Rural School Leaflet 1239 



THE PLUM 



H. B. Knapp 



f£C ^^■p^^HE plum is one of our most difficult fruits to study — 

 V ^k difficult from the fact that the species and varieties 



' of this tree are so numerous and so mixed by crossing 

 that it is almost impossible to describe and classify them 

 satisfactorily. 



This is perhaps one of the least popular of our tree 

 fruits. The fruit is used largely for canning, and in 

 h certain parts of the United States the drying of one type of 

 Y plum, the prune, has become an industry of considerable im- 

 portance. We commonly speak of the prune as being a more 

 or less distinct fruit, but in reality it is a plum with flesh thick 

 enough and firm enough to give a satisfactory product when dried. 

 Almost all our cultivated plums have come from Europe, 

 although their native home was probably western Asia. Among these 

 plums may be mentioned Lombard, Reine Claude, Bradshaw, and the Dam- 

 sons. The Japanese types of plums are also grown largely now, but these 

 varieties are of only fair quality. The quality is usually improved greatly 

 by severe thinning of the fruit, because the trees are likely to over-bear. 

 Two of the most common varieties of Japanese plums are Abundance 

 and Burbank. In addition to the plums mentioned here there are 

 many other types and species, some of them native to this country. These 

 native plums apparently afford an important field for the improvement 

 of our present-day varieties both in quality and in hardiness, and indeed 

 it will not be surprising if future generations develop them to such an 

 extent that they largely replace those which have come to us from other 

 lands. 



The plum will succeed on a fairly heavy soil, but the soil should not 

 be a wet one. A good pear soil is in many respects a good plum soil, 

 while the soil which is most favorable for the growing of peaches 

 is a little lighter than that on which most varieties of plums thrive best. 

 The Japanese varieties prefer a lighter soil than do the other varieties. 

 The axiom which might be laid down, that fruit trees should never be 

 planted in sod or on sod ground, holds true in regard to the plum. Next 

 to the cherry it will thrive in sod better than will other tree fruits, but 

 this does not mean that the plum will not respond to proper treatment 

 when it receives it. The land, then, should be used for some tilled crop 

 the previous year, in order that the sod may have an opportunity to 

 decay partially before the tree is set. 



The plum is commonly planted in spring, although in milder sections 

 of the State it may be planted with safety in the fall provided the land 



