HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 119 



made a few years ago to cultivate them, they were not success- 

 l\il, and Southeastern Minnesota has veiy little soil adapted to 

 them. 



In Winona, Houston and Wabasha counties along the Missis- 

 sippi, the dewberry flourished the last year in great profusion. 

 The fruit was of large size and good quality, and so plenty as to 

 interfere, locally, with the blackberry market. The bushes have 

 been growing here since the first settlement, but very little fruit 

 is usually seen. If it could be grown to bear every year, it 

 would largely take the place of blackberries, being so much 

 easier to protect in the winter, and very tenacious of life. 



Wild plums are the most marketable and valuable native fruit 

 we have here. A very small expenditure of money, time, or 

 labor, would secure an abundance of this fine fruit to every fam- 

 ily in the land, many now regarding it as a rare luxury. While 

 apples will always occupy the first place in fruit work, it is be- 

 lieved the Horticultural Society can largely add to its useful- 

 ness by inviting increased attention to our native plums. 



O. M. Lord. 



The following paper was read by the Secretary : 

 NATIVE PLUMS. 



ByO. M. Lord, Minnesota City. 



Native plums have not received from fruit cultivators as much 

 attention as their merits warrant. Some of the objections will 

 be considered, and when their good qualities are placed in con- 

 trast, they will far outweigh all the difficulties or prejudices of 

 cultivation. 



The natural habit of the tree is not symmetrical, which has 

 made it unpopular with the nurserymen. The general charac- 

 ter of the fruit is soft, skin tough and acrid, especially when 

 cooked. Its softness and non-keeping qualities unfit it for gen- 

 eral market, and its intense acidity when cooked makes it unde- 

 sirable for family use. It also frequently refuses to bear when 

 cultivated, and is sometimes affected with black knot and cur- 

 culio, and the fruit is very liable to rot on the tree before ma- 

 turing. 



While the straggling habit of the tree makes it hard for the 

 aiurseries to handle, when they are once planted in orchard form 



