The Garden Magazine, June, 1920 
263 
and the common Apricot, known as Prunus Simonii, has been 
cultivated for nobody knows how long in the provinces of Shan- 
tung and Chihli. It was introduced to France in 1867 and has 
since been much grown in this country. This Plumcot is short- 
lived and of no particular value. 
In North America there grow wild a great number of species 
of true Plums. Authorities are not yet agreed as to the exact 
number in this country and Canada, but undoubtedly they 
exceed the total found in the rest of the world. The cultivation 
of none of these was attempted however until early in the 19th 
century, and even to-day their true worth is not sufficiently ap- 
preciated. Virtually all have fruit useful for culinary purposes, 
if not for dessert, and were so employed by the early settlers; 
and the Indians knew their value and utilized them. The best 
known perhaps is Prunus americana which is distributed from 
the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. It was known in 
Europe before 1768, when it is mentioned by Duhamel under 
the name “ Prunier de Virginie,” but It has never become im- 
portant there Among the oldest known is Prunus nigra, the 
Canada Plum first described in 1789, and undoubtedly the dried 
plum which Jacques Cartier saw in the canoes of Indians, in his 
first voyages of discovery up the St. Lawrence in 1534. These 
primitive prunes were a staple article of diet among the Indians 
in those early times and it is possible that they planted trees of 
this species about their habitations. 
The comparatively recently recognized P. hortulana and 
P. Munsoniana are perhaps the most promising and valuable 
of American Plums, especially for the more southern states of 
the Middle West. The Pacific Plum (P. subcordata) is one of 
the staple foods of the Indians east of the Coast range, from 
southern Oregon to central California, being eaten raw or cooked. 
It is also sometimes dried in quantity. The Chickasaw Plum 
(P. angustifolia) and the Beach Plum (P. maritima) were both 
named by Marshall in 1783, and were known to the earliest 
settlers along the Atlantic seaboard. There are several other 
named species and numerous varieties, and intimate study will 
assuredly result in new discoveries, especially as, in recent years, 
different Agricultural Experiment Stations have undertaken 
proper investigations. By selection and hybridizing there is 
much promise for the future, especially in varieties for the 
Prairie States and those of the Mississippi Valley where Euro- 
pean Plums do not succeed. And a century hence these Ameri- 
can Plums will probably be in the first rank. 
The Jujube — Zizyphus sativa, the Lotus of Tennyson’s poem — 
1 must mention, since many of the best varieties have been intro- 
duced to this country by the late Frank N. Meyer, for the De- 
partment of Agriculture, and it may some day rank among the 
important fruits of America. This is extensively cultivated in 
northern China. And another introd uction of Mr. Meyer’s is the 
Persimmon — Diospyros kaki — which is one of the most popular 
fruits of China, Korea, and Japan. Future generations will 
undoubtedly enjoy fruits in much greater variety than we know, 
and as superior in quality to those of to-day, as ours now are to 
those of the Roman period and the Chinese T’ang dynasty. 
A PICTURESQUE GIANT AMONG PEAR TREES, SHELTERING SOME HUTS BY A KOREAN ROADSIDE 
It is the wild Pear which is so abundant in Korea, and this particular specimen is believed to be the largest 
in that country, being 60 feet high with a trunk girth of 14 feet and a spread of crown 75 feet across 
