NEW PLUMS AND PRUNES 141 



hard flesh, purplish-red skin, and a small 

 stone. 



The fruit is sometimes eatable, and sometimes 

 classed as good when grown in the hot, dry cli- 

 mates of the interior valleys of California. Its 

 merits and defects were outlined in an earlier 

 chapter. Here I will only add that it is by no 

 means necessary to have a perfect fruit to begin 

 your experiment. I have in many cases devel- 

 oped the very best of new fruits from two nearly 

 worthless ones. 



In selecting the Simon plum for these experi- 

 ments, its value for plant improvement was con- 

 sidered and not its value as a market plum. 



As a result of its use, its small stone, delight- 

 ful aroma, and desirable tree characters have 

 been imparted to a new race of plums, several of 

 which have already added millions of crates a 

 year to the shipments of the principal plum- 

 growing sections. 



Others even more promising are still in the 

 test orchard awaiting final approval. 



Such, then, are the materials that have been 

 utilized in the development of new fruits. The 

 native plums of the Middle West, the worthless 

 wild plums of the bleak coast of Labrador, the 

 plums of the Pacific slope ; those which our fore- 

 fathers brought from Europe ; a worthless, wild, 



