48 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



It has one special merit. Now, the Lombard and a good many other 

 plums 'when cooked, even with a pound of sugar to a pound of 

 plums, will still be sour. The German Prune is different in that re- 

 spect ; it cooks a good deal sweeter. I would not want to warrant 

 any of these trees to be entirely exempt from the black knot. The 

 Pond's Seedling has succeeded very well in many neighborhoods. 

 It is a large, beautiful plum. It is not exempt from the black knot. 

 The Heine Claude de Bavay is very highlj^ esteemed. It has a most 

 exquisite flavor. The Quackenboss is thought very highl}' of. It is 

 rather a coarse plum but sweet and ver}- good. It is productive and 

 grows to a good size and looks well. It is grown quite large Ij^ up 

 the Hudson and is rather a popular plum. 



Mr. Knowlton. Are these varieties all hardy as far as you know? 



Mr. Augur In our latitude we have not suffered at all from 

 winter killing. I do not know how it would be here. 



Mr. Merrill. I would like to inquire what distance apart Mr. 

 Augur would plant plum trees? 



Mr. Augur. In the large plum orchards near Geneva, I think 

 they are planted twenty or twenty-five feet apart, but in our little 

 enclosure we put them a good deal closer than that. We did it 

 merely because we wanted to occupy that hen yard to its fullest 

 capacity. When it has borne a full crop it has been a wonderful 

 sight to see the trees universally loaded with fruit. 



Mr. Pope. I would like to inquire of Mr. Augur if he has had 

 any experience in shaving off the black knot and applying anything 

 instead of cutting the limb off". 



Mr. Augur. Yes. If I saw two or three black knots coming out 

 very near the stem of a tree where it would mutilate the tree badl}' 

 to cut the limbs off I would shave off the knots and then take a 

 woolen rag or something of the kind and rub the shaved surfaces 

 with spirits of turpentine to destroy any roots of the fungus that 

 might remain. But the trouble with me has been somewhat as in 

 attempting to stop a flock of sheep going over a wall. After two 

 or three get over it isn't much use to try to stop them. We have 

 proved that when a tree has become affected with black knot it is 

 liable to go in spite of us. 



Mr. Pope. That has been the practice with some of our fruit 

 growers, to shave quite deeply and apply spirits of turpentine. 



J. W. True. I should like to know whether the plums recom- 

 mended would work well in Maine with our length of season. 



