IRISH (;AKni:\iNG. 



1 lUKlARV 



u.scd to be Uk- piaclico lo Iie.id-i'Ncr old stunted 

 plum trees in order to throw them into vi«,'-orou> 

 luxuriant j^'rowth, particularly those sorts in 

 which the wood, throuj^h much croppint,'-, be- 

 comes black and lifeless ; but now, that so much 

 silver leaf disease is about, the practice is at- 

 tended with considerable dant;er unless the 

 wounds are at once protected witli some !:^oo».l 

 specific from the llyint;' funj^ns s|->ores. The 

 (.litVerent varieties o\ plums, like ap|">les, have 

 ditlerent habits o\ i^roulh, and ol course n{:ci.\ 

 lo be (.lealt with in various u avs b\- the 

 pruner. 



The C'/ar, for instance, in ils \ ii^orous \ outli. 

 i^rows verv uprii^ht. and needs much care on 

 the |iart of the piuner to keep the centre of the 

 tree 0]">en. The rule as to ;d\\a\s cuttinj^' to a 

 IhilI pointiui^ outwards must be rij^idl}- observed ; 

 the stroui^- inside i^rowtlis nuisl either be 

 spurred in or cut rii,--!!! out as circumstances 

 admit, but on no account be allow ed to remain, 

 or they will, by the very nature of their upright 

 {.growth, i^o ahead and dwarf and starve the rest 

 of the tree. 



When, however, cropping;- does set in in 

 earnest this uprig-ht habit, by reason of the 

 hug-e weight of crop grown, quickly becomes as 

 open and pendulous as one could wish. The 

 \'ictoria, on the other hand, has a habit much 

 more amenable to the open-centered system of 

 training, so much so that it is \ery often 

 necessary after four or five years to cut, not to 

 an outside bud, but to one inside, and which is 

 therefore likely to produce an upright growth 

 I have said much concerning the danger of plum 

 trees becoming stunted, but, at the risk of re- 

 l^etition, I must say that the \'ictoria is one of 

 the most liable to that danger, and must be kept 

 constantly growing vigorously to produce the 

 liest fruit. Even after the trees get twenty or 

 thirty years old it is necessary to go over them 

 year by year and shorten back some of the young 

 growths to force the trees to keep on producing 

 strong wood. 



If there be any exception to this rule 1 ha\e 

 laid down, it is in the case of Rivers" l-:arlv 

 Prolific, on which it ts somewhat diHicult to 

 attain a crop when it is over \igoious in 

 growth. 



Added to this it is a somewhat difficult variety 

 for beginners to prune, since it has a nasty habit 

 of producing side growths, known amongst 



pruners as miilsummcr wood. o\\ the current 

 year's grow th. 



'I'hese siile growths, which \ary from three or 

 four inclies to a toot in length, almost invariably 

 occui- just .It the |->oint at which, under ordinary 

 circumstances, the prniier would cut. He is 

 therefore faceil with the dilemm.i either to cut 

 too hard ov not ii.ud enough, or Ivi cut to one 

 of these growths, with the danger that the 

 resulting shoot w ill not grow aw;i\- but become 

 stunted. 



I think, on the whole, that it is best to cut right 

 behind these growths it" it is /;/ any ivay possible, 

 h\\\ if not to spur them all in short and cut to 

 one which has a good piominent bud at its 

 base antl which is fairly well situated for 

 direction. 



The question of the stock upon which they 

 are worked, I feel sure, governs the behaviour 

 of many plum tiees. and probably there 

 is .a stock upon which Rivers' Prolific could 

 be worked to crop much better upon the 

 healthy young trees than it does ;it present 

 with me. 



I stated just now that some few varieties might 

 succeed as bushes I had particularly in mind 

 The Heron, a mid-season plum following Czar, 

 w'hich makes very few branches and not many 

 growths, but produces an abundance of 

 natural fruit spurs. I think it would be 

 quite possible to plant trees of it 6 ft. apart 

 each way, and for them to remain many 

 years before being over-crowded, if they ever 

 became so. 



Of course, with such a poor grower, it is 

 absolutely necessary to prune severely at first, or 

 one would only get three or four branches to 

 form the tree, instead of about fifteen to twenty 

 which it should be furnished with. 



A varietv which in its upright habit of 

 growth in its \outh much resembles Czar, 

 though it is not quite so vigorous, is 

 Monarch. It, however, produces a greater 

 number of less strong shoots than that variety, 

 and so more quickly becomes furnished with 

 branches. 



It is a great cropper, and in summer the trees 

 ■are frequently pulled all shapes by the crop ; but 

 the wood being thinner and more elastic than 

 that of Czar, the trees are not made per- 

 manently so pendulous as those of the 

 latter. 



