WESTERN NEW YORK HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 465 



have grafted over what we have of the Victoria, because we thought we could make 

 more money with something else. 1 thiak those I have named a little better. 



Prof. Bailey: If you were to name twelve best plums would you put any Japans 

 in them. 



Mr. Willard: Yes, I would. E differ in opinion with some in i-egard to the 

 handling qualities of the Japan. Certainly some have a tender skin, and unless care- 

 fully handled in packing, the skin becomes discolored, which hurts their market value. 

 If handled nicely they are good to market. 



Prof. Bailey: This Yellow Japan — are you sure No. 32 is the same that Berkman's 

 had? Theirs is supposed to be yellow-skinned. 



Mr. Wjllard: Mine is yellow with a carmine spot on one side, a superior plum. 

 The list of varieties is different from what I would recommend to a Michigan fruit- 

 grower, because there is the question of hardiness to be considered. I prefer a solid 

 body of frost through the winter. The damage comes, not from excessive cold, but 

 when there is no frost at all in the ground; and when we have snow at the same time I 

 feel good. 



Answering further questions, Mr. Willarb said: Mooney, Bradshaw and Niagara 

 are the same. Niagara is not a good canning plum. While Coe's Golden Drop is not 

 as good a bearer as Reine Claude. It is more hardy, and one of the best yellow plums 

 we have. 



Mr. Pierce: At the Ohio meeting in December you named a different list from that 

 named here. 



Mr. Willard: I make my list with regard to climate, etc. There is a difference in 

 degrees of hardiness. I put in Golden Drop and give both in the list because they are 

 hardy. Field is a good bearer. Turkish Prune is not different from the Italian. I 

 have been told by good men that they are identical — also Felletnberg. 



Mr. J. O. Rupert: Two years ago, at the state fair, the Turkish Prune and Fellem- 

 berg were in one exhibit, and there was a difference in the sample. 



Pres Barry: What about the Hungarian Prune? 



Mr. Willard: The same as Pond's Seedling. 



Pres. Barry: That may all be, but when you get to the right name there is a distinct 

 variety under the name of the Hungarian Prune, one of the most distinct of all the 

 prunes; and if California has taken the liberty of attaching that name to Pond's Seed- 

 ling we should put our foot down on such a proceeding. The nomenclature of fruits 

 has been very correct, and it took a great deal of labor to secure their correctness; but 

 the tendency now is to bring up a confusion and destroy the value of the labor of our 

 forefathers. Through the efforts of the American Pomological Society, the nomencla- 

 ture of fruits was settled definitely. We must not allow this confusion to come in and 

 destroy their work. I "insist on the Hungarian variety. 



Mr. Willard: I wrote the department of agriculture three years ago, asking if they 

 could be positive and tell me what the Hungarian Prune was that was being dissemi- 

 nated. Mr. Van Deman wrote that it was the same as Pond's Seedling; but I know 

 that in California they are disposed to do the thing our president speaks of. 



Prof. Bailey: Hungarian Prune as grown by EUwanger & Barry is a very different 

 thing from Pond's Seedling. 



Pres. Barry: I hope we will now go on record as defending the nomenclature as it 

 has been settled. We have standard authorities in Downing, Barry, and the American 

 Pomological Society. 



Mr. Willard: I received a plum from Oswego, which I was told was an extraordi- 

 nary good variety. We grafted several good trees, and it turns out to be Pond's 

 Seedling. 



Mr. Root: It is important that we have good shippers. Express charges are high, 

 and thousands of bushels go to waste. I have known farmers to pick and market them 

 at twenty-five cents a bushel, and it is discouraging to have plums go to waste because 

 of being unable to ship more cheaply. 



Prof. Green: Some growers of German Prune in Ohio complain that it blooms late 

 and does not fertilize well. 



Mr. Jacob Wentz said the German Prune was one of the best plums Rochester has 

 had for the last thirty years. They have sold as high as $8 per bushel, but within a 

 year or two have sold as low down as fifty cents. The average price obtained is from 

 $2 to $2..50. If the German Prune is thinned out it will stand with any plum. In Ger- 

 many they call it " Schweitzer." There is one here which is as large as an egs plum, 

 and is called French Prune; it is good only when top grafted, and is a little scrubby. 

 One year he shipped plums to New York City aad got $5 for French Prunes against 

 $3.50 for German. The German Prune in Rochester is a free-stone. 

 ^ Mr. Hooker: There is a peculiarity about the true German Prune; they bloom after 



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