PLUM POCKET. 215 



PLUM POCKET. 



S. D. RICHARDSON, WINNEBAGO CITY. 



My first experience with plum pocket was between 1870 and 

 1880. I had a farm on the prairie that had a windbreak of seven 

 acres, so my plums were well sheltered from the wind. 



One spring we had a large amount of east wind and cool 

 weather, and the plums in the groves along the creeks and lakes 

 were destroyed by the pocket, while those in the grove were a fine 

 crop. These were wild plums, but I have noticed the same results 

 with our tame plums, viz., that a cold spring, with plenty of east 

 wind, will bring plenty of pocket. 



Some varieties are much more liable to pocket than others. 

 A few years ago we had six degrees of frost when the Man- 

 kato and Cheney were in full bloom. The Mankato matured a 

 splendid crop, but the pocket captured the Cheney almost entirely. 

 This year the Cheney was free from pocket, while the De Soto 

 where it was exposed to the east wind was badly affected. 



The pocket does not seem to affect the value of the tree for 

 future crops when the weather is favorable. I never bother to pick 

 off the pockets ; too much work, let them alone and they will fall 

 off themselves. If I had a tree with pockets on in the front .yard I 

 would pick them off, as they are not at all handsome. 



The President : There is a commendable feature about Mr. 

 Richardson's papers, he always comes to the point, and he always 

 reads so we can all hear. 



Mr. O. M. Lord : I don't like to discuss this plum pocket busi- 

 ness much. We have said so much about it in years gone by that 

 I do not like to add anything further, but I will say what I heard 

 Prof. Green say yesterday that perhaps we can control it. The 

 difficulty seems to be entirely climatic. Cold will produce it ; it 

 will be developed by cold. Prof. Green says the New York people 

 have been making application of a mixture that will prevent it. I 

 had about a thousand trees in bearing this year, and I did not have 

 a specimen, although I may have bushels of them next year. My 

 opinion is that it is a mere matter of cold with either wet or frost. 

 If the disease can be transmitted, you can transmit it in any way 

 from diseased plums to those that are healthy. You cannot control 

 it; it is a matter that in my opinion is entirely climatic. 



Mr. Ferris (la.) : I want to say a word on that subject along 

 the line of my experience. I planted a great many plum trees 

 and fruited them. I have one, the Yosemite plum, that was grafted 

 on a sand cherry more than twenty years ago, and I want to say, 

 not for the purpose of taking glory to myself, that I think I was 

 the first one to graft the plum on the sand cherry, at least in Iowa. 

 My trees every year are full of fruit. They are loaded with blos- 

 soms without a sign of disease ; every year they are full, but in all 



