282 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



name has been given. Though lacking but a few years of having been in 

 the hands of civilization a century (the Indians from whom it appears 

 to have been taken had possibly cultivated it longer), Miner is still a standard 

 variety and while not the best of the group of which it is the type, it is one 

 of the best. This variety has the further distinction of being, after Wild 

 Goose, the parent of more cultivated offspring than any other of our native 

 plums and must be credited with having transmitted its characters, those 

 of the tree being especially good, to a high degree. Miner is one of the 

 parents of more than two score of named native plums in nearly all of which 

 the resemblances to each other and to the parent are very marked. The 

 variety is not grown, so far as is known, in New York and the trees on 

 the grounds of this Station not being in bearing, it was impossible to illus- 

 trate the fruit in The Plums of New York though to do so was greatly 

 desired. In the Middle West, Miner is probably as widely disseminated 

 and as largely grown as any other plum, being particularly adapted 

 to the northern limits of the cultivation of its species. The tree of this 

 variety is robust, healthy, probably better in habit of growth for orchard 

 management than any other of the native plums, and usually productive. 

 The fruits are good in quality, attractive in appearance, comparatively 

 curculio-proof and are especially suited for culinary uses. The variety 

 is unproductive unless cross-fertilized. 



Several accounts are given of the origin of Miner, none of which can 

 be accurately verified at this late date. When all of the data is compared 

 and that which is reliable is put together, the history of the variety runs 

 about as follows: In 1813 William Dodd, an officer under General Jackson, 

 found this plum growing in a Chicasaw Indian plantation at a place called 

 Horse Shoe Bend, on the Tallapoosa River, Alabama. The plums were 

 so attractive in size and excellent in quality that he saved seeds of the 

 variety and in 1814 planted them in Knox County, Tennessee. When 

 the trees came in bearing and their merits were discovered, the new plum 

 was at once in demand and was rather widely distributed in Knox and 

 neighboring counties under the names " Old Hickory " and " General 

 Jackson." In 1823 or 1824, Dodd moved to Springfield, Illinois, taking 

 sprouts of this plum with him. Dodd's young trees did not thrive and he 

 asked a brother in Tennessee who was moving to Illinois, to bring more 

 sprouts of the new plum. The brother, instead of going to Springfield, 

 went to Galena, Illinois, taking with him the sprouts of Old Hickory. 

 These fell into the hands of Judge Hinckley, who distributed them among 



