ORIENTAL PLUMS 13 



often soft and watery, quite lacking shipping 



quality. 



IN THE MELTING POT 



Obviously, then, the plums of each country 

 offer certain good qualities and present certain 

 defects. 



To take the characteristics from the plums of 

 each country and combine them in different 

 varieties; to eliminate the faults as far as pos- 

 sible; to select and test the best among the 

 millions of seedlings produced from the various 

 combinations; to redistribute these fruits when 

 produced and thoroughly tested, sending them 

 back greatly improved, their good qualities re- 

 tained and others added this has been the work 

 of the last forty years in the attempt to produce 

 an ideal plum. 



Having for working material plums in which 

 different combinations of qualities have been 

 developed for the most part unconsciously from 

 different races, our task was a consciously 

 scientific selection. 



We must strive to produce, in a few decades, 

 changes comparable to those that had been 

 wrought in the course of centuries through un- 

 conscious selection by many peoples under 

 widely diversified climates and conditions. Con- 

 scious systematic selection was to amalgamate 



