Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-01-10
OUR NATIVE PLuMs.

OUR NATIVE PlUMS.
1910 Of tho Great Distinguishing Merits
belonging to Then.
II, ~ We are told by DR.. Gray. the
European plum, Prunus domestica. has
its origin in the inedible sloe, and yet
there have been derived from It such .
multitude of delicious varieties as We
now cultivate, what may not be hoped.
a. the result of high culture, crossing
and selection, from native species like
those of the American continent.
which. when merely growing wild in
tnlckets along the water-courses. send
such waves OF rich perfume across the
land leeward? 1t seems to me that in
these native plums we have the easy
potentially of class of fruits that
will give to the ''cold North" two
months supply of fresh fruit
which will, in time, abolish all
regret that the peach, nectarine
and apricot are denied to them by
rigorous winter. For it is fact
that our Prunus Americana has range
far north of our National boundary,
being, in fact, the hardest of all tree
fruits. It is of the most easy cultiva-
ton. and very susceptible of improve
ment. If it were not already. in its
wild, uncultivated state, so good, we
should have. unquestionably, long ago.
sought to improve it. As it is, we find
it nearly everywhere north of the
range of Prunus domestica produced
so abundantly in i1 season as to be al
most destitute of any settled COM
mercial value, which can only be i'm
parted to it by the production of i'm
proved sorts, superior in size, beauty
and flavor to the too-abundant wild
products.
For canning or preserving, even
these are by many myself among
them) regarded as quite equal to the
peach Gas we get it); and, in fact,
superior to most of the fruit which
reaches us. But nothing is more evil
dent than the easy susceptibility Of
Prunus Americana to rapid improve
ment.
have been collecting the best sorts
I could find or hear of, East and West.
and year by year I am increasingly
convinced that no fruit we possess
submits itself to such speedy and easy
improvement. So far, selection only
has been secured to suffice to fill the
desires of collectors; but this can not
be for long. Our younger pomologists
of the ''cold North will assuredly
soon devote themselves to the grow
ing Of seedlings from the best cult
waited selections, and to crossing the
Eastern and Western varieties with
Prunus demestica. It is possible that
the possession of the newly-imported
Russian plums may delay these ex-
periments little; but eventually, l
think, these will only serve as addi-
tional elements in the development of
the entirely new and superior strains.
Perhaps may be too sanguine, yet
fully anticipate the production. in the
not remote future, of q race of iron
clad plums of the largest size, unri-
vailed flavor. easy growth, and profuse
productiveness.
Among their many merits, what are
the faults of these plums? Nearly all
of them have more or less bitterness-a
very common fault of wild fruits,
though some of them are "dead sweet"
and none the better for that. A little
suspicion of the peculiar tang will not
be objected to in the most improved
sorts, for even in the worst natives it
is not now nauseous, but rather a tonic
bitterness, that we perceive.
Another, and perhaps their most
evident defect, is the soft and watery
character of the pulp, and in the East
ern varieties the tenderness of the skin,
which makes them incapable of trans
portation. From Western varieties
quite number of selections have been
made with tougher skins. and these
crossed upon with the P. domestica
and the Russian varieties will, most |
probably, heal this defect, The watery |
pulp will also disappear in the same
process, while the size will rapidly |
increase, not only as the effect of cross
ing with larger sorts of different spe-
cies, but as the natural consequence of |
selection and culture.
In quality, the best Western sorts
which 1 have been able to secure are
neither better nor worse than the East
ern sorts, anA they are certainly in
ferior in size to many of the latter.
The most distinguishing mark by
which the two are differentiated is the
form of the seeds, which are much
plumper and rounder in the Western
plums; in this respect, as in the firm
ness of their skins, approaching more
nearly to the p. domestica type. The
colors are almost invariably shades Of
yellow and red, but occasionally the
latter is seen to verge closely upon