90 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



QUESTION. 



"What varieties of plums need to be planted together and 

 how far apart?" 



Mr. Wedge: I have a fancy that the way to plant plum trees 

 is in double rows, the double rows to be some distance apart, 

 say twenty-five to thirty feet, but the rows to be about ten feet 

 apart and the trees to be about ten feet apart in the rows. I 

 think plum trees need a certain circulation of air, and I think 

 a large grove planted together would not do so well and would 

 be infested with various diseases; but by planting them in 

 double rows it allows a free circulation of air between the rows. 



Mr. A. H. Brackett: I would like to ask if any one has tried 

 mulching under the soil? 



Prof. Green: I suppose he means by that mulching under 

 the surface, and then covering with soil. I have done it with 

 trees, and it is not quite so unsightly as a manure pile would 

 be. A light covering of soil matters but little. I do not know 

 the relative merit of such mulching. 



President Underwood: I think Mr. Knudson suggested that 

 he puts the mulching about a foot under ground and covers it 

 over, and if I recollect rightly it lasts six years — the effect of 

 it. That is something I am not familiar with at all, and if any 

 one else knows anything about it, be prompt to speak. 



Mr. J. P. Andrews: Is there any reason why it should be 

 more successful with plums than with any other trees? 



Mr. Richardson: I do not know why it should. I have tried 

 that way in mulching evergreens. I mulch quite heavily, and 

 then cover with two or three inches of dirt; it was very suc- 

 cessful — never had a failure. 



President Underwood: The roots of trees naturally run 

 down, so you could very easily go down some distance without 

 interfering with the roots of the tree; young trees would not 

 send out their roots very far. I know plum trees are very 

 much benefitted by mulching. There is a great value at- 

 tached to mulching, and this seems to be a new method. 



Mr. Jacques: I planted fifty evergreen trees two years ago. 

 and you all know how hard it is to make such trees live, but I 

 mulched freely under the ground and did not lose a tree. 



(By request, Secretary Latham again read that portion of 

 Mr. Knudson's paper relating to mulching under ground.) 



Mrs. Kennedy: That is the way we mulch our evergreens. 



