Sherman Nursery Company, Charles City, Iowa 
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7 
Plums 
There are three principal types of plums, 
named after their native lands—American, 
European and Japanese. 
Many of the plums suited for the Middlewest 
are “Hybrids,” that is a cross between two or 
more of the principal varieties, generally com¬ 
bining the hardiness and vigor of the Amer¬ 
ican type with the size and quality of the 
European or the Japanese. 
There is no class of fruit that is more pro¬ 
ductive than the plum. In fact, the tendency 
in many varieties is to overbear, and unless 
judicious thinning is practiced the fruits will 
sometimes be small. Heavy pruning also tends 
to reduce the overbearing of small sized fruit. 
Our plums are all grafted on the roots of 
seedlings of wild plums that we have raised 
from plum pits gathered in the north. Using 
this hardy stock makes our plum trees ex¬ 
tremely hardy. The common practice, espec¬ 
ially in the East and South, is to graft plums 
on peach roots or on wild plum roots from 
France. Such roots, of course, are tender and 
will not stand the severe cold of our winters. 
We are listing here only the varieties that 
have been found to be of value in the Middle- 
west. 
CULTURE 
The enemy of plum trees that gives the most 
trouble and is the most common is Aphis or 
plant lice. These insects attack the tender new 
leaves at the tip of the twigs as soon as they 
appear, particularly the first spring after the 
tree is planted (after the trees are established, 
the Aphis gives little trouble). Aphis are easily 
controlled by spraying the trees with Black 
Leaf 40, using a little hand sprayer. (See 
directions for mixing Black Leaf 40, Spraying 
Calendar on page 10.) 
In planting plum trees it is important that 
they be planted in groups, a plum tree planted 
all by itself seldom does w’ell as some sorts do 
not fertilize their own blossoms and require 
pollen from nearby trees to make them fruitful. 
ELLIOTT —A large, high-quality, late plum of 
pleasant flavor. Stands up well after har¬ 
vest. Good commercial variety. Hardy, 
vigorous and reg-ularly productive. Fruit 
large, nearly round, red. Flesh yellow, firm, 
tender and juicy. Nearly freestone. Very 
good quality. Season: late. 
FIEBING PRIZE —A new big Red Minnesota 
variety. This delicious plum was given the 
high award of the Fiebing Prize at the Min¬ 
nesota State Fair in 19 30. Fruit ripens early, 
is extremely large, firm flesh, excellent flavor 
and beautiful red color. Surpasses the Lor- 
ing Prize in quality. Fully equal to the 
California plums in size and quality. 
GOLDEN ROD —A distinct departure from the 
usual type of red plum. Introduced by Min¬ 
nesota State Breeding Farm. Fruit clear 
yellow, large size, very attractive. Good com¬ 
mercial variety because of its contrast to 
other plums, its firmness and good shipping 
qualities. 
HANSKA (Hybrid) -—This is a cross between 
the native plum and the fine, fragrant Apri¬ 
cot Plum of China. The fruit is splendid 
for eating out of the hand, and when cooked 
retains the apricot flavor. The fruit is about 
1% inches in diameter. The color of the 
fruit when i-ipe is bright red, with a heavy 
blue bloom; flesh firm, yellow, good quality 
and vei’y fi’agrant. It begins to bear the 
second year and ripens the first week in Sep¬ 
tember. Its value for preserves will make it 
popular and desirable everywhere. 
KAHINTA (Hybrid) —A cross between Bur¬ 
bank’s Apple Plum and the Terry. It is a 
good fruiter and hai'dy throughout the North. 
Fi-uit large, 1% to 2 inches in diameter; color 
red, flesh firm, with small pit, and delicious 
flavor. 
LORING PRIZE (Hybrid) —This is a splendid 
fruit, good for canning, delicious to eat, has 
a small pit, is of a bright, attractive color. 
The seed was the Burbank crossed with the 
DeSoto or Weaver Plum. The size is from 
1% to 2 % inches in diameter. It is slightly 
oblong, of bright color, fleshy like the Bur¬ 
bank and nearly freestone, delicious in sweet¬ 
ness and mild in acidity. Superior to the 
lai'ge red California Plum that we see in the 
fruit stores. 
MONITOR —A hax-dy, vigorous and productive 
variety. Introduced by Minnesota Station. 
Fruit vei'y lai’ge, averaging 1% inches in 
diameter. Color dark red, flesh tender, 
sweet, juicy but firm. Good quality. A plum 
for the home, the market and the children. 
Late mid-season. 
PATTEN PLUM (American)—One of the larg¬ 
est and best of all the hardy American 
Plums. It was originated by C. G. Patten 
and later named by the Iowa Agricultui'al 
Experiment Station. The original tree, 
though twenty years or more old, is still 
productive and in good condition. The Pat¬ 
ten Plum is one of the hardiest among 
American Plums, healthy, of good spi'eading 
habit, sets up a well distributed load of 
fruit and is not prone to overloading, a fault 
so generally found with many other Amer¬ 
ican varieties. The Patten blooms a week 
later than the Japan Hybrids and later than 
most of the American Plums, thus genei’ally 
escaping late frosts. The fruit is uniformly 
large, roundish, bright red with bluish 
bloom, firm of flesh, yet tender, very juicy, 
becoming rich, sweet, sub-acid if ripened on 
the tree. Season, mid-September. The Pat¬ 
ten Plum does not have a rival for planting 
in Northern Iowa and nox’th. 
PATTEN XX PLUM (American) —Here is an¬ 
other fine plum, worthy of a place in every 
