1 8 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



prune. Some of these Bokharan prunes were transplanted a long time ago 

 to Trans-Caucasia and were especially cultivated in the ancient city and 

 residence of the Ruler of the modern Elizabethpol. Unfortunately the 

 cultivation is less now than in earlier times. A further spread toward the 

 west and toward Europe, I have not been able to follow. In Greece, the 

 prunes are even to-day an unknown fruit." 



At about the time Pliny wrote, or somewhat before, communication 

 had been opened between the Romans and the countries about the Caspian 

 Sea, and a few centuries later the devastating hordes of Asiatics came 

 westward and for several centuries continued to pour into eastern Europe. 

 What more probable than that they should have carried dried prunes as 

 an article of food in the invasions, and eventually, as they made settlements 

 here and there, have introduced the trees in Europe. It is certain, at any 

 rate, as we shall see, that several of the groups of cultivated plums trace back 

 to the Balkan countries of Europe and the region eastward. There, now 

 as then, the plum is a standard fruit and prune-making a great industry. 



The plum when first known in Europe, as described by Pliny and other 

 early writers, seems to have been a large and well-flavored fruit, indicating 

 that it had been under cultivation for a long while. This, and the fact 

 that the fruit was not known by the earliest writers on agriculture, indicate 

 that the plum was not originally an inhabitant of southern Europe, as 

 some suppose. It is likely that the tree has escaped from cultivation 

 and become naturalized in the localities where it is now supposed to grow 

 wild. Prunus domestica has not been found wild nor under cultivation in 

 eastern Asia, so far as can be learned by the botanical and horticultural 

 explorers of China and nearby regions, Prunus triflora being the domesti- 

 cated plum of that part of the continent, though it may well be surmised 

 that some of the Domestica plums are cultivated in western China, a 

 region as yet but imperfectly explored for its plants. 



Having briefly sketched the origin of the Domestica plums in the 

 Old World we may now consider their history in the New World a more 

 satisfactory task, as data are abundant and reliable. 



The Domestica plums are valuable food-producing trees in America 

 but have not attained here the relative importance among fruits that 

 they hold in Europe. From the earliest records of fruit-growing in the 

 New World the plum has been grown less than the apple, pear, peach 

 or cherry, while in Europe it is a question if it does not rank first or second 

 among the tree-fruits. The comparatively restricted area which the 



