CORRESPONDENCE ON THE BLACK WARTS OF THE PLUM TREE. 



277 



your budding knife. Hold the scion in 

 your left hand by the upper or crown end. 

 With your knife make a clean sloping cut 

 at the lower end, of about an inch in length, 

 leaving a thin lower edge, with the bark 

 projecting a little over the wound ; (two or 

 three buds besides the crown bud should be 

 left above the slope.) Insert this prepared 

 lower end of the scion into the incision, 

 press it carefully down — it will separate 

 the bark as it goes — until it reaches the 

 lowest point of the T incision ; the bark, 

 embracing it tightly, will add to its support. 

 Nov/ bind the wounded part of the stock, 

 from below upwards, with a coarse woolen 

 yarn ; if the stock is over three inches in 

 diameter, a double ligature is preferable. 

 The after treatment, (heading down the 

 stock, &c.,) is the same as in budding, with 

 this exception; if all the shoots put forth, 

 trim down to one or more, as you please. 

 The growth of the first season may be three 

 feet ; but owing to its tendency to reas- 

 sume the true shape, that is, to form at 



once a branching head, it is retarded in 

 height, unless the side shoots are shortened. 



Graft-budding appears to me to have ad- 

 vantages over all other forms. I find it 

 more certain, as well as more easily per- 

 formed, than any mode of grafting ; and, 

 at least in this climate, it may be practiced 

 seven months of the year, or whenever the 

 bark will peel, and you can get scions with 

 crown buds. If it fails, it does not render 

 unsightly the appearance of your tree, as 

 in cleft-grafting. It can be performed in 

 one minute of time, and without wax or 

 grafting clay. 



It is generally adopted by those to whom 

 I have imparted it, in preference to any 

 other method. Indeed, some of my ama- 

 teur friends will take any spur and insert 

 it successfully in this style. With much 

 esteem, yours, A. H. Peck, m. d. 



Port Gibson, Miss-, Oct. 7th, 1843. 



P. S. I wish I could hand you a ripe 

 pomegranate, now before me, six inches 

 (either way,) in diameter. 



CORRESPONDENCE ON THE BLACK "WARTS OF THE PLUM TREE. 



BY F. WESTON, OF SANDY HILL, N. Y., AND PROFESSOR HARRIS, OF CAMDRIDGE, MASS. 



The following letter, addressed to us by 

 one of our correspondents, and covering a 

 small branch which had been attacked by 

 some insect, we forwarded, with its con- 

 tents, to Dr. Harris, the well known ento- 

 mologist. 



The writer, Mr. Weston, conceives that 

 the black warts or knots, so troublesome to 

 plum cultivators in some parts of the coun- 

 try, are the result of insect attacks. 



It will be seen that Prof. Harris does 

 not incline to this opinion. We are, also, 

 led to think it more probable, from recent 

 observations, that these warts are caused 



by a disease of the sap vessels, and have 

 found a wash of copperas-ioater a pretty 

 effectual remedy, after cutting out the dis- 

 eased parts. Ed. 



A. J. Downing, Esq. — Dear Sir : I take 

 the liberty of enclosing to you a small por- 

 tion of a branch of a plum tree, in which is 

 distinctly to be seen the insect which causes 

 " the knots," so destructive to that tree in 

 some parts of the country. 



I do it for the purpose of furnishing to 

 you the evidence, upon which you can settle 

 the question which has for a long time been 

 discussed by pomologists, but never has. 



