t was years ago at our state meeting that he mentioned that as one of
the good plums for Northern Illinois. Well, I put it alongside of the
Wyant and the native plums that are of the same sort. I may state the
conditions under which we grow them. We always cultivate before bloom,
cultivate thoroughly. Before the growth starts we give them a very
thorough spraying with lime-sulphur spray; then just before the bloom,
just before the blossoms open, as late as we can wait, we use about 1 to
40 or 50 of the lime-sulphur solution, also put in three pounds of
arsenate of lead. Then after the blossoms fall we use the same spray
again, perhaps two weeks after that again, and we keep that up for about
four times. We have had abundant crops, and they have been very
profitable.

Pres. Cashman: I am very glad to know that the Surprise plum has friends
in Illinois, and we are also pleased to know that Mr. Street is with us
and we hope to hear from him later. The president of the Wisconsin
Horticultural Society, Mr. Rasmussen.

Mr. Rasmussen: I will say the Surprise plum has given just about the
same results with us--it is the most profitable we have.

Mr. Sauter: I was over to the Anoka county fair; it was the first part
of September, and all the other plums weren't ripe, all the stuff they
had in was green. But all the Surprise were ripe, so that certainly must
be an early ripener.

Mr. Pfeiffer: Not especially early.

Mr. Hall: I was certainly glad to hear Mr. Pfeiffer so ably defend the
Surprise plum. The Surprise plum was the only one I got any good from.
The DeSoto, Wolf and Stoddard and all those, the brown rot got them, but
the Surprise plum had perfect fruit. I am surprised that it has a black
eye from the society.

Mr. Pfeiffer: Your location is where?

Mr. Hall: Sibley County.

Mr. Kellogg: Thirteen years ago I set out a root graft that made about
five feet of growth and just as quick as it got big enough to bear it
was loaded with Surprise plums, but since then it hasn't been worth a
cent.

Mr. Miller: If Mr. Pfeiffer had been in my orchard he could not have
given us a better description of it than he did, of the Surprise plum. I
set it out about fifteen years ago. I think I paid sixty cents for those
seedlings, they stood about three and one-half feet. I never had brown
rot in them. When I set them out I put them with other varieties and set
them so the inside ones would fertilize the outside ones. Afterwards I