Many varieties of these two native species are already in cultivation, and are proving better adapted to large portions of the country than the well-known varieties of Prunus domestica. For the southern states the Wild Goose and other varieties of have proved admirably adapted, while at the north, where these varieties are not so successfully grown, the native Prunus Americana is furnishing varieties better in quality and more hardy than those which have been hitherto in cultivation. In size,firmness of flesh, and regularity of bearing, how-ever, most of our native plums thus far introduced into cultivation leave something to be desired. Our wild plums are so much superior, however, to the European wild plum, from which our older cultivated varieties have sprung, that we may confidently expect great improvement in the future, and that the plums of America, developed from the native species, will ultimately be superior to the best of those now grown in Europe.

Although wild plums are found throughout the larger portion of the United States, it is along the wooded borders of the prairie country in the Mississippi Valley that they occur in greatest abundance and variety. The quantity and excellence of the wild plums were often the subject of remark by early travelers in that region.

Native Persimmon (Diospyros Virginiana).

George Catlin, in an account of his travels near the mouth of the Red river prior to 1840, after speaking of ridges of timber containing a profusion of wild grapes, says: "The next hour we would be trailing through broad and verdant valleys of green prairies into which we had descended ; and after finding our progress completely arrested by hundreds of acres of small plum trees of four or six feet in height, so closely woven and interlocked as entirely to dispute our progress, sending us several miles around ; when every bush that was in sight was so loaded with the weight of its delicious wild fruit that they were in many instances literally without leaves on their branches, and bent quite to the ground." Flint, in his History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley, published in 1832, says: "Prairie plums are most abundant in Illinois and Missouri on the hazel prairies * * * some of them are large and delicious. * * * The yellow osage plums of this class, when the better kinds are cultivated, are among the most delicious plums we have eaten.

So rich and delightful a fruit, and so easily cultivated, well deserves to be severe for the standard varieties of Prunus domestica.

For example, Mr. U. S. Hollister, of St. Paul, Minnesota, in a report to the American Pomo-logical Society, says, "The 'tame' plum will not do with us. The best natives are largely cultivated and doing finely. The De Soto is one of the best. Each neighborhood seems to have its favorite plum, and they are good enough for us".

The agricultural colleges of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and other states, have been instrumental in introducing and disseminating valuable varieties of native plums, and the nurserymen of the northwest are enterprising in their efforts to secure the best varieties.