AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 291 



and you will know that takes in seven eighths of all Europe; even the plums 

 that came from north Silesia, which are still in Germany, are hardy and they 

 seem to bear well, and they compare very favoral)ly with the pluuis of west 

 Europe. The Mariana with us is tender — tender in the tree and tender in 

 the fruit bud; we have had it seven years and have never had a specimen 

 of the fruit yet. The Forest Garden is hardy, but it is peculiarly lial^le to 

 abortive fruit in our soil. On the lowest soil in the western part of the 

 state the fruit is all right, but on our black prairie soil we rarely get any 

 fruit. The Weaver behaves in the same way. It is hardy with us, but on 

 the black prairie soil we rarely get perfect fruit. The AVild Goose is 

 tender with us; we get fruit when it is alive, that is, unless it is injured. 

 Some one asked about the Simoni, if that comes in with plums. It is not 

 hardy with us. It has stood up to the fruit very well, and it seems to be 

 better in the blossom than I supposed it would be ; it had rather a delicate 

 blossom, and I expected that the bad weather would destroy the blossom, 

 but this year, when it was in blossom, we had a severe frost, and we had in 

 addition to that a terrible blow of four days, from the south or southwest, 

 and still it held its blossom and is bearing fruit. 



Secretary Green: Which is the hardiest of European plums, Prof. Budd, 

 with you? 



Prof. Budd: I can only speak of those which are still in the experimental 

 stage ; they have stood the hard winters and they came pretty early. I do not 

 know that it would be profitable to give a list. The Early Red has been 

 widely disseminated and has been fruited in many jjlaces, and it seems to 

 be a remarkably good bearer, and the plum is of good quality. 



Secretary Green : What do you think of the Lombard? 



Prof. Budd: The Lombard is tender north of the 40th parallel; south of 

 the 40th parallel it is doing pretty well; we are on the 42d parallel, and it 

 is entirely tender with us. 



Mr. Patten of Iowa: Starting from a point 50 miles west of where we 

 are, there are 500 miles and more, from north to south, and 1,000 miles 

 east and west, where not a single plum that is successful in the east is of 

 any value. There is just one plum, the Shipper's Pride, that has been 

 spoken of as a very hardy one, I believe by Mr. Willard. The Shipper's 

 Pride, about 300 miles west of Chicago and 80 miles west of the Mississ- 

 ippi, on the 43d parallel, has nothing which would recommend it; it is not 

 hardy in any sense of the word. A gentleman speaks of the Wild Goose 

 as being hardy in Iowa; on the 43d parallel in Iowa it is absolutely worth- 

 less, and over a very large part of Iowa is so; and what is true of the plum 

 is true of many of the other fruits; Prumis SiniO)ii is not hardy where I 

 live. 



Prof. Budd: I think I will say in regard to the Simoni, that it will be 

 valuable or not according to the locality where* it is grown. Its native 

 home is a dry interior climate like Ohio. It originally came from Mesopo- 

 tamia ; it grows in the northwest of Canada, where it is dry. In China it 

 is dry and at times very hot; it will endure heat and it will endure drouth, 

 but not extremely cold weather, but in a dry air and dry soil it is quite a 

 valuable fruit for cooking; in the valley of the Moselle, in France, it is 

 prized for culinary use; you know they can grow good plums in the valley 

 of the Moselle; it has a peculiar flavor, something like the peach, and some 

 prefer it to the peach ; it has more of the peach and apricot flavor than the 

 plum, and where it is hardy it will be prized for culinary use. 



Mr. Willard: I mentioned in my paper a plum that I supposed origi- 



