NEW PLUMS AND PRUNES IN 

 THE PROCESS OF MAKING 



SOME SUGGESTIONS ON WHICH OTHERS 

 MAY BUILD 



ON one occasion a well-known nurseryman 

 who had bought a large number of fruit 

 trees from me stopped before a tree in my 

 orchard and tasted the fruit with the air of an 

 expert. 



"That's the best plum I ever tasted," he said, 

 as he looked at the tree with admiring eyes. "At 

 last you have a perfect plum. It has just the 

 right amount of fruit on it; the taste is perfect! 

 Sell me that tree and I will make a fortune 

 from it." 



"It's not for sale," I was compelled to answer. 



Thinking I wanted a fancy price, he started 

 to figure what he could pay. 



I interrupted to tell him the faults of the fruit. 

 It could not be shipped; it would not bear with 

 any degree of certainty. He had chanced to see 

 the tree on the very day in the year when it was 



115 



