134 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



varieties here on exhibition would you choose? The following are 

 their answers as given : 



O. ]\I. Lord would plant Surprise, De Soto, Rollingstone and 

 Wyant. 



Martin Penning would use Surprise, Standard, Wyant and 

 De Soto. 



Dewain Cook would take De Soto, Wolf, Standard and Wyant. 



Here we have the opinions of three men who have given a large 

 amount of attention to the growing of plums, and this advice can be 

 relied upon. 



I find on looking over the list of those varieties on exhibition 

 tliere are many kinds having a local reputation of value commercially, 

 but we as a society cannot recommend that they be placed upon our 

 fruit list because they have been propagated only in very limited 

 quantities if at all. 



After the fair was over I collected quite a number of pits. 

 Four years ago I planted a lot of pits, and we had some fruits 

 from those pits on exhibition at the last fair. I discovered 

 among those seedlings that some had much better keeping qualities 

 than others. I think I secured those whose qualities are the best, 

 but in the shuffle of setting up things and judging names on the 

 show table I am not certain today that I have the correct record of 

 them ; but I am at work now trying to run them down, and if I am 

 successful in the course of two years I will show you a plum that is 

 a better shipping plum than anything we have got on our list today. 

 There have been a great many plums sent to me for identification, 

 but, of course, to do that correctly I would have to see the tree grow- 

 ing and would have to have a chance to examine its foliage, and I 

 would want to examine its history from A to Z. There are a good 

 many things that enter into the identification of fruit that many of us 

 have not thought of. My attention was called by Mr. Lord to the 

 pits as one means of identifiation some four years ago, and since then 

 I have been making a study of that feature. I now have something 

 over 105 varieties of pits, and I have got them all in envelopes, and 

 when I get a few moments spare time I make a study of those pits. 

 My folks at home say I am a crank. Let that be as it may ; I don't 

 know but what I am throwing my time away, but I think something 

 valuable will come of my efforts, and I hope every one of you will 

 not only study pits of plums but will also study apple seeds. While 

 we have been judging apples here at this meeting, the seed has in 

 many instances decided about the varieties. Take, for instance, the 

 Peter and the Wealthy. Those two apples are so much alike in 

 color, texture and shape that it is only an expert can tell the differ- 

 ence. If any one will take the Peter and cut it up and cut up the 

 Wealthy and lay the two side by side, arranged so they can be seen 

 as the seed appears in the apples, you will see a marked difference. 

 When you come to the calyx tube you will find there is another 

 marked difference, and when you take off the skin and take a knife 

 and quarter them you will notice another marked difference. There 



