ANNUAL MEETING AT LEXINGTON. 237 



Iowa Horticultural Society, is Nuid to be a j^ood late sour variety. 

 Trees sent us by Mr. Wrajig, the originator, resemble Early llichinond, 

 though the fruit is said to be much like Eiifi;lish ^Morello but richer in 

 grape sugar. J^ieb, sent out from Northern Illinois, is a strong, very 

 upright grower while young, with slender branches, and as hardy as 

 need be, but unfortunately, while the original tree was said to be pro- " 

 ductive of good fruit, none of the thousand {>ropagated from it have 

 proved of any value whatever. Ostheim is a moderate grower, some- 

 what like English Morello, bears early, is very i)roductive, a valuable 

 variety ; fruit large, liver colored, juicy and rich. Suda, a local cherry 

 growing in the garden of Mr, Suda, of Louisiana, has for years pro- 

 duced good crops of good, fair, perfect fruit resembling Ostheim ; has 

 a great locai celebrity, and is worthy of general trial. 



Plums may easily be obtained in abundance by sim|)ly planting in 

 orchards instead of a few isolated trees. Close planting, the more va- 

 rieties the better, seems to be a success. 



Such sorts as Blackman and Bassett surely ought never to have 

 been disseminated. The l>la<'kman is much like the peach in tree and 

 but little hardier; i)robably originated from seed of Wild (loose, 

 borne by a tree on peach roots, as we have grown hundreds of such 

 seedlings, almost identical with Black man. Being most easily propa- 

 gated, it has been widely distributed, but the trees are practically or 

 entirely barren, hence worthless. Bassett trees six years old produced 

 the past season large (luantities of ])lums about half an inch in dimater, 

 which are also worthless. Older trees have never ripened a plum, 

 while Wild Goose and others in the same rows have borne large annual 

 croi)8. The l)e Soto is small, of good (]uality, but not an early bearer, 

 nor is it productive here. Newman is a Chickasaw of great value that 

 has been much neglected on account of being a scrubby, poor grower 

 while young. Shropshire Damson in central or north Missouri invar- 

 iably winter kills to the ground when budded on peach roots, while on 

 native plum roots, it is badly injured. It is the tenderest of all the 

 foreign varieties of i)lums we have tested. Free stone Damson is a 

 selected variety of the common Bhie Damson, and like all of the class, 

 a feeble grower while young ; soon makes fine, ui)right trees in or- 

 chards, bearing after six or seven years abundant annual crops ; qual- 

 ity very rich ; stone stnall, from which it i)art8 perfectly. Forest Kose 

 is a native red plum named and iirst i)ropagated by the late \Vm. Stark. 

 Trees of the original stock have borne good annual croi)S for many 

 years ; e(iual in size, quality and productiveness to any of the native 

 plums we have seen ; does not bear so well on peach roots, nor do we 



