ON THE PLUM 



All of this, as I say, was observed from the 

 outset when I came to California, just as many 

 another man had observed it. Indeed these things 

 are too patent to escape notice. But, unlike many 

 others, I was impelled to inquire whether some 

 useful application might not be made of the ob- 

 served influence of the California climate on 

 immigrant plants. 



THE PRESCRIPTION APPLIED TO PLANTS 



In following up this idea I was led to apply to 

 a vast coterie of plants the prescription which has 

 become so popular with the present day physician 

 in the treatment of his patients. 



"Take a rest, and find a complete change of 

 climate. Go to California and stay there," was 

 the modified form of the prescription as I gave it 

 to the plants of the remotest regions of the globe 

 to which I could send word. 



And the result of the carrying out of this pre- 

 scription will require some volumes in the telling. 

 For the plants that came to me in response have 

 furnished the chief material out of which a large 

 proportion of my developments of new fruits, 

 grains, grasses, vegetables and flowers have grown. 



Perhaps foremost in the list of immigrant 

 plants that have had a large share in my life work 

 must be named a little company of plum seedlings 

 that came to me at the very beginning of the period 



[9] 



