p^AR'T 1^ c o ::v 1 > . 
KRUIX TREES. 
PRUNES. 
Since our place is so little suited to the raising of stone fruit trees, on account of 
the "gum " so prevalent in this part of the State, we have concluded to quit raising for 
market prune trees on a large scale, to be sold by the hundred or thousand; but having 
introduced new kinds of prunes, which we have promised to put on the market this 
season, we will say a few words on the subject. 
It was in investigating the introduction in this State of an inferior kind of prune, 
going under the imi>roper name of " Eobe Do Sergent," that we have procured the two 
new prunes which we are now ready to introduce. It was claimed by the introducers 
of this so-called Robe De Sergent, that the latter had been obtained from Transon 
Bros, in Orleans, France; therefore, some five years ago, we ordered from the aforesaid 
nurseries all the varieties of prunes kept and propagated by them, with the express 
request to surely include any prune labeled Robe De Sergent, if having any such one 
under that name in their collection. They didn't have, and never had, a prune so 
labeled, but they sent us for the Prune D'Agen (French Prune) what they called 
Quetche D'Agen, and which surely was not that famous prune, and also the " Quetche 
Sucree" among other sorts of quetches; that firm using the generic word of "quetche" 
for the English word of prune. 
So, through our investigations in regard to the Robe De Sergent, so-called, we ascer- 
tained first that that prune was never obtained, at least under that name, from Transon 
Bros.; second, that no prune was ever called Robe De Sergent (a name belonging for cen- 
turies to the Prune D'Ente, or French prune in its home, the valley of the Lot, in 
France), by said firm. That prune, wherever it came from, was called Robe De Sergent 
through ignorance or dishonesty, by its very introducers in California, or by the nursery 
from which it was obtained, and there is no getting out of it; and, in that way, we got 
hold of two prunes, one of them, the "Quetche Sucree," certainly new to California, and 
which we now introduce here for our people to further test their merits; and as we have 
but a few trees and scions of them, and we are desirous of having as many people as pos- 
sible to test these new kinds, we have concluded to distribute them in small lots of not 
more than one or two trees or a few scions to each party. 
Quetche Sucree (Sugiared Quetcli).— 
An entirely new kind of prune ; a vigorous 
grower and good bearer ; the leaves are of 
a dull bluish green, with nothing glossy 
about them, and a tree of that kind can be 
recognized at a glance among a hundred 
different sorts of prunes and plums. The 
fruit is large, of a long and tine oval shape, 
real blue with heavy bloom ; the skin is 
quite thin, and, in dipping, either the lye 
solution has to be made very weak, or else 
the prunes have to be taken out of it as 
quick as dipped ; it is the sweetest prune 
ever tasted by us ; it dries quite dark. 
Quetche D'Ageu.— The foliage, fruit and 
stone resemble very much the Robe de Ser- 
gent so-called, but we hiive doubts about 
it being identical lo the latter, for the 
Quetche D'Agen unites well on peach root, 
while the other prune does not, then it is 
more easy to cure and stands the lye solu- 
tion as nicely as the French prune and much 
better than the Eobe De Sergent ; it dries 
dark and is sweet enough with a light acid 
taste, it is a heavy bearer. 
Clairac Maiiiinoth.— This is one of the 
largest prunes originated yet ; it was first 
introduced by us into this State under its 
former name of "Imperiale Epineuse" in 
the winter of 1883-84, and was put by us 
on the market in the season of 1894-95 un- 
der its newly adopted name of Clairac 
Mammoth, this mammoth prune having 
been originated near the town of that name 
in France. 
The fruit is uniformly large, more oval 
in shape than the French prune, the skin 
thin, of a reddish-purple, very juicy and 
sweet ; quite early and a good bearer; but 
it is rathejc hard to cure, on account of its 
abundant juice, large size and thin skin. 
We have dried it to perfection, however, in 
our drier, and never found any black spot 
in the pulp around the stone, as people 
complain it is the case with the prune dis- 
tributed throughout the State under the 
name of ' Imperiale Epineuse." We sup- 
pose that whenever such large prunes are 
dried to the sun, that it takes too long a 
time to dry them, and that iu the mean- 
