2O THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



was much grown in this country until toward the end of the Eighteenth 

 Century. Certainly during the first two centuries of colonization in the 

 New World there were no such plum plantations as there were of 

 the apple, pear and cherry. Among the first importations of plums were 

 those made by the French in Canada, more particularly in Nova Scotia, 

 Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and in favored situations such as the 

 L' Islet County and the Island of Montreal bordering and in the St. Law- 

 rence River. 



Peter Kalm in his Travels into North America in 1771 records the 

 culture of plums as far north as Quebec with the statement that " Plum 

 trees of different sorts brought over from France succeed very well here," 

 adding further, " The winters do not hurt them." ' There are other records 

 to show that the French, always distinguished for their horticultural tastes, 

 if not the first to grow this fruit in America, at least began its culture at 

 a very early date. 



In the voyages undertaken for exploration and commerce soon after 

 the discovery of America by Columbus the peach was introduced in Amer- 

 ica by the Spanish ; for soon after permanent settlement had been made 

 in the South the settlers found this fruit in widespread cultivation by 

 the Indians and its origin could only be traced to the Spaniards who 

 early visited Florida and the Gulf region. William Penn wrote as early 

 as 1683 that there were very good peaches in Pennsylvania; "not an 

 Indian plantation was without them." * The abundance of this fruit was 

 noted by all the early travelers in the region from Pennsylvania south- 

 ward and westward but though the wild plums are often mentioned there 

 are no records of cultivated plums until the' colonies had long been 

 established. 



In Massachusetts some plums were planted by the Pilgrims, for Francis 

 Higginson, writing in 1629, says: " Our Governor hath already planted 

 a vineyard with great hope of increase. Also mulberries, plums, raspber- 

 ries, corrance, chestnuts, filberts, walnuts, smalnuts, hurtleberries." 3 The 

 plums were Damsons, as a statement is made a little later that the " Red 

 Kentish is the only cherry and the Damson the only plum cultivated." 

 A further reference to this plum is made by John Josselyn, when, writing 

 of a voyage to New England in 1663, he says, " The Quinces, Cherries, 



1 Kalm, Peter Travels into North America 3:240. 1771. 

 * Watson's Annals of Philadelphia 1:17. 1844. 

 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, ist Ser. 1:118. 



