1816.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



2 OT 



the death-dealing Hquid on the fohage, driving 

 from tree to tree as the sprinkHng is effected ; a 

 light shower is all that is needed, and effectually 

 cleans the trees. Passing up one side of a row 

 and down the other side where the trees are not 

 very large, an active man can easily operate on 

 from two hundred to three hundred in a day. 

 Where the trees are too large to admit of their 

 being entirely reached in the manner described, 

 the liquid can be effectually applied with a gar- 

 den syringe. 



PROGRESS OF PLUM CULTURE— A THOUSAND 

 ACRES PLANTED WITHIN THREE YEARS. 



BY M. B. BATEHAM, PAINESVILLE, OHIO. 



It will no doubt be a matter of interest, if not 

 of surprise, to most readers of the Monthly, to 

 learn of the amount of Plum-tree planting that 

 has been done in Ohio within the past few 

 years. If there has been anything like the same 

 amount done in other States, it is pretty certain 

 that our city markets will, in a very few years, be 

 abundantly supplied with Plums, in spite of the 

 persistent opposition of the curculio. 



In the Report of our State Horticultural So- 

 ciety for 1872, some account was given of the 

 orchards of about 8,000 Plum trees, part of them 

 in bearing, near Cliillicothe, and from what we 

 then learned we supposed there were about 7,000 

 trees in orchards elsewhere in the State, of Dam- 

 son, Chickasaw, Lombard, and other varieties, 

 only one-fourth or one-third of them of bearing 

 age. The Report for 1874 gave an account of an 

 orchard of 5,000 trees of Lombard and other 

 varieties, 2,000 of them in bearing, and very suc- 

 cessful, in Huron Co. That year we learned of 

 quite extensive planting, and that there were 

 probably in all about 50,000 trees in orchards in 

 the State. 



Last spring the planting was still more active, 

 and was only checked by the scarcity and high 

 prices of trees. By recent correspondence, I find 

 that about 50,000 Plum trees were set last spring, 

 and that the estimates for the previous two years 

 were below the reality; so that there are now 

 not less than 125,000 Plum trees set in orchard 

 form in the State ; and from present indications, 

 at least 30,000 more will be planted the coming 

 spring ! 

 Of the present orchards, Hamilton county (in 



the south-west), has the largest amount — about 

 50,000 trees— of these 30,000 are in the single 

 township of Columbia. They are mostly of the 

 blue Damson, and have commenced to bear. 

 There are also orchards of Wild Goose, Lombard 

 and finer varieties in that and other townships. 

 The adjoining county of Clermont is reported 

 as having 15,000 or more trees, mostly Wild 

 Goose, Chickasaw and Damsons. In Ross county 

 the planting has now extended to about 35,000 ; 

 full three-fourths of these are of the Shropshire 

 Damson, which is found best of all for distant 

 markets. The trees are grown very rapidly and 

 cheaply in home niu-series, by budding on seed- 

 ling peach roots, and transplanting the next year 

 as with peaches. They are found to grow and 

 bear well, especially on good dry loamy soils, 

 having a friable subsoil. Some of the planters 

 say they prefer the Peach root to the Plum, as 

 producing more thrifty trees. I think the ques- 

 tion of their durability has not yet been suffi- 

 ciently tested. Of course these trees can be 

 grown for one-half the cost of those on Plum 

 roots. 



Huron county has about 10,000 trees, mostly 

 of Lombard and other large kinds. The first 

 planted trees of Lombard were injured by over- 

 bearing, four or five years after planting, when 

 they gave over a bushel each of fruit that sold 

 for $6 per bushel. 



In Warren county the Shakers and others have 

 orchards of a good variety of the Chickasaw 

 plum. It is a native of the south-west, and 

 similar to the Wild Goose, but smaller. It is 

 much used for cooking and canning, and escapes 

 the curculio better than the finer sorts. There 

 are said to be 5,000 or more trees of this and 

 other sorts in the county. Then there are at 

 least ten counties that I have not named, having 

 an average of 1000 trees each ; so that the aggre- 

 gate for the State is not less than 125,000. 



Fighting the Curculio has not as yet been 

 found necessary for the Damson, Wild Goose 

 and Chickasaw orchards. The trees are natur- 

 ally inclined to bear too full, and where there 

 are many in bearing the insects do not seem to 

 be sufficiently numerous to cause more of the 

 fruit to drop than ought to come off. It may be 

 that as the trees grow older the insects will in- 

 crease so as to make jarring or other means of 

 defence necessary. Lombard and finer varieties 

 are protected by jarring and the use of "Catchers" 

 on the the well-known principle of Dr. Hull and 

 others, of which I need not now speak. 



