EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 179 



plum crop ripened slowlj^ and at the time we had our first killing- 

 frost, Sept. 26th, all of the Speer, a good many Desota, soine Wolfs, 

 and even a few specimen of Forest Garden were still unripe on the 

 trees, and froze. I fruited some twenty-five named varieties. It 

 would make this report too long- to enumerate the merits and de- 

 merits of each varietj-; but the Forest Garden is a variety I can 

 recommend to everybody that wants plums to plant. It is a rich, 

 sweet plum, of good size; is a heavj^ and regular bearer, besides 

 its earliness makes it desirable. The Desota is still our leading late 

 plum. The fruit of Desota is rather inclined to get smaller as the 

 trees g^et older, and the sting of the curiculio causes much dwarfed 

 and misshapen fruit, otherwise it, probably, has more good 

 points than any other plum. But it is too late in ripening- its fruit 

 for the larger part of the state. 



The Wolf plum is not as well known in our state as it ought to be. 

 It does not bear on as young trees as some of the others, but is of 

 fair quality and large size, firm, and a heavy and annual bearer, and 

 the fruit is scarcely affected at all bj- the curiculio, which is a strong 

 point in its favbr. I consider it a valuable plum. The Knudson's 

 Peach is promising. 



The Wood plum should not be overlooked. It originated from 

 seed planted by Mr. Jos. Wood, of this place. It fruited with me 

 this past season; it has fruited about ten j^ears. This variety is 

 going to crowd the Chene}- hard as being the earliest large and the 

 largest earl}' plum. It is full}' as large and early and is firmer 

 than the Cheney, and has the advantage of being a heavy and regu- 

 lar bearei". There is no one propagating this plum, except the 

 sprouts which Mr. Wood saves, and no one is interested in booming 

 it. I consider it a valuable plum. 



I am growing- the Ocheeda, but have not fruited it yet. I had a 

 few of the plums sent me by the originator, which I sampled, and I 

 consider them extra fine. The skin peels off the ripe fruit as readily 

 as from a cooked potato. It originated at Worthington. 



I ain very much interested in plum culture and am setting out all 

 the new varieties I can get hold of, and think the growing of them 

 will be very popular in the near future. An enemy new to me ap- 

 peared among our native plums in the shape of fungus spots on the 

 fruit. It affected many varieties. There were a few spots on some 

 varieties last season, and it seems to be spreading. These spots do 

 not show much, except on the green fruit. This may become a 

 source of serious trouble, and we will have to spray for it. 



I can't say much in favor of the Russian plums. The trees and 

 fruit buds seem to be about hardy, but they failed to fruit so com- 

 pletely this plum year that I am losing faith in them. As a class, 

 the quality of the fruit is poor, and it is subject to rot and is badly 

 affected by the curiculio sting. The crossing- of them with our 

 native variety is a promising- field to experiment in. 



CHERRIES. 



Like the Russian plums, the European cherries failed to fruit. 

 The bloom was very slight. The Early Richmond has borne the 

 best of any here. 



