THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. I17 



In this region the St. JuHen is probably the next most common stock 

 in plum orchards though trees on it are for most part old, as its use is on 

 the decrease. There is a wide-spread opinion among plum-growers that 

 this is a much better stock for Domestica and Insititia plums than any- 

 other. On St. Julien stocks varieties of these species, it is claimed, with 

 much to substantiate the claim, produce trees that are longer-lived, thrif- 

 tier, hardier, deeper feeders, sprout less and are less susceptible to changes 

 in soils. The chief objections to this stock are : It is more expensive, some- 

 times scarcely obtainable in France; difficvilt to bud; the young trees 

 do not make as good growth as on the Myrobalan stocks; and the 

 yearlings are much more susceptible to fungi while in the nursery row, 

 though the latter troubles can be remedied wholly or in part by spraying. 

 Hansen, in the reference given above, says that " the St. Julien and 

 European Sloe {Prunus spinosa) both winter-killed ' ' in South Dakota when 

 used as stocks. The St. Julien stock is propagated from layers when 

 properly grown in France ' but much undesirable stock is now raised 

 from seed. There are fruiting trees of this stock about the nurseries in the 

 neighborhood of this Station which show it to be an Insititia of the Damson 

 type, a type likely to come fairly true to seed yet not sufficiently so as to 

 make seed-grown trees desirable. 



The Horse plum was formerly used as a stock by nurserymen a great 

 deal but is now wholly superseded. Indeed, it is so nearly lost to the trade 

 as to make it almost impossible to really know what the plum of this name 

 is. Some describe it as a small-fruited Domestica, others as an Insititia 

 similar to the St. Julien, but the majority of the trees shown by old nur- 

 serymen in the nursery region of New York, about the only place in which 

 the stock was used, show it to be a Cerasifera but not M}'robalan. Some 

 of the named varieties of Cerasifera probably sprung from sprouts of this 

 stock. It seems to have had no qualities which would make it worth 

 while to attempt to re-establish the stock. 



The testimony of a large number ot nurserymen is in favor of the 

 peach as a stock for plums. Budded on the peach, plums of many varieties 

 are grown very successfully on the warm sandy and gravelly soils so well 

 suited to the peach. This stock enables the tree to make a quick growth 

 and come into bearing early, and the roots do not produce sprouts. The 

 budding with the peach is easily done, the young trees make a vigorous 



' Carrie re, E. A. Prunier Saint Julien. Revue Horlicole 438-439. 1892. 



