166 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



pursued in the course of instruction. His address was received with 

 great enthusiasm, and a vote of thanks was extended to him, and 

 the plan he had presented was most heartily approved. 



The Minnesota delegates were received and entertained most 

 royally. The Western Horticultural ^Association is yet small but 

 has many very enthusiastic members and is doing much good. The 

 society is on a good working basis and in the future its influence 

 will be keenly felt. 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH PLUMS. 



MARTIN PENNING, SLEEPY EYE. 



(Paper read before South Dak. Horticultural jMeeting.) 

 My first experience in grafting in Minnesota was as long ago as 

 1866, and the scions used I brought with me from Wisconsin. They 

 were the large blue plum, originally from Germany, and we grew 

 them quite successfully in Wisconsin. The first attempt made in the 

 then new state of Minnesota did not result very satisfactorily, al- 

 though they grew well, bore a few plums and then gave up the 

 ghost. This ended my plum experience for a number of years, and 

 my appetite in that direction was satisfied with the wild plums from 

 the woods which I had dug up and transplanted into my garden. 

 Some of these plums were large and very good. 



The first improved plums I planted were the Miners and Wild 

 Goose, in 1872. The Wild Goose bore but once, and the Miner bore 

 for a number of years. These plums ripened rather late for our 

 season, and to me at that time it seemed that we were going to have 

 a good deal of trouble getting a plum that would stand the rigorous 

 climate of ^Minnesota. Careful study and intelligent application 

 finally overcame this difficulty, in fact, it was overcome very quickly, 

 once the horticulturists set themselves about it and profited by each 

 other's successes and also by each other's failures. Many planted 

 seeds from improved plums, and to the few came the gratification of 

 getting really valuable seedlings, seedlings that have proven both 

 hardy and productive. 



I was one of these experimenters, and in 1882 planted seeds of 

 the De Soto, Weaver and a few ]\Iiner. From these seeds I got a 

 thousand or more seedlings. These I transplanted two years later 

 and gave each an opportunity to prove its value. Two years later 

 most of them bore fruit, and it was out of this lot that I got the 

 Surprise and a few other real good seedlings. Two years ago I got 

 another good seedling — not yet named — the fruit from which won 

 first premium at the ^Minnesota State fair. This plum is as large as 



