458 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 



anxious watcher, and all the time calculations are being made re- 

 garding the style of fruit that is to be produced. The fourth year 

 the stem has developed 'into a trunk, and the inanimate being that 

 was once a plant is now a tree and begins to be sturdy and strong. 

 After that the seasons come and go with such rapidity that the tree 

 is soon showing the style of fruit it is to produce, and the artist is re- 

 warded for his labor according as the fruit is good, bad or indiffer- 

 ent. But if it partakes too much of the original crab apple he has 

 other trees that will soon be ready to produce fruit, and so his inter- 

 est is maintained, and he is ever in position to expect something fine 

 and yet at almost no expense. 



This brief paper has not been written with a view of instructing 

 those who have devoted a lifetime to this work but rather with the 

 view of opening a subject that I consider of prime importance to the 

 northwest, not only to horticulturists but to the people in every 

 walk in life, as fruit is one of the most valuable products of the soil, 

 and the better the varieties produced the more the people of the world 

 are indebted to that branch of industry. If each person in this meet- 

 ing will go home and decide to each year plant a few seedlings the 

 result of the next decade will be astonishing. 



PLUMS. 



JENS JENSEN, ROSE CREEK 

 (So. Minn. Hort. Society.) 



In raising plums the first thing necessary is to have a plum tree 

 to grow from, and for farmers generally I see no other way than 

 to buy them from some nursery, and the nearer home they can get 

 them the better. 



Trees propagated on wild, or native, roots are probably the best 

 for this part of the country. In buying trees buy one, two or three 

 years old. I would just as soon have a two-year old tree of plum 

 or apple as any other size. They will generally commence bearing in 

 three years from graft. Seedling plums will generally fruit in three 

 to four years. 



A good way to get plums quickly is, if you have a small tree, 

 wild or seedling, with limbs one-half to one inch thick, graft it to 

 any variety you wish. Take care that the scions don't grow too fast; 

 if they do they will break off. The third summer after grafting you 

 will have plums. 



How to plant : I plant in rows twelve feet apart in the row and 

 from sixteen to twenty feet between the rows. In planting a plum 

 orchard of twelve trees, I would prefer to have at least six varieties. 

 If it was to consist of twenty-four trees I would not have more than 

 six varieties. 



