CULTURE. 403 



practised, and as successfully, if free-growing kinds only are used, as 

 in the apple ; it is also done in same way : we cannot recommend it. 



Transplanting and Distance Apart. — The plum tree is per- 

 fectly hardy, and we prefer in all cases to transplant in the fall, say 

 October. The shoots of the year should be cut back to form a 

 round regular head, and all small or slender-grown shoots cut out ; 

 The roots, with exception of tap-root, should only have the ends 

 trimmed smooth, the tap-root should be cut out. The distance apart 

 of the plum depends very much on the variety ; such sorts as 

 Green Gage, Cloth of Gold, Ace, requiring only to be about fifteen 

 feet apart, while the Imperial Gage, Washington, &c., would be 

 better at twenty feet. 



Soil and Situation. — The soil generally recommended for suc- 

 cessful growth and fruiting of the plum is denominated heavy clay ; 

 this, by some, is construed to mean a soil so devoid of sand as to 

 bake and crack open after periods of heavy rain ; we have been un- 

 able to perceive any special difference in the success of growers in 

 varied soils, relative to the growth, hardihood, or bearing habit of 

 trees. That certain elements are requisite in the soil, wherever a 

 tree is planted, to supply suitable food for the growth and perfecting 

 of both fruit and wood, we do not doubt ; but as yet, we are to learn 

 that a cultivator who plants on clay soil will be any more success- 

 ful either in health of trees or procuring a crop of perfect fruit, than 

 he who plants on what is termed usually a light or sandy soil, and 

 supplies that soil, if deficient, with the elements requisite for the plant 

 to support health. Analysis of the plum tree and fruit has not, to 

 our knowledge, as yet been made. The trees appear to grow, both 

 in nursery and orchard, equally well on sandy as on clay soil : the 

 insect curculio, and the leaf-blight or defoliation of the trees in July 

 and August, black warts, &c., &;c., are equally injurious in one as the 

 other location. Native wild trees are found growing in all soils, 

 and in our rambles we have met with trees equally healthy and pro- 

 ductive, equally attacked in fruit by curculio, and rot or decay, in 

 leaf-blight and black knots, in all soils, from strong clay, through all 

 intermediates, to sandy soils. We therefore say, plant the plum in 

 any good soil which is well drained. The situation suited to the 

 plum is that where the soil is well drained, and where the inos*- 

 convenient. 



Pruning. — The plum grown as a standard tree, with head formed 

 four to six feet high, requires little pruning, except to shorten back 

 each summer or spring such shoots as are becoming too vigorous 

 and likely to destroy the regular form of the tree, or to cut out 

 weakly-growing and unripened shoots. A round-headed tree, with 



