218 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



shown at the state fair of 1888 gave assurance that by 

 cultivation and selecting seedlings, valuable varieties 

 can be obtained. It is stated that in Sierra county the 

 wild plum is the only plum which finds a market at 

 good prices, and that cultivated gages, blue and egg 

 plums scarcely pay for gathering. The wild plum 

 makes delicious preserves." 



Varioits Other Types of Plums 



We have now explored all those groups or families 

 of native plums which have been impressed into 

 cultivation to any extent for the sake of their fruits. 

 There still remain a few species whose fruits, in the 

 wild state, are sufficiently palatable to attract the 

 experimenter, and which should be mentioned in this 

 narrative. 



Sand plum. The Sand plum of Nebraska and cen- 

 tral Kansas is the most important of the plums 

 which we have not yet discussed. So recently has 

 this plum come to be known that it has never had a 

 specific name until Professor Sargent described it as 

 Prunus Watsoni, four years ago ("Garden and Forest," 

 vii. 134). It is a compact -growing bush of three or 

 four feet in height, bearing a profusion of small, red- 

 dish, juicy fruits (Fig. 35). The inhabitants of those 

 parts of the West where this plum is native collect 

 the better forms in large quantities for domestic con- 

 sumption, and even sell the fruits in the towns. The 

 plant is also occasionally transplanted to gardens. 

 "The hardiness of Prunus Watsoni in regions of 

 extreme cold," writes Sargent, "its compact, dwarf 

 habit, abundant flowers and handsome fruit, make it 



