’REMARKS ON FRUITS. 
V>1 
REMARKS OK FRUITS, ETC. 
BY W. B. HANSOM OF FOND DU LAO. 
De^r Sir: —I have been in the State since 1843, moving 
from place to place, and but one season has passed in which I 
have not set out fruit trees, and I hope never to see a year, 
while I live, in which I shall fail to plant them. I have some 
sixty varieties of plums started, some of which are grafted on 
the wild stock. I like to graft in the top, and keep the heads 
well pinched in, especially the first summer. So managed they 
will frequently bear the second season. Grafting so low as 
that the scion will take root is a good plan; but these do not 
come into bearing as soon as those grafted on the top. The 
Lombard, Duane’s, Purple, Imperial, Bingham, Damson, and 
Sugar Plum are profuse bearers. The last two named are good 
for drying for preserves and for market, and sell for almost as 
much as the finer kinds. Of Duane’s Purple, I raised, last 
year, a peck from a graft in a wild tree. Most of my varieties 
stand the climate well. The Peach and the Apricot Plum are 
tender. The Curculio is troublesome to many kinds, but I 
have never known it to touch Duane’s Purple. 
Two pieces of board nailed together and tied against the 
trunks of the trees or bark, coiled by drying, and put around 
them, is a good protection in winter. When the trees are in¬ 
jured, they are hurt on the south or south-west side. The best 
time to graft plums is very early in the Spring; I have grafted 
successfully as early as 20th of March. 
I have lost all my sweet cherries but “Tecumseh,” which bore, 
for the first time, last year. It is a splendid cherry. The Ken¬ 
tish Red is as hardy as a burr oak, and bears well. Virgi¬ 
nia Morello is also hardy and productive here. 
