A BACKWARD GLANCE 
least into the environment of the California plum. 
“The railroad became a factor in plum im- 
provement by bringing millions of plum-hungry 
easterners within reach—by affording quick and 
economical shipping facilities where there had 
been no shipping facilities at all before. 
“Much as the time of transcontinental travel was 
reduced, the backyard plum could not withstand 
the journey. But with an eager market as an 
incentive, made possible through the railroad, 
people began to select plums for shipment, until 
the plum graduated from its backyard environ- 
ment and became the basis of a thriving industry. 
The railroad, by bringing customers within reach 
of those who had plums which would stand 
shipment, and charging as much to ship poor 
plums as good plums, encouraged selection not 
only for shipping plums, but toward a better and 
better quality of fruit which, without doubt, in 
the absence of the market which the railroad 
provided, would never have been produced. 
“Thus we see three important stages in the 
transformation of the plum. 
“First, the wild era. 
“Second, the backyard era. 
“Third, the railroad era.” 
* * * * * 
When we stop to think of it, all of the great 
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