FEBRUARY 



IRISH GAR DEN I XG 



23 



One awkward point about its habit of growth 

 is that the fruit spurs — sometimes at first, some- 

 times after a few years— have not a wood bud 

 as well as a fruit bud upon them to continue 

 their growth ; consequently, when the plum is 

 picked the spur dies 



This death of the spurs occurring for 

 a number of 

 years causes 

 a lot of naked 

 wood, so that 

 the older trees 

 of the variety 

 present a 

 curious bar- 

 ren appear- 

 ance for much 

 of the length 

 of the boughs. 

 It is not 

 only a ques- 

 tion ofappear- 



a nee, but 



every year 



that this sort 



of thing goes 



on takes the 



fruiting wood 



further and 



further from 



I li e ground, 



necessitating 



longer ladders 



and also gi\ - 



ing a whip- 

 like unstable 



character to 



the W(.Hul. 

 If one but 



dared to do 



Photo /'3l 



Brgox 



Mr 



it, the Monarch 

 pre-eminently suited 

 make 



ons 



uch 



Leopold nt 



[See next paKe.l 



in its olden 

 for the head- 

 ing-over process to make it llirow out new 

 wood, but, as I said just now. tlio danger of 

 g-otting the silver leaf disease introduced through 

 the wounds is very great. 



.Scarcely ever is the heading-o\er efTectual in 

 producing the new young wood unless the 

 bulk o{ tlie tree is done. 1 iiave seen pruners 

 cut back a few naked bouglis in a tree in this 

 way. but they scarcely e\er break into wood, 

 dying instead, probably because the drain 



on the tree by the other branches does not 

 allow it to break out into vigorous growth. 

 Great carefulness and cleanliness must be 

 exercised in all the cuts made, particularly 

 in old trees where the wounds will of 

 necessity be of large surface, and the heal- 

 ing process consequently of long duration. 



In addition 

 to the silver 

 leaf fungus, 

 another, the 

 m o n i 1 i a (or 

 s c 1 e r o t i n i a) 

 fructigena is 

 causing a lot 

 ol dead wood 

 in plums, and 

 must be 

 rigidly guard- 

 ed against. 



To this end, 

 whatever the 

 age of the 

 tree, the pru- 

 n e r m u s t 

 always be at 

 work, cutting- 

 out any dead 

 spurs, twigs, 

 or boughs. 



It used to 



be the practice 



to send a lad 



with a good 



thick pair of 



glo\es to tear 



out the old 



d e a d s p u r s 



out o'( dam- 



the coarser plums, but 



00 dangerous now, and a 



;i knife must be the rule. 



e commencement of this 



t far less difficulties to the 



the principal necessities 



:ep the trees furnished with 



wood and spurs, and to be 



with ; 

 at tht 

 ii-esent 

 ipples, 



gooti Clean ci 

 As I said 

 article plums 

 pruner tlian 

 being to always 

 health)-, \igorou 



verv \igilant in removing dead and dying wood, 

 wliicli onl\- serves to harbour disease and filth, 

 and is absolutely useless for the production of 

 first class fruit. 



