We have many wild plums in Iowa, which vary in quality from good to worthless. Generally, plums that are soft when ripe, have thick and unpalatable skins and are worth but little, except for eating fresh from the trees. Some of the wild kinds, are not inferior to the best tame plums for canning, and but little skill would be necessary to improve them in size and in other respects, by cross-fertilizing the blossoms of the best kinds with pollen from the largest of the tame varieties.