386 ANNUAL REPORT 



varieties and species are the great studies of the future now barely 

 commenced. 



MARKETING. 



Are th^^se plums profitable as a market fruit? Growing fruit for 

 market has been my principal business in North Central Illinois for 

 forty-five years, all the fruits that could be grown in that region, and 

 I have found no fruit that will nearly approach these plums in net 

 €ash returns, for the amount of ground occupied and care given. 



They sell everywhere readily. Our little town of 2,000 people ab- 

 sorbs 300 bushels a year at from $2 to $4 per bushel. Other large 

 producers give the same report. One firm in northern Indiana reports 

 sales of 2(>00 one-half bushel cases of Wild Goose plums, the past season 

 at from %1 to $1.75 per case. When we consider the fact that these 

 plums range in quality from those utterly worthless for any purpose, 

 to large, lucious, most beautiful fruits, two or more inches in diam- 

 eter, and ripening from June 20th until October, it is, of course found 

 that value is dependent on variety. Nor is it true that the variety 

 most profitable for market, is the one of the most value for home use. 

 Miner and Wild Goose are the largest and handsomest of the older 

 varieties that are passably good. They have a market value because 

 they have been cultivated for many years and have become known, 

 yet as fruits lor home use, compared with others, they are very poor. 

 The two best native plums for all home uses, that I have seen, are so 

 inferior in looks that they would hardly be sold at any price in the 

 open c'iy market. Yet these two plums are so fine as to compare 

 favorably with the best California apricots when canned and both 

 placed on the same table, on a test of quality by fruit growers. They 

 are both pure northern plums, free-stone, with very thin skins, and no 

 bitterness; I shall not name them for there are no trees of them now 

 to be had I only give these facts to show what we may expect from 

 these plums in the future. For one, I am convinced that they will 

 prove our most valuable fruit for the Northwest, and of great value 

 throughout the country. 



VARIETIES. 



What varieties should we plant? To this question I can give you 

 Minnesota planters but very little advice of value. You must experi- 

 ment yet for many years. All I can now say is, for you to plant of 

 all the Northwestern varieties that you may deem worthy of trial, by 

 hearsay or otherwise, such as DeSoto, Weaver, Wolf, Spear, Rolling- 

 stone, Pottawattamie, Forest Garden, Hawkeye, etc., etc. Hunt for 

 good ones in the woods, plant seeds, get trees from Manitoba; a friend 



