154 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



injured by a little insect called the 

 curculio, causing the fruit to decay or 

 fall to the ground before ripening. The 

 curculio is a small grayish brown insect, 

 about one-sixth of an inch long, and with 

 wings that appear like two little humps 

 on its back. Owing to the crescent- 

 shaped mark that it makes when biting 

 into the young fruit and laying its eggs, 

 it has also been given the name of the 

 " little Turk." However, fine crops 

 can easily be obtained in most sections 

 of the country, notwithstanding this 

 insect. One of the simplest or surest 

 methods is to plant the plum trees in a 

 chicken yard, or to turn the plum orch- 

 ard, if not large, into a poultry yard 

 when the trees become of bearing age. 

 If pigs are allowed to run in the orchard 

 and eat up all the injured fruit as it 

 falls, then they will prove almost 

 equally as serviceable as chickens. 

 Another method is to plant the trees 

 on the edges of brooks or ponds, so that 

 the branches shall hang over the water. 

 Still another is to have the ground 

 closely paved with large flat stones or 

 shells around the trees. As plums are 

 always picked from the trees, and not 

 from the ground, none of the above 

 plans will interfere very much in 

 gathering the fruit. I could give many 

 other successful plans for preventing 

 the fruit from being injured by the 

 curculio, but must now turn my atten- 

 tion to giving descriptions of some of 

 the finer varieties of plums. 



The General Hand is a handsome, 

 very large, golden-yellow plum that is 

 supposed to have originated near Lan- 

 caster, Pa. The fruit is of a roundish 

 oval shape, and frequently marbled 

 with greenish-yellow. It is a showy, 

 attractive looking plum, sweet and 

 moderately juicy, and of fair quality ; 

 ripens in September. It succeeds better 

 in New York, Pennsylvania, and in 

 some of the Gulf States than it does at 

 the West or North. 



Wild Goose — This is proving quite 

 a favorite in many localities, but espe- 

 cially in places where it has been 

 considered difficult to grow the ordinary 

 varieties of pi ums. It has been heralded 

 throughout the length and breadth of 

 the country as being a " curculio-proof " 

 plum. Though this is not strictly the 

 case, yet it appears in many places to 

 be less attractive to that little insect, 

 either on account of its thicker skin of 

 something distasteful in the fruit. The 

 wild goose is of small or medium size, 

 round, of a yellowish red color, and 

 ripens moderately early. Though it is 

 excelled in quality by some other plums, 

 yet, as it succeeds so generally through- 

 out the United States, and even in 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota, it will pro- 

 bably continue to be a favorite. 



The Richland is a plum that is not very 

 widely known. The fruit is of medium 

 size, of a purplish red color, tinged with 

 blue, of oval form, and of quite good 

 quality. It ripens in August, at about 

 the middle of the plum season. It is 

 grown for either market or table use, 

 and thus far mostly within the Middle 

 States. 



Pond's Seedling is one of the largest 

 and most beautiful of plums. The fruit 

 is of oval form, skin of a yellow color, 

 profusely dotted with red, and with a 

 white bloom. It ripens in September, 

 and is of moderately good quality. It 

 is of English origin, and has not yet 

 been very generally tested, but thus far 

 has proved quite promising where 

 grown. 



Coe's Golden Drop, Imperial Gage, 

 Washington, and Yellow Egg are some 

 of the largest, best, and most delicious 

 of yellow plums, and are very general 

 favorites. The first is quite a late 

 variety, and the second moderately early. 

 Lombard, a reddish purple plum, is 

 popular on account of its great hardines.' 

 at the far North. 



