CALIFORNIA PRUNE INDUSTRY. 
By B. M. LELONG, 
Secretary of the State Board of Horticulture, and ex officio Chief Horticultural Officer. 
HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE PRUNE. 
The name “prune” is derived from the Latin prunum, a plum, and 
in its generally accepted designation is applied to those special varie- 
ties of the plum family that possess exceptional curing qualities, of firm 
texture, easily dried whole in the sun, or artificially, without fermenting 
at the pit. These varieties form the prune of commerce, and it is of 
those that the present paper will treat, although in the matter of soil, 
climate, methods of cultivation, etc., there is little difference in the 
propagation of the various members of the plum family, and the treat- 
ment adapted to one is usually applicable to all.. 
According to Theophrastus, the prune was cultivated in Asia Minor 
in most remote ages. Pliny speaks of its cultivation by the Romans, 
and makes mention of eleven varieties proceeding from the domestic 
prune introduced into Italy by Caton, the ancient. It grew without 
cultivation in the environs of Damascus, and a very rustic and vigorous 
variety, known as the Black Damascus, is much used by the nursery- 
men of Europe as subject for grafting all other varieties. The introduc- 
tion of the prune into France is attributed to the Crusaders. If tradition 
is correct, this valuable fruit was first cultivated in the southwest of 
France by the inmates of a convent near Clairac. In traveling from 
Aiguillon to Fumel, through the productive valley of the Lot, fertile 
plains are seen bordering the picturesque riversides, covered with plum 
trees, which furnish the famous prunes d’Ente and Robe de Sergent, 
which are exported to the remotest corner of the commercial world. 
This valuable tree, which loves a temperate climate, does not confine 
itself to this special section of France, but is profitably cultivated where- 
ever climatic and soil conditions are favorable to its growth, as is dem- 
onstrated by its extensive cultivation in the valley of the Loire, the 
departments of Garonne, Tarne, Dordogne, and Aveyron. The well 
known brand called Tours prunes comes from the orchards of the Loire. 
INTRODUCTION INTO CALIFORNIA. 
It is to France that California is indebted for this healthful and profit- 
able fruit. Louis Pellier, a French sailor, who had visited many parts 
of the world, arrived in San Francisco in 1849, and went to work in the 
mines in Trinity County. He did not succeed well there, and finally 
removed to San José early in the fifties. Here he established a nursery. 
He soon after induced his brother Pierre, whom he had left in France, 
to join him in California, and the two brothers worked the nursery to- 
gether until the spring of 1856, when Pierre returned to France in order 
