130 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



"To get the desired cross we plant the selected varieties in close 

 proximity, so that the natural fall of pollen will the more surely do 

 the desired fertilizing, and the seed thus produced being planted, 

 the most promising of the seedlings selected and set in orchards for 

 fruiting, and, after fruiting, the best in tree and fruit being selected 

 from which to grow seeds to try again, and so ou, at each repetition 

 I find there is a gain. The young trees that fruited this year for the 

 first time gave a larger percentage of first-class apples than any lot 

 ever fruited before." 



A CARGO A DAY OF BANANAS. 



The necessity for improving the quality of our fruits was never 

 more potent than at the present time, for to compete with tropical 

 fruits ours must be the best possible. An item from the newspapers 

 emphasizes this when it says a Now York firm has secured an island 

 near Cuba, where they have succeeded in developing the finest 

 bananas ever seen in the United States. Some of the bunches are 

 nearly as large as flour barrels. Beginning with September 1st, the 

 firm proposes to land a cargo in New York every day. 



SUSPICIOUS PLUMS. 

 The Secretary has received several inquiries regarding the Niagara 

 and Greeley plums. They were both introduced as distinct varieties 

 but their similarity to the Bradshaw has led many to question 

 whether they may not be the same. The Secretary of the American 

 Nurserymen's Association reports that "few can see any difference 

 between the Niagara plum and the well known Bradshaw." 

 A writer in the Maine Farmer of recent date says : 

 "Bradshaw is one of our best plums, but to sell it by a false name 

 at double its regular price is a fraud, and the trees have undoubtedly 

 cost the farmers of this country many thousands of dollars more than 

 they would had they been sold by their true name. Brother farmers, 

 let us profit by our past experience, and ever beware of the new- 

 fangled fruit treps. In my opinion, the Greeley plum, which is intro- 

 duced by the same freeman that humbugged the farmers by the 

 Russian mulberry tree, will turn out, like the Niagara, to be some 

 old standard variety." 



