HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 91 



tion, if a competent corps of persons to govern the county ex- 

 periment stations have been secured; and if so, should we not 

 have a list of the same for publication in our transactions ? If 

 not, it would be well to consider who are the most efficient and 

 the best qualified in each county, to undertake the work in 

 special lines of agriculture and horticulture, to become corres- 

 pondents and observers for the central experiment station, 

 etc. 



PLUMS. 



New and improved varieties of plums are each year coming 

 forward for favor: some will prove of value while others will 

 be of little value. Among our native plums are some that 

 are attracting attention from abroad. Charles Gibb, of Abbots- 

 ford, Quebec, says: "My special hopes are now turned to the 

 improved varieties of the Northwestern states; I have fruited 

 the De Soto, and found it an advance on any I have tried. I 

 have more hopes of Northwestern plums from my own experi- 

 ence and from what I have seen in the West, than I have of 

 even the Russian plums." 



This from so good an authority should give our own fruit 

 growers great encouragement in plum culture. We should make 

 systematic efforts to secure every kind or variety of plum of 

 value and place them in our state experiment grounds, that their 

 relative merits may be made known. 



There are many trees growing wild in our thickets that if 

 transplanted and put under thorough cultivation, would yield 

 valuable fruit worthy of general use. There are other native 

 fruits that with the right kind of treatment would develop into 

 varieties of great value to our fruit growers. The blueberry is, 

 we think, susceptible of improvement and should be thoroughly 

 tested at the experiment station. Some varieties of our native 

 cranberries are exceedingly fine in size and color and possess 

 other valuable qualities. We should seek and search every 

 nook and corner of this great Northwest for new and hardy 

 varieties in all classes of fruits and plants that would be of added 

 value to what we now have. 



AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The next meeting of this grand old society will take place at 

 Ocola, Florida, Feb. 20-23, 1889. 



