THE SUGAR PRUNE 143 



without this final touch the prune is a failure, 

 even though it grows to seeming perfection on 

 the tree. 



The intrinsic qualities, in addition to perfection 

 of skin, that I aimed at from the outset, were 

 large size, increased production of sugar, and 

 early ripening. 



The matter of size is doubly important because 

 this largely determines the price that a prune 

 brings in the market. The sugar content is ob- 

 viously important because upon this chiefly de- 

 pends the drying quality of the fruit. And the 

 matter of early ripening is at least as essential as 

 any other quality, because the prune is dried in 

 the sun, and the fruit that ripens late in the season^ 

 not only often lacks sunshine to complete the 

 process, but may be absolutely ruined by the rains 

 which begin to fall in the early autumn. 



How I ACHIEVED SUCCESS 



When I began the quest of a perfect prune, in 

 the year 1879, it at once occurred to me that 

 something might be accomplished by hybridizing 

 the French prune with another variety known as 

 the English Pond's seedling but usually called in 

 California the Hungarian prune. This was a 

 large and handsome fruit, while the French 

 prune brought to the combination the qualities of 



