1376 PLUM 



removing the pit. In most of the varieties of Plums 

 there occurs a fermentation around the pit in the pro- 

 cess of drying, which prevents their being successfully 

 dried without its removal; these are known as "Plums." 

 The prune varieties are, however, much sweeter and 

 contain less acid ; but the main distinction is in their 

 adaptability of drying whole. As California has to find 

 distant markets for most of her immense fruit crops, it 

 follows, then, that by far the greater portion of her 

 Plum areas are devoted to the production of prunes. 

 Some pitted dried Plums have been prepared, but the 

 small favor with which they have been received does 

 not warrant the extra expense and labor of pitting. 

 Some varieties are canned, and marketed in that way; 

 but by far the greater portion of the real Plum product 

 is marketed in the fresh (not canned) state both in local 

 and distant cities. See Prune. 



The Plum has an exceedingly wide range in Califor- 

 nia. It is not limited to any particular region of the 

 state, but is thrifty and healthy on the immediate coast, 

 in the interior and coast valleys and well up into the 

 foothills. This is perhaps most strikingly shown by 

 the fact that every county in the state, except two, per- 

 haps (one being the city of San Francisco), contains 

 Plum or |.riiii.- i.nh;ir.l-;. .ir botli. Wljiii it is considered 

 that this fox ir^ an ar.a nf iitarly 1 ilnjiiio square niiles, 

 extendiim' i1iimu;,-1i ',|' , .l.'-i-.c-! ..f latiiude, a fair esti- 

 mate of tin- ailaptaMilty .if thU tiaiit I., varyiiis; condi- 

 tions of soil and climate will In- ..l.i iin ■!, P.. ■ In.c.sing 



varieties ripening 

 season maybe extended from ^]■.\\ i b It is 



not surprising, then, that the acr'a_' '1- . .i.M ; ^ riums 

 and prunes is one of the largest iu iht .>iau . ;. .ulijug a 

 total of nearly 55,000 acres, an aggregate of nearly 

 6,000,000 trees, of which about seven-eighths are prunes. 

 Alameda county leads in the acreage of Plums with 

 2,000 acres and Santa Clara in prunes with 8,000 acres. 

 This great industry has developed since the discovery of 

 gold. The early Mission plantings (1769-182:!) included 

 varieties of European Plums, a few of which were able 

 to survive after the abandonment of the Missions in 1834 



Ij r es b ickers O r t 



i 1 r a grow an 1 i rk te 1 



sstl 1 t sl8 The tro 1 ct 



cf r lates 1 ack to 18ol 



wl wer bro gl t to tl e 



sta n where lea d 1 s 



Iro I 184 Prorto tl 



intr 1 1 w tl 



Iru t t f re 



that the I ee 1 t I 1 1 as 



1 ot at fir t felt ) e c tl e a 1 to 



tne production ot tne superior 1 1 1 1 [ : . i . , i ; , : i . s was 

 not recognized until some years hU', i. 11;' lu -t impor- 

 tation of prune cions from France by tlic U. S. Patent 

 Office in 1854 did not reach California. It was not until 

 two years later that Pierre Pellier brought with him to 



PLUM 



San Francisco a small package of cions from the fa- 

 mous prune district of Agen, in France. Notwithstand- 

 ing their long, perilous journey, tin- | r.r;,,,; i liHi^^M 



arrived in fairly good condition and «> t. ,: ^, 



Pellier's brother, Louis, who had :ih • : -i a 



nursery and fruit garden in the .Sai,i,. < .<i.^ y, 



upon a portion of the site of the (n. »ciii i ii) oi .San 

 Jos6. From these cuttings a number uf trees were pro- 

 duced which succeeded admirably, and eventually were 

 distributed through different sections of the state, but 

 principally in the Santa I'lani valhy, which to this day 

 remains the center of i h,' ( iil i f, .m i:, |,r im.. unlustry. In 



1863 the first Calif.. 1 _ : |. nines were 



exhibited at the SI, I. ! - ,,, hut it was 



not until 1870 that i i _ . .. .i r. lal scale was 



begun. Through tl.. ■ .n:: ual especially after 



1878,numerousor<.li . n . until in 1881 some 



of the larger grow. I : .mic between five and 



six tons of cured fi.,... ~ --I the growth of the 



yriiii.- in.liistrv has h, , n lu.u . t l.uis, until now there are 

 L'l.. 1. r. ..vi, ,-. inuual products reach hundreds of tons. 

 T'l . ..f the state was over 125,000.000 pounds 



in : ' I I . .nv young trees not yet in bearing. In 



Isss III, I Mii.,| States imported 83,000,000 pounds of 

 Plums anil prunes. Since that time the importations 

 have steadily declined until at present they are less than 

 800,000 pounds. The home product, the greater part of 

 which, it is safe to say, comes from California, is thus 

 gradually replacing the foreign-grown article. 



Considerable difficulty was at first encountered in 

 the selection of the proper grafting stocks. Naturally 

 the native species were the first to suggest themselves 

 and were used to some extent. But they were soon found 

 to be unsatisfactory, mainly on account of their persist- 

 ent habit of suckering, and dwarfing effect. The oso- 

 berry, or False Plum, has also been used: it also dwarfs 

 the trees and causes earlier ripening of the fruit. Many 

 other American varieties hav,- 1,.-. n trii-d as i.-rafiiTig 

 stocks, but the persistent root .-uii inic i,f',n-lii al.out hy 

 the necessary summer cultivaii.,ii in iliis ^tair .ansrs 

 such heavy suckering that tiny hav.- lien ahaniloncii. 

 Peach, apricot and almond roots and suckers ot the 

 Mission Prune and Damson were used, but consider- 

 able difficulty was again encountered. The peach has 

 proved the best. The apricot and almond can only be 

 used in special cases, and double-working is almost 

 always necessary; for, although some Plums "take" 

 and grow on these stocks, the union is frequently im- 

 perfect, and instances are on record where the trees 

 have broken off at the graft after reaching the bearing 

 stage. The introduction of the Myrobalan or French 

 cherry-plum {Prunns cerasifera) and its adoption as a 

 grafting stock for Plums and prunes have greatly sim- 

 plified matters for the California orchardist. It does not 

 sucker, and experience has shown that in California it 

 succeeds in low, moist lands, in comparatively dry soils 

 and in stiff upland clay soils. It thus has become the all- 

 round Plum stock in California; despite the dwarfing 

 habit attrihiif,,! 1,, it J,y -,inn', it has proved sufficiently 

 free-groHii . i :, (o suit all purposes, and to 



form a i: , full standard trees. Ondeep, 



mellow I. lai,, ,,,,-, -|,. .,, illy adapted to the peach, that 

 root is still prtfi 111,1 f.u- I'lum stock; but many varie- 

 ties, e.g., the Columbia, Yellow Egg and the Washing- 

 ton, do not unite well with it, and cannot, therefore, be 

 worked directly upon it. This is equallv true of the 

 a 1 T\hch s cd n I r r "r ck f I II 



Is ai 1 tl e deei 1 gl t ex 



ult 



Fellenl erg pn ne ha e 



I erg pn 



f propagat ng tl e M 1 I fr c tt ng or 



seeas. ii is sam xnai me roois irora a cuitmg, oe- 

 ing fibrous and coming from one point, cannot form 

 a proper system for the support of the tree, though 

 some old orchards worked on cutting roots are still 

 thrifty. It must be admitted that the seedling gives a 



