PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 49 



old, and you can j)ut a top-graft of plum in very nicely. I do not recom- 

 mend this for very old trees, because it does not work as well; the old 

 tree does not grow as fast as the plum; but you take a thrifty peach tr^e, 

 three years old, and you can grow a plum tree on that quicker than any 

 other way I know. If I were not positive of it, couldn't show it to you, I 

 would hardly believe it myself; but I am satisfied that if nothing occurs 

 this year I will have an immense crop off of these very trees. Some would 

 say, you have to fight borers; but if a man isn't willing to fight borers 

 he would better go out of the business. The borers, so far as I am con- 

 cerned, are not great bugbears, because I think I have them under such 

 control that they don't bother me much. I am satisfied that you can get 

 • a plum tree that way quicker than any other. Occasionally I buy a tree, 

 when I want different varieties. Another thing about this top-grafting. 

 I know you should not try to put Lombards in. I know that Bradshaw 

 succeeds well and Quackenboss is the best I have ever found. 



Mr. Morrill: The Japan varieties will do it, too. 



A. I never tried it, but I know they grow, budded in that way, and 

 they are fine. So far as Mr. Haight's article is concerned, he is on the 

 right track. I am not a sprayer for curculio. Mr. Willard has been up 

 here. I went with him one day all over this country, and he adopts the 

 jarring method; in fact, I have one of the machines he uses, and I think 

 every man who is going to jar should secure something of that kind. 

 With this method you have them right in a box. In working around 

 with the other methods, you step on the fallen plums and crowd them 

 into the ground, and they are just in good condition to hatch out in four 

 or five weeks. I have undertaken to pick or sweep them up, but with this 

 new machine we get all that drop off and have them in a box, so that 

 they can be destroyed. Of course, I think it is the only wa}^ to raise 

 plums. ^A^ith sprajing, some will fail and some succeed, but I never 

 heard of a man who jarred thoroughly and kept his ground clean, who 

 would say that he had failed. As regards varieties, there is one thing 

 about Bradshaw. We always look forward to getting a good price for 

 them, but when they are ripe the market is somehow low. They are too 

 early. Mf experience has been that the Gages have brought the best 

 price. People inquire for Gages. I don't know why, except that we have 

 always had Gages, and people think they must have them, and I don't 

 believe we can grow too many of them. I pick my plums with a shears, 

 because there are some varieties which you can not pull off, unless you 

 pull out the stem, and that injures the fruit. So I use shears, and it is 

 just as rapid and more satisfactory. That is, with larger varieties. 



Mr. Morrill: What is your opinion or experience as regards thinning 

 Lombard to make a good-size plum? If they are thoroughly thinned, 

 ^ won't they make large and salable plums? 



A. Well, yes, they have been with me, but as a rule peox)le don't let 

 them become ripe. I have seen them picked when I wouldn't give a cent 

 per bushel for them. A plum can hang until it is ripe, and it should; 

 and I can say this, that I have never had any variety that was satisfac- 

 tory but I wished I had more. 



Q. Will you describe your method of catching curculio, the contrivance 

 you use? A. Well, it is something like an inverted umbrella. It is round, 

 and of course, being in that shape, anything that falls into it goes right 

 7 



