LUTHER BURBANK 



of the European plums are: wide diversity as to 

 colors, qualities, and flavors, and adaptability to 

 a wide range of climate. 



The faults of the European plums are these: 

 the stone is quite generally too large for the size 

 of the fruit; the fruit itself in most cases is too 

 juicy sometimes absolutely watery and there is 

 a wide range of textures to be avoided, including 

 stringiness, brittleness, and sponginess. More- 

 over, large size and exquisite quality are seldom 

 combined. The green gage, the standard of ex- 

 cellence among the hardier European plums, is 

 quite small, and the tree is unproductive. And 

 the large European plums are quite often lack- 

 ing in texture and flavor. 



Size and quality are not correlatives in the 

 case of these plums. 



It must be especially noted, however, that it 

 is the European plum, in some of its varieties, 

 that has the qualities of large sugar production 

 that permits it to dry readily in the sun without 

 fermentation. This variety of plum, known as 

 the prune, has been the means of building up a 

 great world industry. At the moment, however, 

 we are chiefly concerned with the plums in gen- 

 eral rather than with this particular race. 



There remain the American plums that is to 

 say the plums that were found growing in Amer- 



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