Improvement of the Native Plum. 141 



once. Let this be repeated, and who doubts the result ? I have been for 

 several years raising seedlings from wild fruits, and particularly from the 

 plum ; and think I have made some progress. By way of encouraging the 

 thing, I propose exchanging seeds with any and all who may send me seeds 

 of the best plums and other wild fruits to be found in their vicinity. I 

 will record their names, and thus form a society for the improvement of all 

 our native fruits. 



A more certain means of improvement, but requiring greater skill and 

 nicety, is by the artificial production of hybrids, or crosses, between our 

 native and the foreign species. It may be said that cannot be done. It 

 was believed for a long time that the native and foreign grapes could not 

 be crossed. It has been accomplished, however, and has shown almost to 

 a certainty that the road to success is open ; and, if it can be accomplished, 

 we may exjDCct grand results. Let it be tried. I have made but one effort 

 at crossing, and that was between a variety of the Chickasaw (Newman) 

 and the Cherry Plum, or Myrobalan, the latter considered not a native ; 

 which I think is a mistake. I have a hybrid tree of this cross, now four 

 years old, that bore a few plums last year ; which is a vast improvement. 



Europe, and the Old World whence came our present cultivated fruits, 

 had no fruits naturally so good as some varieties of our wild plum ; and 

 what it took them centuries to accomplish, we, by taking advantage of 

 their experience, may do in a generation, or less time. One generation 

 ago, our wild grapes were considered of little value, and were scarcely 

 planted at all. It is not so now. The excellence attained by them is only 

 an incentive to the same efforts with other wild fruits. 



The following list embraces all of the varieties of native plums, so far 

 as I can learn, that are considered of sufficient value for cultivation : — 



The Chickasaw Plum. — This is a native of the Southern States, and 

 abounds in Arkansas and Texas as a shrub four to five feet high. In 

 Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee, the tree grows to the height of fifteen 

 feet. It is not found wild north of Tennessee. The fruit is generally 

 about the size of a partridge-egg ; varies in color from a deep red to a pale 

 yellow ; pulp yellow : when ripe, the flesh next to the skin is sweet and 

 well flavored, but, next to the stone, is very acid. The red varieties are the 

 best. The cut is a fair representation of the wood, leaf, and fruit. The 



