PROCEEDINGS OF TWENTY-SIXTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 29 



the fruit-growers, must be the ever open doors through which the 

 products of our orchards shall be borne in a steady but well-regulated 

 stream into every market of the world. All of this can be done by a 

 combination of all, with small cost to any. It can not be successfully 

 accomplished without combination. 



The address of Mr. Naftzger was received and placed on file. 



OUTLOOK FOE THE PEUNE mDUSTEY. 



By WILLIAM H. AIKEN, of Wrights. 



From the standpoint of a prune-grower of twenty-five years' expe- 

 rience I can say that the outlook for the prune industry is good, with 

 prospects of improvement. Let us first look back to the origin of the 

 industry in Europe and trace its growth and development, so as to 

 better understand its present importance and future prospects. 



A thousand years ago, on their return from the Crusades, the Bene- 

 dictine monks are said to have brought with them from Turkey or 

 Persia what was then known as a date plum, and planted it in the 

 garden of their abbey on the River Lot, in the vicinity of Bordeaux, 

 France. Fortunately the soil and climate at that place were well 

 adapted to the successful growth and fruitage of the tree, and fortu- 

 nately, too, no other people of that time were as interested and skilled 

 in the care and culture of fruits and flowers as the monks. From their 

 abbey garden the trees were slowly transplanted to others, until in the 

 course of centuries fruit gardens have dotted the hillsides and valleys 

 of that part of France. True to its origin it has remained a garden 

 tree, for there are, even to-day, no orchards in a commercial sense in 

 Europe- The fruit became known in trade as Prune D'Ente, or Agen, 

 the prune of commerce, and is the California French prune. 



European Methods. — The European methods of growing, curing, 

 and marketing prunes are much the same as they have been for centu- 

 ries, and we think we have little of practical value to learn from them. 



The trees are grown in France upon the plum root, in light, sandy, 

 porous soils, rich in lime, but deficient in humus, and are trained high, 

 with round tops, so as to let the sunshine in upon the ground to mature 

 garden and field crops. 



The prunes, when ripe, fall to the ground, and are picked up two or 

 three times a week, and in wet weather every day. The fruit is placed 

 on trays without dipping or grading, and baked in ovens with a tempera- 

 ture of about 158° F. When properly cured or baked, the prunes are 

 offered in the market places and are bought by prune merchants, as 

 usual, at their own prices. 



