ON THE PLUM 



Mr. Bunting complied with my request, but, 

 vastly to my disappointment, the first lot of young 

 trees he shipped to me arrived (Nov. 5, 1884) 

 in such condition that I despaired of doing any- 

 thing with them. I immediately sent a request 

 for another shipment, and gave definite instruc- 

 tions as to packing. 



A little over a year later, on Dec. 20, 1885, there 

 arrived the twelve seedlings to which I have al- 

 ready referred. And this time, to my great sat- 

 isfaction, the tiny trees w r ere found in good 

 condition. 



A few days after these seedlings were received, 

 I purchased the Gold Ridge Farm at Sebastopol, 

 eight miles from my Santa Rosa place, and here 

 as soon as they were large enough, cions from 

 the twelve little strangers were grafted on to 

 older trees and thus brought early to maturity. 



One of them bore fruit the following summer 

 and the others in the course of one or two suc- 

 ceeding seasons. 



And so well had the little immigrants re- 

 sponded to the stimulus of new surroundings that 

 each one of them revealed, I make no doubt, the 

 very fullest possibilities of its heritage. More 

 than that of course was impossible, but it may 

 well be doubted whether any one of the com- 

 pany would have produced fruit quite of the same 



[15] 



