SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ILLINOIS. 365 



The Chair called for the following paper, which was read by Mr. 

 Scott iu the absence of the writer: 



CHERRIES AND PLUMS. 

 BY MR. HALLETT. 



Gentlemen of the Northern Illinois Horticnltural Society: 



Your Secretary has requested a paper from me on " Cherries and 

 Plums." While we have had quite a long experience with both 

 varieties, we are by no means sure that we can write anything worthy 

 of your consideration; but as you no doubt prefer facts to theories, 

 we will try to give you a few stubborn facts without any attempt in 

 the way of an essay; and if, in the opinion of your worthy Secretary, 

 it should be consigned to the waste basket, no harm will have been 

 done. 



Our first effort in plum raising was the planting of a small or- 

 chard of Miners about twenty-five years ago, which bore well and 

 regularly, and were very profitable. According to our arithmetic, if 

 a few trees are profitable ten times as many will be ten times as 

 profitable; but somehow we made a mistake in our calculations, for 

 instead of having more plums we soon had none. This was the 

 cause: The old orchard, though still thrifty and productive, was in 

 the way. Having secured 1,200 trees from the same source, after 

 they became old enough to bear we removed the original orchard. 

 For twelve long years we cultivated and pruned and watched these 

 trees, but " nary a plum " did we see, with the exception of one year, 

 when they did bear a few. We could see no reason for this unfruit- 

 fulness, as the ground was all that could be desired as to location, 

 drainage and fertility. They were ''beautiful to behold'* — large, 

 strong, thrifty trees — but we thought patience ceased to be a virtue 

 after twelve years of waiting, and while we could not summon cour- 

 age to take them out personally, we issued the orders and stayed away 

 until too late to revoke them. We found that they were good for 

 something — they made splendid firewood. 



We planted small fruit on this ground seven years since, and 

 among the bushes, 200 DeSotos. After they were old enough we 

 were rewarded by a crop of delicious plums of good size. The next 

 year they bore more plums, but not so large. Probably it would 

 have been better to have shaken off some of the fruit before it began 

 to ripen. One of the best features of the DeSoto for a commercial 

 fruit-grower is its earliness. It is ripe and gone by the time the 

 Miner is fairly ripe. Then there is none of that unpleasant, sharp 

 taste about the skin that we notice in the Miner. We regard it as a 

 great improvement. 



It, however, has an enemy that we have not noticed or heard of 

 on any other plum. It is what we call a three-cornered bug of the 



