PROBLEM OF IMPROVING THE NATIVE PLUM. 317 
stone had by some crossing been developed. Now when we cross 
that with a native plum, a poor, weak plum, we should be likely to 
go backward, and nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand 
would be very inferior, because there is a fixity of type in those 
native plums that in crossing for years there will be no sport or new 
departure from. Now when you plant a plum from that crossing 
it is still,;weaker. It only has one-half what the original Rolling- 
stone had. If we keep on crossing the best with the poorest we 
will seldom get one in thousands of crossings that takes the good 
points from both parents. When we get that one we must take care 
of it. Perhaps some one else has been at work in a similar way 
with other plums, and he has found one that was good. In that 
way we can add to our number of desirable plums, and then take 
two or three of those best ones that have in this laborious way been 
worked out and cross them. A great many think they have made 
an improvement and stop crossing. We should keep on crossing 
this new variety, keep up the selection, and by and by we will have 
something much superior to the first cross. What folly it would be 
to throw away that fruit, and then go all over it again in this slow, 
tedious way. 
Mr. Elliot: I want to ask Mr. Lord whether he noticed in the 
Rollingstone any variation in the fruit. Was there any one plum 
tree that produced better fruit than another? 
Mr. Lord: I have found trees that always bear larger fruit 
than others, but I have never been able to detect much if any dif- 
ference in quality. The quality will remain the same if the season is 
favorable. The drouth will affect them, but the quality will remain 
about the same. The size can be materially increased,under dif- 
ferent methods of cultivation. 
Mr. Elliot: The same tree with some cultivation would produce 
different plums, that is, as to size. 
Mr. Lord: I cannot say as to that. I manure the trees heavily 
and get much larger plums. 
Mr. Moyer: I noticed in some plums, especially the Cheney, 
the skin became discolored, not a rot, but it became discolored, and 
those plums were bitter. I would like to know what the trouble 
is and a remedy for it. 
Mr. Lord: It is a fungous disease that affects them more or 
less, and, while I have not tried it, | have confidence in what Prof. 
Goff says, that Bordeaux mixture will prevent it. 
Prof. Lugger: Sometimes it destroys the whole crop. The 
application of Bordeaux mixture repeated three times will almost 
