PLUM CULTURE. 45 
PLUM CULTURE FOR MINNESOTA.: 
O. M. LORD, MINNESOTA CITY. 
In our city markets, no fruit is more eagerly sought in its season 
than our best native plums; though the market is generally sup- 
plied with inferior kinds, the better varieties will invariably find a 
quicker and more remunerative sale. The poorer kinds are such as 
have not been grown by systematic cultivation, nor is any special 
pains taken to place them onthe market in attractive form or in 
good condition, and though they must be immediately sold, the 
dealer buys them at such prices, as to seldom meet with any loss. 
The peculiar quality or character of the common wild plum is too 
well known to need elaborate description. The skin is thick, tough 
and acrid, the size is small, and though the juice and pulp may be 
quite sweet, the bitter and acrid properties about the pit make 
them unpalatable, especially for cooking. Some of the varieties 
that have been brought under cultivation, while having the same 
general appearance, are entirely different in quality. The size is in- 
creased, the skin is thin and not acrid, the pit small and free from 
acid and the pulp thick, firm and sweet. 
The trees are not naturally long lived in their wild state nor 
under cultivation, but no fruit trees bear more abundantly, nor are 
the apple, the peach, the pear or the domestic plum any more re- 
liable for fruiting. The trees have also been charged with great 
liability to insect depredations and non-bearing habits from the 
occuring of pods instead of fruit. In regard to insects: In an experi- 
ence covering thirty years, I have never seen the vigor nor vitality 
of the trees, materially injured by insects. Can as much be said of 
‘the apple, peach, pear and cherry, to say nothing of blight, sun- 
scald, frost and yellows? 
The black knot has formerly been considered a great obstacle in 
plum culture, but experience has shown that it can be effectually 
controlled by persistent cutting out. It is true that the fruit is 
sometimes injured and destroyed by curculio and by the black rot; 
but under proper care the plum is no more liable to be injured by 
curculio than is the apple by gouger or codling moth, or other 
fruits by numerous insects; nor is it any more liable to be affected 
by rot than the peach or the grape, yet we manage to have a fair 
supply of all these fruits. 
In regard toplum pods: A full discussion of the subject may not 
be profitable, as it has been quite exhaustively treated in the Cor- 
nell Bulletin and also in the “MinnesotaHorticulturist.” Some of the 
conclusions do not accord with my experience. No remedy for the 
difficulty is suggested, except to destroy the fungous growth. The 
truth is, in my opinion, no remedy ever will be discovered, as the 
difficulty is climatic. It cannot be classed as a contagious disease, 
unless the spores are able to transmit it, and this has not been 
shown. The mycelium forming the pods may be made to grow in 
the proper vehicle, but all attempts so far have failed to infect 
healthy tissues. A distinguished chemist says, “Whenever any plant 
cells are injured or ruptured, the sap, on coming in contact with the 
