1 68 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



July, 



Concerning the Marlanna Plum. 



T. V. MUNHON, DEN130N, TEX. 



In 1884 Mr. Chas. N. Eley, of Chambers Co., 

 Tex., the introducer of this variety sent me 

 fruit and trees of it for my opinion, and re- 

 questing that I try it if I thought well of it. 



The trees had been grown from cuttings, 

 were finely rooted, smooth and very thrifty. 

 The fruit was uni- 

 form, about the size 

 of a well grownWild 

 Goose Plum, liut 

 rounder, rich crim- 

 son, firm. The 

 basketful, sent by ex- 

 press :!50 miles, being 

 in excellent condition 

 the meat more solid, 

 inclined to be more 

 free from the pit and 

 of better quality, 

 with stoiie smaller. 

 A branch about 

 eleven inches long 

 had still hanging to 

 it some 20 plums of 

 fine size and ripe, 

 showing the fruit to 

 be more persistent 

 than Wild Goose. 

 There were no insect 

 marks or other de- 

 fects on the fruit. 

 Mr. Eley stated that 

 the fruit ripened con- 

 siderably earlier than 

 Wild Goose. 



The trees were sent 

 at the proper plant- 

 ing season, and were 

 planted in places in 

 a n orchard where 

 other Chickasaw 

 Plums had been dug 

 out, a hard place to 

 start young trees. 

 Yet these grew well 

 and have borne some 

 fruit of about same 

 character as that re- 

 ceived from Mr. Eley. 



I have propagated 

 this Plvun by bud- 

 ding on Peach to some 

 extent, and find it 

 takes as a bud better 

 on the Peach than 

 any other Plum I 



ever tried, including many of nearly every 

 class. But I have mainly grown trees from cut^ 

 tings, and with excellent success, where the Le 

 Conte Pear would not grow from cuttings at 

 all with repeated trials. The trees thus grown 

 become 4 to 6 feet tall in one season here, 

 beautifully rooted and branched. 



The tree has the faculty of growing all the 

 season through,so that it can be budded equally 

 as well and during as long a season as the 

 Peach. I have trees four years old which have 

 repeatedly had the roots cut in plowing around 

 and never yet have I anywhere seen a sprout 

 come from a root, while the Chickasaw varie- 

 ties sprout so badly from the root that an 

 orchard of them on their own roots soon be- 

 comes a thicket. 



The terribly severe drought through which 

 we passed last season never seemed to have 

 any effect on the Marianna cuttings, which 

 made as fine trees as usual. Reports from trees 

 sent to Iowa and Illinois show them to have 

 endured from 20 to 30 degrees below zero with- 

 out injury, and hence I conclude it is equally 

 hardy with the Wild Goose Plum. 



After carefully noting its bloom, growth, 

 leaf and fruit, I am lead to the belief that it is 

 an offspring of the Decaradeuc Plum, crossed 

 with the Wild Goose, or else Wild Goose 

 crossed with 'pollen of Decaradeuc. The last 

 named is a supposed hybrid of Chickasaw with 



the European, or Pi-unus domestica, of which 

 species it shows characteristics. I have grown 

 some seedlings from the Marianna. Some of 

 these closely resemble the pure Chickasaw, 

 others more hke Decaradeuc, and some like 

 parent, or still more like Wild Goose. They 

 have not borne yet. 

 The various remarkable qualities of the Mari- 



THE MARIANNA PLUM. 

 anna enumerated seem to me to render this 

 the coming stock for Peach and Plum, to say 

 nothing of its great probability of superceding 

 the Wild Goose as a direct producer, wherever 

 that variety has been successful. 



Notes of Travel by one of the Editors. 



A desire to meet with the nurserymen of 

 America at their annual convention in Chicago 

 June 1.5 to 18, and to make observations 

 at intervening points, lead the writer to em- 

 bark on a night train west from Buffalo on 

 the evening of June 14, bound for Chicago 

 by way of Detroit. A night's ride brought us 

 some 200 miles west of Buffalo, in Southwestern 

 Ontario (Canada), and by breakfast time we 

 were in the City of Detroit. 



DETROIT. 



In this beautiful City of the Straits a 

 stop of some hours was improved by a visit to 

 various points of interest. A market place is 

 to us, in a strange city, always an attractive 

 place for observation and study, and especially 

 of fruits and vegetables here offered for sale. 

 So we early set out for the central market, 

 which was found a lively business place, indeed, 

 in this respect typical of the city itself. 



Here the Strawberry season was still evi- 

 dently at its height, with a good looking home 



grown product retailing abundantly at from 

 8 to 10 cents a quart. Some of the better 



SHARPLKSS WERE HELD AT A SHILLING 



at stands patronized by the wealthier class 

 of customers. It was easy to see that the 

 Sharpless occupies a leading position with the 

 fruit growers of this region, as it does in so 

 many other regions. 

 It usually command- 

 ed from 1 to 3 cents 

 per quart more than 

 the Wilson. We think 

 it safe to say that ten 

 quarts of the Sharp- 

 less Wbre here offered 

 as against two of 

 any other variety. 



At this market 

 Strawberries are 

 handled almost 

 wholly in drawers. 

 The fanners bring 

 them in on wagons, 

 arranged in crates of 

 four, the drawers 

 holding from 13 to 16 

 quarts apiece. These 

 drawers were being 

 sold from the wagons 

 at 80 cents and -Sl.OO 

 each, reaUzingforthe 

 growers from 6 to 7 

 cents per quart by 

 the crate. 



The florists' wagons 

 loaded with plants 

 still contributed their 

 part towards making 

 a lively market scene. 

 But at the prices at 

 which 



LARGE PLANTS 

 FOUND BUYERS 



from these we should 

 hope that the stock 

 offered represented 

 the very tailings of 

 the season, offered at 

 any figure to close 

 them out. We saw 

 large .5-inch pot 

 Fuchsias and Geran- 

 iums offered at the 

 low rate of 10 cents 

 per pot, and other 

 plants in proportion. 

 Leaving the market we drove through some 

 of the residence portions of the town. 



WOODWARD AVENUE 

 is the main residence street, its upper end 

 being also a leading business street. For 

 miles along this delightful tree-shaded avenue 

 the wealthier class of citizens reside, and 

 here are to be seen some of the finest speci- 

 mens of home grounds and gardens to be met 

 anywhere. Fine stretches of well kept velvety 

 lawn, ornamental shrubs, trees, climbers and 

 flowers abound at every side, all going to show 

 how exquisitely lovely home surroundings may 

 be rendered if but the art of gardening be 

 judiciously employed. Than 



THE TREE ROSES 

 of the Detroit lawns, we think, we have never 

 seen handsomer or more flourishing ones of the 

 class anywhere in America. There may be 

 something in tlie close proximity of the city to 

 large bodies of water that has a favorable 

 effect on the atmosphere for these plants. It 

 certainly is true that if Tree Roses did as well 

 everywhere as they here do there would be 

 less heard from growers of failure with them. 



On this beautiful avenue and adjacent high- 

 ways the same fault of 



OVER CROWDED STREET TREES 



that is apparent in so many of our tree-shaded 

 towns is met. Here are Elms of large size at 



