MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 381 



nated by planting pits. The preparation of the pits and their care till 

 planting Hme is very important. If seedlings are desired for stock in 

 budding or grafting, the Miner is perhaps the best that can be used, 

 as this variety seems to give us the most uniform and thrifty seedling. 

 This uniformity, thriftiness and extreme hardiness makes the Miner the 

 ideal stock for nursery use. Gather the pits during the fruiting season 

 by squeezing them from perfect fruit, thoroughly cleansing all the meat 

 from them, and pack them away in clean, moist sand till fall. When it 

 begins to slightly freeze, or a short time previous to freezing, plant 

 them on ground that has been plowed and pulverized. If extensive 

 planting is to be done, use the two-horse corn planter to drill in the 

 pits. If only a few seeds are to be planted, make a little furrow with 

 the garden cultivator, and drill the seed by hand. This completes the 

 work till spring. Then we begin to fight the weeds as soon as possible 

 by giving the ground a thorough surface cultivation. The seeds should 

 be deep enough in the ground to admit of this without endangering or 

 breaking off any of the sprouts that may be starting; if the seeds are 

 drilled in three inches this can be done. After the plants are suffi- 

 ciently large to mark the rows, give good cultivation at intervals till 

 budding time, which usually can be commenced the latter part of July 

 and continued as long as the bark lifts freely. If the young trees are 

 intended to be used in grafting, let them stand until digging time in 

 the fall ; then dig and pack away in a cool cellar till wanted. If seed- 

 tings are desired for seedling fruit and new varieties, the same care 

 must be used as here given for stock, but still more care must be used 

 in selecting only the very largest and finest specimens of fruit to secure 

 pits from, and not plant so thickly in the rows. It is also desirable to 

 label the varieties of pits so you can have sure knowledge of parentage 

 on one side at least ; of course, if natural cross-fertilization has taken 

 place, the new fruit may be entirely different from that out of which 

 the pits were taken. — Prairie Farmer. 



GROWING PLUMS SAID TO BE IN ITS INFANCY. 



The New York Experiment Station has issued a bulletin on the 

 plam and its culture, which is very timely and interesting. This bulle- 

 tin says the prum is not well understood in the United States except 

 in Western New York and the. Pacific coast. After classifying the 

 varieties the bulletin treats of only the Domestica or European plums, 

 embracing Green Gages, Lombard, Bradshaw, Yellow Egg, Damsons, 

 etc. They are treate(^ under four classes — Damsons, Green Gages, 

 Large Yellow and Large Red, or purple plums. 



