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JOURXAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
NOTES OX THE PRUNE, PRINXIPALLY FROM A, 
CALIFORXIAN POINT OF VIEW. 
By Mr. Sidney C. Lamb, F.R.H.S. 
Introduction of the Industry to America. 
Although the name " Prune " is a merely Anglicised form of the Latin 
word prunus, a plum, the name is generally accepted as applying only to 
those special varieties of the Plum family which are of firm texture, 
possess exceptional curing quaUties, and are easily dried whole in the sun 
or artificially without fermenting at the pit. Such varieties only of the 
Plum form the Prune of commerce, and it is of these that the present 
paper treats, although in the matter of soil, climate, method of cultiva- 
tion, Jtc, there is little difference in the propagation of the various 
members of the Plum family : the treatment adapted to one is usually 
applicable to all. 
According to Theophrastus, the Prune was cultivated in Asia Minor 
in remote ages. Pliny speaks of its cultivation by the Romans, and 
makes mention of eleven varieties originating from the domestic Prune 
introduced into Italy by the elder Cato. It grew without cultivation in 
the environs of Damascus, and a very rustic and vigorous variety known 
as the 'Black Damascus' is still much used by nurserymen in Europe for 
grafting other varieties upon. 
The introduction of the Prune into France is attributed to the 
Crusaders. If tradition be correct, it was first cultivated in the south- 
west of France, at a convent near CTairac. In travelling from Aiguillon 
to Fumel, through the productive valley of the Lot, fertile plains are 
seen, bordering the picturesque river-sides, covered with Plum trees which 
furnish the famous 'Prunes d'Ente ' and ' Robe-de-Sergent,' which are 
exported to the remotest corners of the world. It is also extensively 
cultivated in the valley of the Loire, and the departments of the Ciironde, 
Tarne, Dordogne, and Aveyron. The well-known brand called Tours 
Prunes comes from the orchards of the Loire. 
It is to France that California is indebted for this wholesome and 
profitable fruit. According to De Moines, Louis Pellier, a French sailor 
who had visited many ports of the world, arrived in 1849 at San 
Francisco, and went to work in the mines in Trinity County. He did 
not succeed there, and so, early in the fifties, removed to San Jose, where 
he established a nursery, and soon after induced his brother Pierre to 
come out and join him in California. The two brothers worked the 
nursery together until the spring of 1856, when Pierre returned to France 
to get married. Combining business with matrimony, he secured a large 
number of cuttings of Prunes, Grapes, and other fruits, which he brought 
back with him. His bride and his brother Jean accompanied him, and, 
together with the box of precious cuttings, they crossed the Isthmus of 
Pariama and arrived at San Francisco in December 1s.j6. The Prune 
cuttings were procured from Ville Xeuve d'Agen, whence the common 
Californian Prune derives its name of • Petite Prune d'Agen.' They were 
carefully packed in a box about Id iji. ^vide and 4 ft. lonu". which was 
