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2
chain into lower South America. European pears were established in
the same regions as apples, most probably at the same time. The plums
of Europe did not succeed; it remained for the Japanese plums, which
arrived in California about 1870 and were carried thence to tropical
America some years later, to save the situation. Apricots and cherries
have not proved wholly satisfactory in the strictly tropical parts of
America. Another job for the plant breeders!
After those early introductions it seems probable that very
little new material was brought across the Atlantic for a couple of
centuries or even more. Transportation of grafted trees on sailing
vessels wax difficult. In the meantime, improvement of fruit varieties
had taken place in western Europe, from which
regions, from which regions immigrants to the American brought
better apples and pears. Not much interest was shown in peaches,
because descendents of the seedlings planted in Colonial times
produced fruit which was well-liked by everyone.
Throughout tropical America, the regions in which Temperate Zone
fruits, of the varieties then available (some
or by
were true varieties grown from suckers grafting, others
were seedlings) had been determined by trial and error. Commercial
orchards of any size were scarcely known.