136 LUTHER BURBANK 



It appears that some at least of the European 

 plums originated in southwestern Asia. At all 

 events, a plum that is thought to represent the 

 original wild form has been found growing in 

 the region about the Caucasus Mountains and 

 the Caspian Sea. 



It is known that the plum was one of the 

 fruits and the dried prune a staple food of the 

 Huns, Turks, Mongols, and Tartars, who main- 

 tained in this region a crude horticulture from 

 a very early period. Here, even at the present 

 time, plums are commonly grown and prunes 

 are an article of trade. 



The European plums have many unusually 

 good qualities, including strong, vigorous, pro- 

 ductive, hardy, upright trees with strong wood 

 and branches capable of carrying heavy loads of 

 fruit. Furthermore, they are not much subject 

 to disease. 



The fruit is not used so much for shipping long 

 distances when fresh as some of my new Japa- 

 nese hybrid plums. Some of the newer seedlings, 

 however, such as the Splendor, Giant, Sugar, and 

 Standard bear fruit which is shipped fresh in 

 large quantities from California to New York 

 and by sea to foreign countries every season. 



For the most part the consumers of the large 

 cities do not know that the big, sweet, luscious 



