the Pacific plum : " Early efforts were made to 

 domesticate these wild plums, and they showed them- 

 selves susceptible of improvement by cultivation to a 

 certain extent. In 1856 there was on the Middle Yuba 

 river, not far from Forest City, in Sierra county, 

 a wayside establishment, known as 'Plum Valley 

 Ranch,' so called from the great quantity of wild 

 plums growing on and about the place. The plum by 

 cultivation gave a more vigorous growth and larger 

 fruit. Transplanted from the mountains into the valley, 

 they are found to ripen earlier. Transplanted from 

 the mountains to a farm near the coast, in Del Norte 

 county, they did not thrive. One variety, moved from 

 the hills near Petaluma, in 1858, was grown as an 

 orchard tree for fifteen years, and improved both in 

 growth and quality of fruit by cultivation. The atten- 

 tion of fruit-growers was early drawn to the possible 

 value of the wild plum as grafting stock, and it is 

 reported to have done fairly well on trial. Recently 

 excellent results have been reported from the domesti- 

 cation of the native plum in Nevada county, and fruit 



