SECRETARY'S CORNER. 451 



Ex-Secretary Gibbs a Minnesotan Again.— Oliver Gibba, Jr., 

 secretary of this society during the years 1882, 1883 and 1884, and till 

 called away to take charg-e of the Minnesota exhibit at the New Or- 

 leans Exposition in 1885-6, is likely again to be a Minnesotan, and we 

 are glad of it. He has leased his farm in South Dakota and is at 

 present living with his children in Minneapolis. We tender him 

 our heartiest fraternal greeting. 



Fruit from Manitoba.— Thos. Frankland, of Stonewall, Man., has 

 placed in cold storage here for exhibition at our annual meeting 

 twenty-seven varieties of plums, the Rocky Mountain cherry, be- 

 sides a number of varieties of apples and crabs, including some 

 seedling apples of his own, which he prizes much. This will be an 

 interesting exhibit. It would be doubly so if he could be here, but 

 as he says that is impossible, he has sent his photograph to stand 

 in his place. It is a speaking likeness but hardly equal to the orig- 

 inal. 



Prof. Hansen Still Abroad.— Word comes from the South Da- 

 kota Agricultural College that Prof. N. E. Hansen, who went to 

 northern Russia in June last, in search of hardy fruits, is still away 

 and not expected till January. He is making a very thorough sur- 

 vey of those very northern fruit districts of the old world, and 

 equally sanguine of finding something of value to this latitude. We 

 shall miss him at our annual meeting, where we have learned to 

 prize him. We shall give, however, an equally cordial welcome to 

 Mr. Walter S. Thornber, who, we understand, is to represent the Ex- 

 periment Station in Prof. Hansen's absence. 



The Surprise Plum as a Keepbr.— On September 16th a few 

 specimens of the Surprise plum were received in a wooden box from 

 the originator, Mr. Martin Penning, of Sleepy Eye. The large size 

 and fine quality of this fruit are well known to the attendants at our 

 state fair, where it has been exhibited now several years, but its 

 peculiar keeping qualities were not known, at least to the writer. 

 Two specimens which have been left in the closed box till now, Oc- 

 tober Itjth, are dried very nearly to the consistency of an ordinary 

 dried prune; one of them is of a very nice flavor and fragrance, but 

 the other was injured a little in the curing process. Under proper 

 conditions it is probable that this variety of plums could be cured 

 into an excellent substitute for the common prune, as there is no 

 astringency about it. This is undoubtedly one of the most valuable 

 of the selected varieties of our native plums. 



The Campbell's Early Grape.— A basket of specimen bunches 

 of this new seedling grape came to this office late in September. 

 This variety originated with Mr. Geo. Campbell of Delaware, O., 

 some years since. The fruit has much to recommend it. The bun- 

 ches received are medium sized, of cylindrical shape and not shoul- 

 dered. The berry is jet black and one-half larger than the Concord. 

 It adheres well to the stem, even when, as in the case of those re- 

 ceived, the stem is withered. The skin is tough and will evi- 

 dently bear much handling. The pulp is sweet and rich to the very 



