THK PLUM IN KANSAS. 5 



branched shrub, the branches often ending in a stout thorn. Plum 

 wood is useful in cabinet-work and turnery. The plum is chiefly 

 cultivated in France (in the valley of Loire), in Germany, and in 

 Bosnia, Servia, and Croatia. In America the plum suffers greatly 

 from the ravages of the curculio. The Japanese plum {P. japonica), 

 though not insect proof, is a valued acquisition in California and the 

 southern United States. 



Cherry plum : A cherry-like form of the common plum, the variety 

 P. myrohalana. Also called Myrobalan plum. 



Wild plum: Any undomesticated plum. Specially {a) the P. 

 spinosa. {b) In eastern North America, the wild yellow or red plum, 

 or Canada plum, P. americana; it has a well-colored fruit, with a 

 pleasant pulp, but tough acerb skin ; is common along streams, and 

 sometimes planted, (c) In western North America, P. suhcordata, 

 whose red fruit, which is large and edible, is often gathered, {d) In 

 South America, Pappea capeih^is. {e) In New South Wales, a tree, 

 Sideroxyloji australis, with drupaceous fruit, some very tall, having 

 a hard, pretty marked wood, available for cabinet purposes. 



PLUMS IN GENERAL. 



From Thomas's "American Fruit Culturist." 



In no branch of pomology has greater progress been made the past 

 twenty years than in the improvement and development of our native 

 plums and in the introduction of foreign varieties. The bringing in 

 of the Japanese i^lums marks an era in fruit culture in the United 

 States. 



Pkopagation : Seedlings.— As with most fruits, plums rarely come 

 true from seed, although some varieties vary but little from the parent 

 stock. The stones should be selected from the choicest kinds, and 

 treated in j)lanting precisely as directed for the peach, but greater 

 care must be exercised to prevent their drying, which occurs much in 

 consequence of their smaller size and thinner skin. It is better to 

 crack them, without which many will not vegetate the first year. — 

 Stocks. — The stocks heretofore used for growing plums have generally 

 been seedlings of the domestic type (especially the Myrobalan, or 

 Cherry plum), which, when the varieties of the European plums do 

 well, are usually satisfactory, although upon light or unfavorable soils 

 they are apt to produce feeble and slow growing seedlings. For the 

 Southern states the Chickasaw stock is preferable, and in the Northern 

 states and throughout the country generally seedlings of the best of 

 the americana group, in consequence of their greater hardiness, are 



