ON NEW PLUMS AND PRUNES 



chance seedlings in the gardens of the first 

 settlers. 



It appears that some at least of the European 

 plums originated in southwestern Asia. At all 

 events, a plum that is thought to represent the 

 original wild form has been found growing in the 

 region about the Caucasus Mountains and the 

 Caspian Sea. 



It is known that the plum was one of the fruits 

 and the dried prune a staple food of the Huns, 

 Turks, Mongols, and Tartars, who maintained in 

 this region a crude horticulture from a very early 

 period. Here, even at the present time, plums are 

 commonly grow r n and prunes are an article of 

 trade. 



The European plums have many unusually 

 good qualities, including strong, vigorous, pro- 

 ductive, hardy, upright trees with strong wood 

 and branches capable of carrying heavy loads of 

 fruit. Furthermore, they are not much subject 

 to disease. 



The fruit is not used so much for shipping 

 long distances when fresh as some of the new 

 Japanese hybrid plums. Some of the newer seed- 

 lings, how r ever, such as the Splendor, Giant, Sugar, 

 and Standard bear fruit which is shipped fresh in 

 large quantities from California to New York and 

 by sea to foreign countries every season. 



[219] 



