THE PLUMS 151 



The Canada Plum 



P. nigra. y Ait. 



The Canada plum (see illustration, page 151) whose range 

 dips down into the northern tier of states, is so near hke the 

 previous species as to be called by Waugh a mere variety. 

 Its leaves are broad and large, and the flowers and fruit 

 larger. A peculiarity of blossoming time is that the 

 petals turn pink before they fall. This tree furnished the 

 settler with a relish for his hard fare, and the horticulturist 

 a hardy stock on which to graft scions of tenderer and better 

 varieties of plums. It is a tree well worth bringing in from 

 the woods to set in a bare fence-corner that will be beauti- 

 fied by the blossoms in spring, and in late summer by the 

 bright orange-colored fruit against the ruddy foliage. 



Exotic plums have greatly enriched our horticulture, 

 giving us fruits that vie with the peach in size and luscious- 

 ness. In New-England gardens, the damsons, green gages 

 and big red plums are imported varieties of the woolly 

 twigged, thick-leaved European, P. domestica, which re- 

 fused utterly to feel at home on its ow^n roots in the great 

 middle prairies of the country. These European plums 

 have found a congenial home in the mild climate of the 

 West Coast. 



Japan has furnished to the Middle West and South a 

 hardy, prolific species, P. triflora, generally immune to the 

 black knot, a fungous disease which attacks native plums. 

 Crosses between the Japanese and American native plums 

 promise well. California now ranks first in prune raising 

 as an industry, with France a close second. Prunes are the 

 dried fruit of certain sweet, fleshy kinds of plums. Many 



