PLUMS AND PRUNES 
and has been asked to take his knife and cut 
one of the plums in two. The surprise then 
shown, sometimes deepening into an apparent 
distrust of their own senses, has been one of 
the most delightful and one of the most prized 
compliments Mr. Burbank has ever received. 
There are two main lines in plum life as 
known in the fruit-growing regions of this 
country, one leading to the plum proper, the 
other to the prune. Mr. Burbank gives this 
definition, which has been adopted as practi- 
cally covering the ground: “Any plum which 
will dry in the sun without spoiling is 
a prune.” 
The reason why the plums which thus 
become prunes take on this dried shape is 
because of their large sugar-content, which 
enables them, like raisins, to preserve them- 
selves, as one might say, in their own sugar. 
The object of Mr. Burbank has been not only 
to make prunes which are larger in size than 
the old ones, but which are relatively richer in 
the amount of sweetness. 
The prune has become one of the important 
items in the dietary of the nations, perhaps 
even more highly appreciated abroad. The 
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