IQI4 



BETTER FRUIT 



Pili/C II 



Plums — Culture and Handling of Shipping Plums 



By H. C. Hlakc, Vacavillc, Califoinia 



THIS article covers conditions ob- 

 taining only in California. I will 

 not discuss the origin of the plum, as 

 it makes but little difference to the 

 practical commercial grower whether 

 it was introduceil here from Asia or 

 Europe or some other place; suflice it 

 to say that nearly all edible plums aie 

 found in the north temperate zone. 

 Species of the wild jjlums are to be 

 found in most all of the countries of 

 both the north and the soutli temi)eiate 

 zones. Plums furnish us more differ- 

 ent varieties than any other cultivated 

 fruit, and also a grcatei' range of llavor, 

 texture, color, size and form. Because 

 of the plum's great variability and the 

 adaptation of the different varieties to 

 dirt'erent climatic and soil conditions 

 it is the favorite fruit for the many 

 amateur i)ropagators in developing 

 new varieties, and the list of varieties 

 is now almost without number. 



For one contemplating going into the 

 shipping pluiu business geologic loca- 

 tion would probably be the lirst impor- 

 tant consideration; next the selection 

 of the proper soil and, third, the selec- 

 tion of varieties, and this last consid- 

 eration to be somewhat influenced by 

 the markets one intends to patronize. 

 At the i)iesent fiine there are but three 

 or four localities in California that are 

 very extensively engaged in the ship- 

 ping plum business, located as follows: 

 What is known as fhe Sacramento 

 River district, comprising that portion 

 of the river territory located between 

 Sacramento on the north and Rio Vista 

 on the south, and including the section 

 around l.odi; the Vacaville district, 

 comprising what is known as the Eng- 

 lish Hills, and the Lagoon Valley and 

 the Vaca A'alley proper; and the Hill 

 section, comprising the Newcastle and 

 the Placerville districts. These three 

 localities are very extensive and suc- 

 cessful plum-growing districts, but the 

 conditions obtaining in each are en- 

 tirely difTeient from the other. If you 

 should locate on tlie river you would 

 find a deep, rich, sandy, sediment, 

 loamy soil with plenty of water for 

 irrigation. Should you locate in the 

 Vacaville district good judgment must 

 be exercised in the selection of a loca- 

 tion. Secure a deep, rich, loaiuy soil, 

 although if ver> well drained a heavier 

 soil may be selected if other conditions 

 are attractive. Should you go to the 

 Newcastle district you will (ind a de- 

 composed granite soil, entirely differ- 

 inl from eifher of the soils Just men- 

 lioned and requiring an entirely dilTer- 

 ent treatment. In the past the Tragedy 

 has been the great favorite plum on 

 the river, but many of the other varie- 

 ties succeed well. In the Vacaville dis- 

 trict it seems that almost every variety 

 known to mankind is being tried out 

 lo the full limif. Of the one hunched 

 and lifty dill'erent varieties of i)huns 

 shipped last sea.son by the California 

 I'ruit Distributors Vacaville seems to 

 liave been repi'esented in almost every 

 varielw Tlie Newcaslle dislrici runs 



strongly to Burbanks, but follows very 

 closely with any new-born favorite re- 

 ported from Vacaville. Placerville 

 conlines her shipments almost exclu- 

 sively to Ponds, known in this state as 

 Hungarian or Cross. 



When the selection of a location, soil 

 and variety has been settled, the next 

 important problem is the root stock, 

 and a big problem it is, and one on 

 which I hesitate to ofl'er advice except 

 in a general way. The first choice for 

 root stock for all locations and condi- 

 tions is the Myrobalan, followed very 

 closely with the peach, but the peach 

 reiiuires a very well-drained soil. A 

 most excellent stock, though but little 

 used on this Coast, is the Marianna, a 

 hybrid oi'iginatiiig some years ago in 

 Texas. It grows very readily from cut- 

 tings and does not sucker or sprout up, 

 as it is conunonly called. Great care 

 must be exercised in the selection of 

 a root stock. Some varieties refuse to 

 make a satisfactory union on certain 

 roots, and other varieties refuse to pro- 

 duce a crop, while still others refuse 

 to produce satisfactory quality. 



In growing your nursery stock the 

 usual nursery practice is followed. 

