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64 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
BEST THREE PLUMS OF MINNESOTA ORIGIN. 
J. COLE DOUGHTY, LAKE CITY. 
There are plums and “plums,” but it is beyond my comprehen- 
sion why plums are always associated with “soft snaps,” so to speak. 
When a Minnesota man receives a consular appointment or falls 
heir to a fat post office appointment, the papers announce “a plum — 
for Minnesota.” This is not, however, strictly speaking, always a 
a “plum of Minnesota origin,” butitis a good thing nevertheless. 
Had I replied to this query before the last grand jury and the St. 
Paul Globe got in their work, I might have said that the three best 
plums of Minnesota origin were aldermen of the city of Minneap- 
olis, warden of the state prison and member of the legislature in a 
senatorial year. Youcan take your choice and name them in the 
order of your preference. 
Speaking to the subject, I am compelled to confess that your 
honorable secretary has propounded a conundrum not easily 
answered. Let me ask how many of this most intelligent audi- 
ence of advanced horticulturists can say how many and what 
plums are of Minnesota origin? I shall endeavor to confine my- 
self to the only record accessible to me at this time, viz: the reports 
of the State Horticultural Society and the published bulletin of the 
Cornell University,of New York. I find that these authorities enum- 
erate no less than thirty varieties, many of them, ’tis true, so modest 
and unassuming as to be unknown outside of the grounds of the 
originator and whose only epitaph consists in a brief mention, per- 
haps, in some plum discussion of this honorable body. They are 
lost to posterity and, perhaps, like many men, were only prevented 
from making a mark in history from the want of an opportunity. 
This, however, does not prove their want of merit. But I think I 
hear the president say “Stick to the text, Brother Doughty.” 
According to Prof. Bailey and this society, Minnesota has the 
honor of being foster mother to no less than twenty-five brand new 
plums. This list I find as follows: 
Harrison’s Peach, W. W. Harrison, Minneapolis; Le Due, Gen. W. 
G. Le Duc, Hastings; Little Seedlings, Leudlof’s Green, Leudlof’sRed 
and Newton Egg, Chas. Leudlof, Carver; New Ulm,C. W. H. Heide- 
man, New Ulm; Ocheeda, H. J. Ludlow, Worthington; Kopp, Late 
Rollingstone and Rollingstone, O. M. Lord, Minnesota City; Itasca, 
Ithica, Minnetonka and Wayzata, P. M. Gideon, Excelsior; 
Wild Rose, A. W. Sias, Rochester; Yellow Sweet and Winnebago, 
unknown; Weaver, origin disputed; Surprise, Martin Penning, 
Sleepy Eye; Harvest, Meadow, Marble, Homestead and Knudson’s 
Peach, H. Knudson, Springfield; Aitkin, D. C. Haselton, Aitkin, 
Minn. 
Among these we recognize some that are very good, some just 
good, and others no good. Among the plums mentioned, we also 
recognize some very familiar names. There is the Rollingstone, 
one of the very best of the medium late season. The fruit is very 
large, round, flattened, and truncated at the end, mottled and spot- 
ted, skin thick, flesh firm, sweet and excellent, a semi-cling stone; 
