356 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
the tree with allits natural characteristics, and by its aid as much 
progress can now be made in five years as could be made in fifteen 
years formerly. Most scientific men say it contravenes nature and 
is therefore a bad practice. These views I oppose with solid facts. 
I am using the kodak in the orchard, and with my annual report I 
will show a section of an orchard row where alternate trees were 
girdled last season. The girdled trees are now heavily loaded with 
fruit, whilst ungirdled trees are nearly barren. 
GATHERING AND MARKETING THE PLUM CROP. 
W. S. WIDMOYER, DRESBACH. 
The importance of the plum crop is made apparent by the num- 
ber of papers devoted to this branch of horticulture at this meeting, 
and to me has been assigned the subject of “ Gathering and Market- 
ing” the crop. 
In this, as in all other branches of fruit growing, it is necessary to 
have plenty of nice, clean packages ready for use before the fruit is 
ready to ship, as it saves time, annoyance and sometimes money. 
By all means pick by hand, as much as possible, and avoid bruis- 
ing the fruit, especially the thin-skinned varieties; pack and ship 
nothing but perfect fruit, picking before too ripe, this to be deter- 
mined by the distance to be shipped and varieties. Some varieties, 
notably t_e Japans, must be picked before fully ripe and ripened in 
the dark, like pears, to get the best results as to quality; also such 
varieties as Decker’s Late can be picked when just turning and quite 
hard, and ripened up while in transit. I have sent them by mail to 
New York City, very poorly packed (purposely), and they arrived 
there in fine condition. 
There will be more or less fruit fallto the ground while picking, 
and be blown off by the wind if left untiltoo ripe. This shouid be 
picked up and after being cleaned and sorted it should be sold as 
near home as possible, as the fruit will not keep as long as that 
which has been picked carefully by hand. 
A good way to gather those which cannot be reached handily is to 
use a contrivance like an inverted umbrella, such as some use to 
catch the “Jittle turk.” This will catch nearly all the plums and let 
them run down next to the tree in a pile or into a basket or box. 
One of the best packages to ship plums in is the common sixteen- 
quart berry crate and boxes, if the price obtained will admit of the 
expense and your dealer can handle them inthe boxes. Sometimes 
dealers refuse to buy them in the boxes, but not often, as they come 
in better condition and they soon learn the fact. But, sometimes: 
when the plums are very plenty it is hard to dispose of them in 
these packages, then we use the common one-third bushel splint 
market basket for a near-by market. 
I shipped in berry crates altogether this season, by express, to St- 
Paul and Minneapolis, and prices averaged very reasonable com- 
pared with that obtained for other small fruit, 
