The fruit of the native and Triflora plums is so inferior to that of the Domestica sorts for market and domestic purposes, that varieties of these are not likely to take the place of the Domestica plums. Producers and purchasers are now familiar with the possibilities of the natives and of the Orientals and have not been greatly attracted by them in New York. It is true, however, that the natives have been chiefly represented by Wild Goose and the Trifloras by Abundance and Burbank—scarcely the best that these groups of plums can produce. It is true, too, that the varieties have been greatly over-praised and that they now suffer from the reaction. Yet the Domesticas command the market and their reliableness in the orchard gives them a popularity in this region which other plums cannot for a long while trench upon. This brings us to a discussion of the conditions under which plums are now grown in North America and more particularly in New York. Of these, climate, with this fruit, should be first discussed, outranking all others in importance. CLIMATE Climatic conditions determine the culture of the plum not only for a region but for a locality; not only as to whether it is possible to grow plums at all but as to whether this fruit can be grown with reasonable prospects of commercial success in competition with other localities. The constituents of climate which are important in plum-growing are temperature, rainfall and air currents, the last two being largely dependent upon the first. The relationship existing between plums and these factors of climate are fairly well known for they have received attention from the very beginning of plum culture. There are four phases of temperature that need to be considered in order to get a clear insight into the climatic conditions which govern production of fruit crops. These are, the daily, monthly and annual changes in temperature and the extremes in temperature. Of these the daily and annual changes are of little importance. All plants are very adaptable to daily variations in climate and are little affected by them. Annual variations are shown by statements of the annual mean temperatures but such statements are of small value to fruit-growers as they may be the result of averaging very divergent temperatures or temperatures very close together. The monthly mean, however, is a very fair criterion of climate for fruit-growing, especially when given with the amount and distribution of rainfall.