100 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



1-2 EDWARD VII., A. 1902 



pails each. The follovring are some figures furnished hy Mr. Carstesen of some of his 

 sales. ,i 



189S, 79 pails, averaging 80 cents per pail. 



1S99, 71 pails, averaging 93 cents per pail. 



1900, 177 pails, averaging 87 cents per pail. 



1901, 119 pails, averaging 82 cents per pail. 



Some of the best of the plums sold as high as $1 per pail. Mr. Carstesen could 

 not obtain these prices if it were not that his plums are very early, as they begin to 

 ripen the first week cf August and come on the market when there is little competi- 

 tion with other plums. He says that he cannot supply the demand for them. 



The following extracts from a letter received from Mr. C. H. Snow, Cummings 

 Eridge, Ont., show that all growers are not favourably impressed with these plums : — 



' I cannot give you any encouragement so far as these American plums are con- 

 cerned. The older the trees grow, the more rotten and miserable they look, and it 

 would take a man doing nothing else but bolting and propping them up. Where- 

 ever there is a crotch limb, down it comes by its own weight only. The recent sleet 

 and rain that formed on the trees about 10 days ago pretty nearly finished the best 

 of mine ; in fact, some of the trees of DeSoto will break off at the stump like a clay 

 pipe. 



' Now, for the fruit. The astringency in the skin shows up remarkably well when 

 preserved. You should be at the table sometimes and hear the remarks of my child- 

 ren when my wife brings out some Hawkeye plum preserve. There are plenty of our 

 old Canadian plums better for preserves, and if the people would only spray them 

 they would be all right, and so far as selling, they bring a better price per pail, coming 

 in, as they do, the first week in August, before the Prunus domestica class are shipped 

 in here. This lateness in ripening is a great drawback. It brings them in straight 

 compatition with Lombard, Damsons, Yellow Eggs, and Gages, when sold this year 

 the complaint was that the women folks found the skin too thick. The price paid me 

 for a 2-gallon basket, nearly a pail, was 35 cents. Some of my neighbours got 75 

 cents and $1 for common wild plums. Still, the price is all right and would pay at 

 this figure if one could sell a large quantity, but the competition is too keen from a 

 much better source, viz. : the European varieties. The varieties so far fruited with 

 me are : Stoddard, Rockford, DeSoto, Hawkeye, Wolf, Weaver, 2 kinds, Black Hawk ; 

 the best of these are Stoddard, Hawkeye, and Wolf.' 



It is very true, as Mr. Snow writes, that the trees split easily, and this is a draw- 

 back to the Americana varieties which the Nigras or native plums do not suffer from, 

 but if the present market for these plums continues, paying crops will be obtained 

 before the trees are too badly split to produce fruit, and as the trees begin to bear 

 when young they may be replaced. The skin of the Nigra, or Canadian wild plum, 

 breaks up easier in canning and preserving than the Americana, but they are not 

 as rich, ike Cheney is one of the best of these. Many of the Americana plums are 

 but slightly astringent when preserved. Hawkeye is one of the poorest for this pur- 

 pose. 



The following recipes for canning and preserving Americana plums, published 

 by Prof. E. S. Goff, in bulletin No. 87, of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, Madison, Wis., will prove helpful to those who have not found the plums 

 preserve well : — 



' The native plums, especially those with firm pulp, after being treated by any 

 of the methods mentioned below, are well adapted to all purposes for which the foreign 

 plums are used. As a rule, more sugar is required for the native plums, but the pre- 

 parations are rich in proportion. The harshness in the skin and stone of some native 

 plums is readily removed by steaming them in an ordinary eooking steamer until the 

 skin cracks ; or pour over them boiling water to which has been added common bak- 

 ing soda in the proportion of half a teaspoonful to a quart. The thicker-skinned 



