A BACKWARD GLANCE 



least into the environment of the CaHfornia plum. 



"The railroad became a factor in plum im- 

 provement b}^ bringing millions of plum-hungry 

 easterners within reach — by affording quick and 

 economical shipping facilities where there had 

 been no shipping facilities at all before. 



"Much as the time of transcontinental travel was 

 reduced, the backyard plum could not withstand 

 the journey. But with an eager market as an 

 incentive, made possible through the railroad, 

 people began to select plums for shipment, until 

 the plum graduated from its backyard environ- 

 ment and became the basis of a thriving industry. 

 The railroad, by bringing customers within reach 

 of those who had plums which would stand 

 shipment, and charging as much to ship poor 

 plums as good plums, encouraged selection not 

 only for shipping plums, but toward a better and 

 better quality of fruit which, without doubt, in 

 the absence of the market which the railroad 

 provided, would never have been produced. 



"Thus we see three important stages in the 

 transformation of the plum. 



"First, the wild era. 



"Second, the backyard era. 



"Third, the railroad era." 



***** 



When we stop to think of it, all of the great 



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