56 THE PLUM IN KANSAS. 



prolific bearers, and seem particularly suited to our soil and climate. I believe 

 them to be a seedling that has not yet been described; have been unable to trace 

 them back to their origin, but still hope to succeed in doing so. Some of the 

 trees not over six feet high bloomed this spring. I have Lombard, Bradshaw, 

 Spaulding, Shippers' Pride, Moore's Arctic and German Prune in quantity, with 

 a few of many other varieties on trial. ... I prune these trees somewhat 

 after Hale's rule for pruning the peach — that is, by cutting back in March about 

 half of last year's growth — but shall cut less as the trees get more age." 



SAVED HIS TREES BY MULCHING. 



A correspondent of Popular Oardening tells how he saved his plum crop in 

 the summer of 1890: July and August were very dry, and I began to have fears 

 that I would lose my pjiums from this cause, as the leaves began to droop and the 

 plums to shrink. To counteract the effects of the drought, I covered the ground 

 under the trees, so far as the branches extended, with coarse manure to the depth 

 of six or eight inches, and then thoroughly soaked it with water. The watering 

 was repeated after a few days, and I was agreeably surprised to see the trees re- 

 vive, the plums swell out plump and nice, so that, as a result, I harvested a mag- 

 nificent crop of choice plums which readily brought four dollars a bushel. 



HOW TO PLANT A PLUM ORCHARD. 



There is a tendency toward too close planting and sometimes this is carried to 

 extremes. I have seen several plum orchards planted 10x10 feet that, even now, 

 when only five years old, have much the appearance of thickets. Cultivation is 

 impossible, the fruit is small and difficult to get at, insects find a safe harbor, and 

 the whole arrangement is unsatisfactory and unprofitable. The condition grows 

 worse with each year. In most cases the suggested remedy, removing alternate 

 trees, will not be followed until too late, if at all, and within a very few years the 

 whole must of necessity be destroyed and the labor of planting lost. The most 

 common practice is to plant 15x15 feet, but this is too close for fully developed 

 trees of spreading habit. A better plan is to plant 15x20 feet, or to adopt the 

 accepted California practice and allow 20x20 feet. 



There seems to be a decided preference for low-headed trees, on the ground 

 that they are less subject to injury from winds, and that less trunk is exposed to 

 the action of the sun. With low-headed trees the disadvantages of close plant- 

 ing are more quickly apparent. The best formed trees are those headed at from 

 thirty to thirty-six inches from the ground, and this is the distance preferred. 

 Young trees are frequently injured by what are known as frost cracks, a longi- 

 tudinal splitting of bark and wood on the south side of the trunk, occurring in 

 late winter or early spring, and attributable to the extreme daily range of tem- 

 perature, which often occurs at this season. To guard against this injury, the 

 trunk should be protected in some way. 



Various devices have been used, but we have found wrapping with burlap the 

 most effective and least expensive. Burlap that had been used for baling was 

 purchased at dry-goods stores for two cents a pound, and cut into four-inch strips, 

 three and four feet long, one pound giving, as an average, nine strips. These 

 are wound spirally on the trunks, being held at the top by a lap and by tying 

 with cord at the bottom. One man can cover from fifty to sixty trees an hour, 

 with the material prepared and ready at hand. The covering is applied in No- 

 vember and removed in April or May. The same bands will serve two or three 

 seasons. The whole cost is less than one cent a tree, and well repays the trouble. 

 — C. S, C, in Denver Field and Farm. 