 The seedlings are budded or grafted 

 the first season, and usually remain in 

 the nursery until the buds or grafts are 

 one year old, and should have attained 

 a height of from four lo six feet. Be- 

 fore the trees are planted in orchard 

 form the land should be well prepared 

 by plowing about eight inches deep 

 with a good turning plow, and this 

 plow should be followed in each fur- 

 row with a good sub-soil plow running 

 to a depth of from sixteen to twenty 

 inches. The sub-soiling is sometimes 

 substituted by the use of dynamite, but 

 this uuist be done when the ground is 

 absoluteh dry. Thorough cultivation 

 must be piacticed during the life of the 

 tree. For planting the ground must be 

 marked olT to require from about 

 ninet>' to one hundred trees per acre, 

 the lesser number being preferable. 

 This is usually done with a wire about 

 two hundred feet long and having a 

 button of solder at every place where 

 a tree slake should be located. Holes 

 should be dug of ample size lo allow 

 for Ihe placing of the root.s without 

 crowding, and the soil well settled 

 around each tree either by tamping 

 with Ihe feet or by the use of water. 



The tree .should be toppcil at once to 

 a height of about sixteen inches. It 

 seems almost superfluous to urge very 

 great care in every act, but it is abso- 

 luteh- necessary to success. In many 

 localities it is necessary to protect the 

 bodies of the trees from the hot rays 

 of Ihe sun during llie first sununer sea- 

 son. This is done by the use of shakes 

 or some of the very excellent manufac- 

 lured free i)rofecfors to be found on 

 Ihe market. During the winter, after 

 Ihe trees have been planted one year, 

 they should be pruned back about one- 

 half or two-thirds of the season's 

 growth, leaving about three or four 



branches in such a position as to form 

 a good strong head on which to build 

 your future tree. Until the tree comes 

 into bearing the pruning uuist be done 

 with the main idea of forming a tree 

 as strong and well shaped as jjossible, 

 and care nuist be exercised to keep 

 from leaving too much wood in the 

 tree, .\fter the tree has come into bear- 

 ing and the cro]) is set Ihe most impor- 

 tant step is thinning. Without proper 

 thinning you cannot hope to meet the 

 strong couipetitlou of those who do 

 thin and jiroduce a fine, smooth, good- 

 sized and well-colored fruit. With 

 some of the new and improved varie- 

 ties it is necessary to thin two or three 

 times. Unless the laborer doing the 

 thinning is an old hand at the business 

 it is scarceh safe to let him look at the 

 ground under the tree after thinning 

 or he will never get enough fruit off. 

 Like everything else, thinning requires 

 good Judgment and exi)erience. 



As the culls from shipping plums are 

 usually a dead loss the pruning and 

 thinning should be done in such a man- 

 ner as to reduce fhe percentage of culls 

 to a mininuuu. .\s to the state of ma- 

 turity for |)icking for Eastern or Euro- 

 pean shipment, no ironclad rule can be 

 laid down. It is another case where 

 the exercise of good judgment and ex- 

 perience is necessary, as what is proper 

 in one locality would be failure in an- 

 other. Great care must be exercised 

 not to disturb the bloom on the fruit 

 in handling. Great variation exists as 

 to the proper ripeness at which to pick 

 the difierent varieties, also the same 

 varieties in difTerent localities. The 

 usual practice by the inexperienced is 

 to pick too ripe and by those after the 

 early markets is to pick too green. The 

 matter of picking must be settled by 

 experience with each variety in each 

 locality. Take, for instance, the Kelsey 

 plum. It will not color on the tree in 

 the Vacaville district until too ripe for 

 Eastern shipment, but will color well 

 en route if picked hard. On the other 

 hand, the same variety in the Lodi dis- 

 trict will show a fine color and still be 

 firm enough for shipment. The Climax, 

 when picked straw color or with slight 

 pink at the apex, will ripen and color 

 lo perfection en route. The Tragedy 

 may be picked as soon as Ihe blue color 

 begins to .show, or it may be left on 

 the tree until almost fully colored and 

 slill go the long route and arrive in per- 

 fect condition. With the long list of 

 varieties now grown in this state it 

 would be useless for me to try to de- 

 scribe the jiroper condition of each 

 variety in each locality in Ibis short 

 article. 



Plums are usually packed in five- 

 pound baskets, four baskets to a 

 crate. The smaller varieties are u.su- 

 ally i)acked three layers, 1x5 or .ix.5, 

 and in some inslances with Ihe very 

 early ones as small as .5x(>. The larger 

 sizes arc usually packed -Jx.") and 4x1, 

 and in some cases 3x4. In the ex- 

 lremel> large sizes they are frequentlv 

 wrapped in individual pajiers instead 

 of being i)laced in layers between long 

 strips of paper, as is the usual custom. 

 The i)acklng should be done in such 



