CALIFORNIA FRUITS: HOW TO GROW THEM 



Grafting the Plum. The plum has been grafted and regrafted 

 in the constant effort to secure varieties promising superiority in 

 various directions. Within the scope of their affinities plums graft 

 easily by common top-grafting methods, and if the roots are strong 

 the new growth is so rapid as to need special attention. Mr. Luther 

 Bowers gives these hints about pruning such growths : "From prac- 

 tical experience I have found out that the Sugar prune wood should 

 only be summer-pruned and only cut while the shoots are tender, 

 or so soft that the top can be pinched out ; this will cause the top 

 to be well branched and this should be done at least twice during 

 the first year of the graft. This system will avoid long, slender 

 limbs. After a graft is two years old I would never cut the top off 

 of a limb. If a tree gets too thick a top, I would cut out some of the 

 main branches." 



THE PLUMCOTS 



One of the most striking achievements of Mr. Burbank is the 

 cross of the plum and the apricot, which he has very fitly named 

 the "plumcot." The fruit is about the size of an ordinary apricot 

 with a deep purple velvety skin. One of its striking features is the 

 brilliant red flesh possessed of a strong sub-acid flavor rendering it 

 suitable for cooking, jellies and jams, and it is in good demand for 

 such uses, but its economic value is still to be determined. Several 

 named varieties are now supplied by nurserymen. 



HOW A PRUNE QUEST DISTURBED THE PLUM 

 FAMILY IN CALIFORNIA 



Referring to the distinction between plums and prunes cited at 

 the opening of this chapter, and to the extent and methods of the 

 great prune industry of the State which will appear in Chapter XL, 

 it may be stated here that the California prune product was obvi- 

 ously undertaken in emulation of the globe-trotting French prune, 

 which had attained position as the leading commercial dried fruit 

 of the world long before California arose on the horticultural hori- 

 zon. Naturally, French settlers in California bethought themselves 

 of transplanting this great industry to their new home, and Mr. 

 Louis Pellier introduced scions from the district of Agen to his 

 place near San Jose in 1856. The product was good, and planting for 

 a large output was entered upon, though slowly at first. There was 

 disappointment over the fact that, while all fruits came surprisingly 

 large in California, the dried prunes were smaller than the great 

 French prunes in cartons and canisters which sold for great prices. 

 Had we secured the true French prune; did they not have larger 

 ones which they were holding back from us? This was the great 

 question of six decades ago. Some nurserymen of that day had 

 spirits of enterprise larger than their consciences. If the people 

 demand larger prunes they must have them, surely. Because of 

 the small average size of the prunes of Pellier's introduction, they 

 christened that variety "petite prune d'Agen," which was subse- 

 quently corrupted into "petty prune" a free translation and a 



