68 _ ANNUAL REPORT. 
) 
Mr. Jordan :—Plums occupy a prominent place in my business. 
Am more successful with those obtained from the gardens of per- 
sons who procured them from the woods, and from the seeds of those 
cultivated in gardens. The Waldron plum was from a plum tree 
that grew in the garden of Mr. Farmer. Of Mr. Fisher’s plums 
one is called the Peach plum. He says it is free from the bitter- 
ness of the wild plum, and has a peach flavor. I procured sprouts 
from these and planted the seeds. Plum butter made from the 
produce of these was almost like peach butter. This stands, with 
me, at the head of any in the State. Have fruited about fifty 
varieties. 
Methods of Propagation. 
Mr. Stewart then read his paper on methods of propagation to 
secure hardy trees, and it was ordered to be published in the Trans- 
actions. 
f 
METHODS OF PROPAGATING TO SECURE HARDY TREES. 
Adaptation. 
In all apple-growing countries we find that no one variety is valuable 
only in certain localities. Its value in any new location is only ascer- 
tained by years of experience. 
Varieties that grow and do well in eastern States, where they have deep 
snows aud moist atmosphere, are worthless here in our dry climate, where 
we frequently have no snow until the A Ms winter weather is past. 
Root Kkilting. 
Root killing of the apple by the ee of the cold is not known there, 
while here, within two hundred miles of Winona, there have been millions 
of trees root killed within the last fifteen years. 
This should teach us a lesson. It should teach us not to use tender 
seedling roots to propagate our hardy varieties on. Some are recom- 
mending Siberian crab seedlings, which fe but little better, as seventy-five 
per cent. of them will winter kill here. 
Prevention. 
We have trees that will produce hardy roots by layering or mounding, as 
is done with the quince or Doucin apple, or they may be had by grafting 
the variety wanted for stocks on seedling roots. When grown one year, 
most of them will have thrown out roots from the scion. They can then 
be taken up, trimmed back so that there will be no root left aed those 
that have sprung from the scion. 
By so doing we can have a stock to propagate our hardy varieties on, 
