424 THE SURVIVAL OP THE UNLIKE. [XXVI. 



first brought to notice by James Harvey, of Co- 

 lumbia, Tenn. Some time before 1850 a man shot 

 a wild goose near Columbia, and on the spot where 

 the carcass was thrown this plum came up the follow- 

 ing spring. It was introduced about 1850 by the late 

 J. S. Downer, of Fairview, Ky. The other native 

 plum mentioned by Downing — the Newman, and 

 which is still popular — originated in Kentucky, so far 

 as we can learn. Here, then, are three leading native 

 plums coming from the same geographical region. If 

 we examine their botanical features we find that they 

 are markedly different from each other ; so different, 

 in fact, that the first person who attempted any scien- 

 tific study of them three years ago, referred two of 

 them to two species and the third to a well marked 

 botanical variety ; and one species and the variety 

 were founded for the express purpose of receiving 

 two of the varieties — the Wild Goose and the Miner. 

 But the strange fact is that these two botanical types 

 are not certainly known in a wild state, although the 

 geegraphical origin of the cultivated forms is well 

 known. There are many varieties with the same 

 botanical features now in cultivation, and nearly all 

 of them have been picked up as wild plants in some 

 portion of the southern Mississippi Valley. The wild 

 species, therefore, cannot be rare. Have the varieties 

 been modified by cultivation so that they are rot 

 recognized as identical with the wild plums known to 

 botanists ? Or, may they be hybrids? Or, is it 

 possible that the botanists have been less alert 'than 

 the horticulturists, and are not yet well acquainted 

 with our wild plums ? The first two conclusions 

 are the most tenable ones ; but the fact nevertheless 



