128 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
roots. A man can mulch his trees if he has only a dozen or so. I 
think it is just as well, but I did not mention it in my paper, because 
that had reference only to growing plums for market, but if a farmer 
sets them in a circle twelve to thirteen feet apart, and keeps them 
mulched or hoed, that is better than any other way. 
Mr. Jewett: If one were going to set out a plum orchard, would 
he gain any advantage by planting some strong roots where he 
wishes the plum trees to stand, and then grafting them, thus avoid- 
ing the necessity of transplanting? Would the tree itself not be a 
better tree from the fact of not having been moved from its original 
root. Ido not know but some one may have made that experiment. 
Mr. Elliott: There is one point I have not heard mentioned. 
This fall I was digging some seedling plums, and I noticed there 
were many of them that were inclined to rooting deep from the tap 
root, and this made a weak root. My theory would be to plant the 
plum seed where you want the trees to stand. The proper way 
would be to plant several seeds and save only that which grew the 
strongest. If you plant only one seed in a place, you will be liable 
to get a lot of weak roots. 
Mr. Richardson: I was a farmer a good many years before I 
became a nurseryman. Ifa farmer had to go through all that per- 
formance he never would have any plums. ‘There is not one farmer 
in a hundred or in five hundred would have any plums if he had to 
go through all that performance. 
Mr, Jewett: I have an acre of ground prepared to plant in the 
spring. It has been subsoiled to a depth of about twenty-four 
inches, and the question arises in my mind whether I would be the 
gainer by setting the trees already grown or planting them the other 
way. I do not think the ground is wasted while we are waiting for 
the trees to grow. A good paying crop can be raised while the 
trees are growing to a fruiting age. 
Mr. Rogers: I planted a row of plum trees about eight feet 
apart, intending to transplant them later. They have borne for 
several years in that condition. Where the ground is valuable I 
think it pays to plant close together, even if they have to be taken 
out later. The first two or three years, I think they bear just as 
well close together as. twice the distance apart. 
Mr. Harris: I have had no experience in the method Mr. 
Jewett speaks of. He would lose about one year in having them 
come so. If he sows the seed and then grafts the tree where the 
seed is sown, those trees will. be set back two years, and Mr. Jewett 
will only lose one or two years time between seed planting and those 
ready to set. 
The President: You mean by selecting the strongest growing 
he will get better trees? 
Mr. Harris: Yes, he will get better trees; some varieties will 
bear the second year. 
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