36 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



them into a pail of hot water, or better still, into a small tin vessel of kero- 

 sene, by varying the contrivance as follows: Instead of the stifFeners across 

 the ends, formed by single rods, let them be two short rods, meeting in the 

 middle. Wlien the middle rod is pulled out these Avill form a sort of hinge, 

 so that the two sides of the sheet may be folded up like the covers of a book, 

 and the insects thrown down into the trough thns formed, and thence into the 

 vessel. In dislodging the insects from the tree, much depends on a sharp, 

 stunning blow. It may be given by the stroke of a mallet, upon the short 

 stump of one of the smaller limbs, sawed off for this purpose, and which pre- 

 vents bruising the bark. Or a mallet may be thickly covered with woolen 

 cloth encased in India-rubber, to prevent injury to the tree; but the jar is 

 less sudden in this case. The late David Thomas (who first proposed jarring 

 down on sheets), in a communication to the Genesee Farmer, in 1832, says: 

 "Not three days ago I saw that many of the plums were punctured, and be- 

 gan to suspect that shaking the tree was not sufficient. Under a tree in a re- 

 mote part of a fruit garden, having spread the sheets, I therefore made the 

 following experiment: On shakiiig it luell, I caught^yecurculios; on jarrinq 

 it with the hand, I caught twelve more ; and on striking the tree tuith a stone, 

 eight more dropped on the sheets. I was now convinced that I had been in 

 an error; and calling in the necessary assistance, and using a hammer to jar 

 the tree violently, we caught in less than an hour more than two hundred and 

 sixty of these insects." With large trees, it may be necessary to jar each limb 

 separately, by means of a pole. 



The best time for this woik is in the cool of the morning, when the insects 

 are partly torpid with cold, and drop quickly. At mid-day they retain their 

 hold more tenaciously, and more quickly escape. The work should be com- 

 menced very early in the season, as soon as the fruit begins to set, or is not 

 larger than a small pea. With properly stiffened muslin frames, a few minutes 

 are sufficient for many trees, and labor equal in the aggregate to that of a 

 single entire day may save large and valuable crops. 



The time required to attain a sufficient size for the orchard varies much 

 with different sorts. The Imperial Gage, the Washington, Huling's Superb, 

 and others, grow rapidly, and usually produce good trees in two years from 

 the graft or bud ; while such slow-growing plums as the Primordian, Green 

 Gage, and Red Diaper require a longer period. 



Soil. — The best soil, usually, is a strong, rich, clayey loam. On many light 

 soils the tree grows with less vigor, independently of which the crop is mora 

 frequently destroyed by the curculio, a pervious soil affording a more ready 

 place of shelter for the young insects, on their escape from the fallen fruit. 

 A few varieties are well adapted to rather dry as well as light lands. 



In planting orchards, a suitable distance is one rod apart, giving one hun- 

 dred and sixty trees to the acre. The ground should be manured and kept; 

 well cultivated, as the plunij especially when young, is sensitive to the effects 

 of the weeds and grass of neglected culture. — /. J. Thomas. 



STANDARD PLUM TREES. 



These are generally four to five feet in height, and like all the stone fruits,* 

 should have heads near the ground, making what we term dwarf or loio 

 standard'^. 



