MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 
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companion of the apple tree, the cherry tree, the raspberry and the currant 
in every thrifty farmer’s or laborer’s yard, anywhere in our land unless it 
be on the Pacific slope, for the reason that it cannot be depended upon to bear 
fruit without special treatment. The Japanese plum may become more of a 
family fruit than the European sorts have become, but their uncertainty of 
fruitage renders this improbable. 
We have, however, native species of the plum, that when grown in their 
proper areas, are capable of supplying plum trees for every farmer’s and 
laborer’s garden in our land, that shall be as reliable for fruiting as the apple, 
with little if any more special knowledge or care than the apple requires; of 
which the fruit is excellent for all culinary ..purposes and of w r hich the 
choicest varieties are scarcely surpassed in delicacy and richness by any fruit 
of our country, and for which the market demand is rapidly increasing. 
The Americana plum is hardy, both in tree and flower-bud throughout the 
United States and far northward into Canada. The past winter, its flower 
buds endured 52 degrees below zero in Manitoba, where the Oldenburg 
{Duchess) apple in the same locality had its last year’s growth frozen back 
three-fourths. Other species of the native plums succeed in the far South 
and Southwest. It may be safely said that no other tree fruit of equal value 
has so wide a climatic range in North America as the native plums, and 
throughout the northern Mississippi Valley, no other tree fruit can be de- 
pended upon to yield more dollars per acre, in ten-year periods than these 
native plums. The native plums, especially of the Americana species, are 
exceedingly variable. At the risk of incurring the ridicule of this the most 
dignified association of fruit growers in America, if not in the world, I make 
the unqualified statement that the richest and most delicious quality that I 
have ever tasted in plums has been found in native specimens. It is true that 
the average Americana plum has a thick and often acerb skin which is ob- 
jectionable, but there are exceptions to this rule. A few of the choicer vari- 
ties,' when fully ripe, have a skin nearly or quite as thin as that of the average 
European or Japanese plum. 
In the Americana plum we sometimes find varieties that are perfect free- 
stones. It should be remembered that while the European and Japanese 
plums have been in culture for many centuries, the most highly improved of 
our native plums are but two or three generations from the wild plum 
thicket. 
When we consider this fact, their present value as a family and com- 
mercial fruit certainly offers remarkable promise. There is no reason to 
doubt that, during the coming century, the native plums will yield varieties 
that shall be equal in all respects to the choicest plums of foreign species, 
with the advantage that they will be more hardy and more uniformly 
productive. 
I would not prejudice any against the European or Japanese plums. Let all 
grow them who can. But I would remove the prejudice that exists in the 
minds of some, that the best natives are unworthy of culture wiiere the 
foreign plums can be grown. The large market demand for the best native 
plums that have grown up in the West fully disproves such a proposition. Let 
us treat our native plums for what they unquestionably are— a most promis- 
ing fruit that is destined to play a most important part in American pomol- 
ogy; let us seek to improve them by every means known to horticulture, and 
their future will certainly take care of itself. 
