THE SUGAR PRUNE 137 



cross-fertilization to the bees, contenting himself 

 with keeping a sharp outlook for seedlings that 

 show desired combinations of traits. 



How diversified these traits may be in case of 

 a market fruit has been illustrated at some length 

 in the preceding chapter. In this respect, most 

 plums are at least as complex as the cherry, and 

 the requirements in the case of the "perfect" 

 prune are even more exacting. 



The word prune, it should perhaps be ex- 

 plained, is applied in California to any plum 

 that can be dried with the stone in place without 

 fermentation of the pulp. The quality that per- 

 mits such drying is largely dependent on the 

 amount of sugar that the fruit contains. There 

 are primes and prunes, as even the most unprac- 

 ticed observer must know, and there are grada- 

 tions of size, flavor, and sugar content that are 

 vastly important from the standpoint of the or- 

 chardist and by no means without interest from 

 the standpoint of the consumer. 



One of the tasks I early set myself was to pro- 

 duce a prune that should excel all others in the 

 qualities, singly and combined, that make for per- 

 fection in this valuable fruit, and there can now 

 be no doubt but that this end is fully accom- 

 plished, although I shall not say that my com- 

 plete ideal of a perfect prune has thus far been 



