THE PLUM IN KANSAS. 63 



badly mixed, being no less than four different kinds, with two or three wild ones 

 among them. There were a number of a variety that looks and grows so near 

 like the Wild Goose that almost any one would say it was the same ; but not so. 

 A few Wild Goose mixed in ripen nearly a week earlier than this other kind. 

 This is a better plum than the Wild Goose, is more round, good size, and fine 

 looking. It generally brings twenty-five cents a bushel more than the Potta- 

 watomie. I was told by a fruit man that they were the Moore's Arctic; another 

 tree salesman called them Charles Downing. It is a good bearer and fine seller. 

 In this lot of trees I also found several which reminded me of a picture I used to 

 see in my boyhood days, where the artist tried to show us what the tree with the 

 forbidden fruit looked like ; the foliage looks as green as any I ever saw, and the 

 plums are as red and glossy as paint or varnish could make them, and this a 

 month before they are ripe. The plums look very tempting when red and still as 

 sour as a wild crab. I at first thought them worthless. Some of my customers 

 thought I should have a name for each, and rather insisted on it; so I named it 

 "Devil's Choice." Not a very nice name, is it? But I think you will imder- 

 stand why I gave it that name. It is rather dry and mealy-like, a very dark red, 

 drops easily when ripe, and will lie under the trees and wilt, but seldom rots, 

 while the others named will not keep long after ripening. The Pottawatomie is 

 an enormous bearer, and on that account rather small. It is very thin-skinned 

 and very sweet; would be a poor shipper on account of thin skin, and its sweet- 

 ness attracts the bees— they like to work on them. They are so full of juice it 

 often runs out of the boxes that I haul them around in. 



After the hail-storm I spoke of I had to cut fully ninety per cent, of the tops 

 off of my young trees. Only a very few limbs were left on them. I have done 

 no trimming since; I am not satisfied, in my mind, that it would pay. I be- 

 lieve it would increase the size of the plums some, but I doubt very much 

 whether it would increase the number of bushels sufficiently to pay me, as I am 

 always too busy, and I would not hire it done unless I knew that I had a hand 

 who thoroughly understood his business. While my trees were small and not 

 in bearing I planted potatoes between them ; as soon as they began to bear, I 

 made a pig-tight fence around the orchard and turned my spring pigs in after 

 they were old enough to wean. As soon as the plums began to ripen I turned 

 the jjigs out and commenced to pick the fruit, always shaking the trees lightly, 

 so as to get just the ripe plums each day. The bad plums were carefully picked 

 up each day and carried to the hogs as the good plums were gathered. I have 

 quit turning the pigs m the orchard, as some of the trees are so low that the limbs 

 often touch the ground; but when my plums begin to ripen, I go through the 

 orchard and pick up all the plums, even down to the dry pits, and feed them to 

 the hogs, and always, after that, when we gather the plums, each picker has two 

 vessels, one for the good and one for the bad plums. In this way I know that 

 many of the insects are destroyed, and it makes it much nicer picking when the 

 bad plums are cleaned out from under the trees. We never pick off the trees, 

 but always shake them lightly before beginning to pick up. I do n't spray any, 

 and my plums, as a rule, are as free from marks of insects as any fruit I ever 

 saw grow; and I firmly believe that the surest way to success in plum raising is: 

 First, to plant your trees all in one place; second, plant a sufficient number of 

 trees, so that the enemy of the plum within reach of your grove cannot destroy all 

 of your fruit; third, when your trees begin to bear, look after the refuse plums 

 just as carefully as the good, and you will succeed. 



I have 400 trees— 200 not yet in bearing; they are twelve feet apart in the 

 rows, but if I would start another grove I would plant far enough apart so as to 



