Cultivar 408: Miner

Miner is a historic American plum in the hortulana group, treated here as hortulana Mineri. It was one of the old named southern plums that later moved north into prairie testing and orchard use. South Dakota sources trace it to a seed planted in 1814 in Knox County, Tennessee, by William Dodd. They describe it as probably the first native plum brought into cultivation. It was widely planted in Illinois, southern Iowa, Missouri, and other western districts. Later it became established enough to appear as a standard named variety in prairie recommendation lists and stock trials. [S3] [S1] [S2]

Its importance in the upper plains was practical, not universal. Miner was planted extensively around Vermillion and Yankton, often in mixed orchards with Forest Garden. Growers there valued its later season because it ripened in cool fall weather, when plums were wanted for canning. A South Dakota county report called it very profitable there, but added that it would not go much farther north. The same bulletin placed its northern South Dakota limit along the Missouri River in the southeast part of the state. [S3] [S4]

The tree was consistently described as large and vigorous. Clay County growers said it made a very large tree, and Brookings reports called it a strong grower. That vigor did not ensure orchard success. Multiple South Dakota station accounts describe Miner as unproductive or only a light bearer when planted alone, and they advised mixing it with other varieties. At Vermillion and Yankton, one common planting ratio was two Miner trees to one Forest Garden. [S4] [S3]

The hardiness record is mixed by region, but its limits are clear. In taxonomic discussion, Miner appears as an exception within the generally tender hortulana class and was one of the few in that group still being grown in southern South Dakota. But Brookings station reports judged it not sufficiently hardy, noted severe winter killing of one year shoots in nursery rows, and found that the fruit ripened too late there to sweeten properly before frost. An earlier Brookings orchard summary was even more direct: Miner was too late, unproductive, and not hardy enough for that site. [S3] [S4]

The cited sources say little about the fruit's size, color, or flesh. What they do preserve is its season and use. Miner was later than Forest Garden, and that lateness was either its value or its weakness depending on location. In southeastern South Dakota it filled a useful late canning season. At Brookings it was too late to be worth growing in average years. [S3]

Miner also mattered in breeding and propagation. South Dakota records name it as the seed parent of Hammer and say Hammer also carried some Miner blood, which shows it remained useful in plum improvement after its own limits were understood. It was listed on northern native plum roots in district recommendations, measured in nursery tables on western sand cherry stock, and mentioned among southern plum stocks used in the South. Later South Dakota authors still considered it too tender for reliable northern stock use. [S3] [S1] [S2]

Miner's historical place is clear even if its fruit description is not. It was an early cultivated native plum with a long reach across the Mississippi Valley and lower prairie belt. It was a vigorous late variety valued in the southeast, but pushed beyond its limits in colder parts of South Dakota. The sources agree on its regional importance and on those limits. They do not provide a fuller pomological description of the fruit itself in the material cited here. [S3] [S4]

Summary source basis

• S1: A Study of Northwestern Apples
• S2: The Western Sand Cherry
• S3: Plums in South Dakota
• S4: Fruit Culture

This summary currently draws chiefly from Plums in South Dakota, with 2 additional supporting sources linked below.

Featured source descriptions

“The seed which produced the Miner plum was planted in 1814 in Knox county, Tennessee.”
— ^[1]

“Probably the first native plum to be introduced into cultivation.”
— ^[1]

“The page names Miner only as a comparison stock in the trial.”
— ^[3]

“Among this class, Miner is stated to be an exception in hardiness in South Dakota.”
— ^[1]

Direct parent cultivars

• No direct linked parent cultivars promoted yet.

Parentage claim text

• No direct breeding_cross claim text yet.

Derived or downstream cultivar links

• No derived or downstream lineage links yet.

Source-story quotations

• The general experience shows that Miner is not productive when planted by itself in the orchard; it should be intermingled with other varieties.Plums in South Dakota, p27
• Miner, hortulana Mineri. HISTORY-The seed which produced the Miner plum was planted in 1814, in Knox county, Tennessee, by William DoddPlums in South Dakota, p26
• Miner, hortulana Mineri. HISTORY-The seed which produced the Miner plum was planted in 1814, in Knox county, Tennessee, by William DoddPlums in South Dakota, p26
• The general experience shows that Miner is not productive when planted by itself in the orchard; it should be intermingled with other varieties.Plums in South Dakota, p27

Taxonomy context: No family-tree context surfaced yet.

Related cultivars mentioned in source context