196 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Added to this its enormous productive- 

 ness, and we have in it a plum on 

 which we can depend for a crop after 

 the Curculio has taken its share, 

 where jarring the tree is not practiced. 

 I believe thinning the fruit in most 

 seasons will have to be resorted to. 



In early hearing it is without a rival, 

 as it will, in many cases, bear fruic in 

 the nursery rows the second year from 

 bud. 



In color it is a deep blue, with a fine 

 heavy bloom, that gives it a handsome 

 appearance which will make it sell in 

 any market at sight. 



Its keeping qualities are remarkable, 

 beating Coe's Golden Drop in this res- 

 pect. Last year I had about a peck of 

 the fruit sent to me by express from 

 New Brunswick, and after this long 

 carriage, at the expiration of one month 

 from the time of taking from the tree 

 they were in a perfect state of preser- 

 vation. 



In quality I would class it as at least 

 good. On this point Mr. Sharp says : 

 "If I were to express the popular 

 opinion here, I should say it is first- 

 class, as nearly all prefer to eat it in 

 preference to all the finest plums; 

 and perhaps I grow as fine plums as 

 are grown in the world by a method of 

 my own, bending them down in Fall 

 80 that the snow covers them, and by 

 fair training and close pruning, get very 

 large and high colored fruit. But I 

 cannot say that it equals the Mc- 

 Laughlin or some other fine plums, 

 although I frequently eat it in prefer- 

 ence where they grow side by side." 



For hardiness there is nothing in the 

 list of good plums at all approaching it. 

 On our grounds this spring the terminal 

 buds were in every instance in perfect 

 condition, when the Bradshaw, within 

 a few feet of them, was killed to the 

 ground, and the Lombard badly injured. 



I have learned that an orchard of one 

 thousand trees has been planted at 

 Dominion City, Manitoba, and the trees 

 have stood the last two winters there per- 

 fectly. I again quote Mr. Sharp where 

 he says : " In hardiness they are un- 

 rivalled, as it originated 50 or 60 miles 

 north of Woodstock, where I found it 

 bearing great crops unprotected. This 

 is the more remarkable when I tell you 

 that we are at Woodstock north of the 

 isothermal line upon which any culti- 

 vated plum will stand up and bear 

 fruit. It will, with fair treatment, be 

 the means of furnishing all sections 

 and soils where civilized man resides 

 in the north with an abundance of fine 

 ])lums that the best judges would eat." 

 He further adds : ** I stake my char- 

 acter as a skilled Pomologist in recom- 

 mending this plum." 



And I would say in conclusion, that 

 I believe this variety to be worthy of 

 very extended trial, not only in the 

 colder parts of our country, but where 

 the very best and tenderest varieties 

 succeed. 



Geo. Leslie, jun. 



MOST PROFITABLE STRAWBERRIES 

 FOR MARKET. 



BY A. M. SMITH, ST. CATHARINES, ONT. 



The most profitable varieties of 

 strawberries for market depend greatly 

 on the markets to be supplied and the 

 distance the cultivator is from market. 

 Formerly the Wilson was considered 

 by most growers the only strawberry 

 fit for market, and many cling to the 

 idea still; and perhaps, taking all 

 parts of the country, and considering 

 all of its good qualities — its hardiness, 

 productiveness, shipping qualities, <fec. 

 — there is no other variety that will 

 excel it in its season. But, for local 

 markets, and markets where size and 

 quality are taken into consideration, 



