THE PLUM IN KANSAS. 23 



quality is inferior, and the fruit would be of value only for preserves. The plums 

 ripen very early, before those of any other variety that we have ever tried — this 

 year July 12. As a small, purple-leaved tree, Pissard's plum has no equal. The 

 leaves, when they first unfold, are of a brilliant purple. This grows darker dur- 

 ing the summer and remains so until the leaves fall. — E. S. C, in Rural New 

 Yorker. 



WILL PLUMS PAY ? 



Plums are growing in demand every year at the same ratio as any other fruit. 

 More plums are used now than ever before. True, they do n't bring the higher 

 price they did twenty years ago, but relatively bring as much as other fruits 

 and turn off as much money as other fruits. And now the season has been 

 lengthened, both in early and late varieties. 



Heretofore the Wild Goose has been the first to ripen; now the Milton leads 

 it by two weeks. This is followed by the Red June, then Willard, Wild Goose, 

 Charles Downing, Abundance, Burbank, Pottawatomie, the most prolific of all 

 plums. This takes us through the midseason of plums. Of the late kinds are 

 Forest Garden, Golden Beauty, De Soto, Wolf, Wickson, Arkansas Lombard, 

 Hawkeye, Stoddard, and common Damson. The varieties suffering the most the 

 past winter were Red June and Willard, both Japan sorts. The hardiest were 

 Wild Goose, Miner, Pottawatomie, and Stoddard; also, Hawkeye and De Soto 

 went through the winter unhurt. The latest-blooming varieties are Hawkeye, 

 De Soto, Stoddard, and Wolf. 



To classify them. Red June, Willard, Abundance, Burbank, Hale and Wick- 

 son are of Japan origin; Wild Goose, Milton, Charles Downing, Pottawatomie 

 and Arkansas Lombard are of the Chickasaw or red varieties; De Soto, Wolf, 

 Forest Garden, Hawkeye, Stoddard and Wyant are of the American class. These 

 are mostly natives of Iowa and other Northern states ; hence their hardiness. — 

 O. F. E., in Western Fruit Grower. 



THE SATSUMA PLUM. 



A correspondent of the Eural New Yorker says: "The criticisms that have 

 been made by many, in relation to the Satsuma plum not fruiting freely, have 

 seemed to apply to young trees, for we are all learning that as the trees of this 

 variety grow older they are inclined to become very productive, in some cases so 

 much so as to surpass nearly all others. It is a wonderful plum in its keeping 

 and shipping qualities, and nothing can compare with it for cannmg purposes. 

 I predict that within a few years Satsuma will take a much higher place in the 

 opinion of orchardists than at the present time." 



CHARACTERISTIC POINTS OF THE ABUNDANCE. 



"Out of the great company of plums the public has sorted the two Japs, 

 Abundance and Burbank," as some one neatly puts it. There may be nothing 

 specially new to tell about these, yet there are two interesting items which a 

 Countrjj Oentle^nan correspondent says he has never seen in print concerning 

 the Abundance plum, and these he gives as follows: 



The first is that the crop does not all mature at once. In fact, in looking 

 over the tree while the fruit is yet green, it will be found that the plums vary 

 greatly in size. This seems to be a difference in age, because it is maintained to 

 the full period of maturity. Hence, the crop of a single tree never ripens all at 

 once, or anything like it. While some of the specimens are fully ripe, others will 

 be hard, green, and not even grown out. While this may be an objection to it 

 as a market variety, because of the increased labor of gathering, it certainly is 

 a most valuable feature in the family orchard or garden, where the entire crop is 

 not wanted at once. 



