364 State Horticultural Society. 



SPEOUT^G CHEEKY PITS. 



Please let me know the best way to sprout plum, cherry and peach 

 pits. I am in the nursery business on a small scale, and although I have 

 always put my seeds in beds in fall, have had trouble to get them to burst 

 in the spring. — H. M. K., ]S[ewville, Pa. 



Our correspondent's trouble rises perhaps from not having the seeds 

 moist enough in the seed-bed. If a seed-bed is too dry and not covered 

 by snow, so that the seeds simply freeze dry, the -results are not likely to 

 be good. We advise stratifying the seeds in this case — that is, the pits 

 may be mixed with soil and put into a convenient box wherein they are 

 buried, box and all, in some situation where they will keep moist through 

 the winter and where they will freeze well. In the spring they can be 

 sifted out of the earth and planted, usually with success. The writer, 

 Avho generally handles a few such seeds, prefers to go over them by hand 

 in the spring and crack with a light hammer any pits which are not 

 sufficiently opened. This always gives the desired result. — Country 

 Gentleman. 



SATSUMA PLUM. 



Mr. Hale writes us interestingly as to the Satsuma plum. He says: 

 "The criticisms that have been made by many in relation to the 

 Satsuma plum not fruiting freely, have seemed to apply to young trees, 

 for we are all learning that, as the trees of this variety grow older, they 

 are inclined to become very productive, in some cases so much so as to 

 surpass nearly all others. It is a wonderful plum in its keeping and 

 shipping qualities, and nothing can compare ^vith it for canning pur- 

 poses. I predict that, within a few years, Satsuma will take a much 

 higher place in the opinion of orchardists that at the present time. Eed 

 legate or Eed June, as they are one and the same, is also beginning to be 

 appreciated. It is almost as large and handsome as the Abundance, and 

 so much earlier as to prove very profitable in market, although of only 

 fair quality. The still newer Eed May is fully as large and a week or 



ten days earlier; while I have not eaten the fruit of it as o'rown in the 



