18 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



Mr. Shank — If it had not been for the bees, I think Mr. Gay 

 would not have had any plums. 



Mr. Webster — I know of a number of instances where plums 

 do well and no other varieties near them. I put out trees in 1868, 

 and those trees have borne enormous quantities of fruit. So, while 

 it at times appears that trees of various kinds must be mixed, yet 

 the rule does not always hold good. 



Mr. Yandenberg — I know of one hundred trees five years old 

 that have never borne, and in other places I have seen them scat- 

 tered and bearing. 



Mr. Webster — Most of our plums that are successful are grafted 

 on the peach, but those I have are grafted on their own roots. 



Mr. Shank — It is well known that the cherry will fertilize the 

 plum, and this might account for the fertilization of Mr. Web- 

 ster's plums, if any cherries were near them. 



Mr. Beeby — A friend of mine has forty acres, and he planted, 

 I think, a half dozen of Wild Goose, and sometimes there is a 

 good crop and other years not any, and he has laid the trouble to 

 the frost and sometimes to the curculio. Some of -the old trees 

 died and sprouts came up and bore the same kind of fruit, but 

 there were no plums or cherries near them. 



Mr. Gay — My cherry row is about twenty rods from the plums. 

 My Flemish plum is on its own roots, and the others are on the 

 peach ; both bear every other year. I do not think they are pol- 

 lenized by anything else unless it is by an old elm tree. 



President Dunlap — I think it is generally understood that 

 where plums are mixed they do better, generally, but not 

 always . 



Mr. Pearson — I dislike the idea of our talking here for an hour 

 about a miserable plum that is not fit to eat. Nobody will have 

 much to do with plums unless they are good ones. I have heard 

 three varieties spoken of here, and three of that kind is three too 

 many. For cooking, I think the Blue Damson is excellent. The 

 boys won't steal it and the curculio won't hurt it. It brings in 

 the market double what the others bring. I have seen, this past 

 season, the Miner and the Wild Goose offered at sixty cents a 

 bushel and no takers. 



