IMPORTANT FACTORS IN PLUM CULTURE. 



PROF. F. A. WAUGH, 



MASS. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



THE principal factors which go to make 

 up the variety as it is known to the 

 practical plum grower may be roughly enu- 

 merated as follows: i, hardiness; 2, habit 

 of growth; 3, fruitf ulness ; 4, pollination 

 affinities ; 5, resistance to disease ; 6, season ; 

 7, quality; 8, ability to stand shipment. 

 Plums vary greatly in this quality; but in 

 almost every locality the list of varieties!, 

 which may be relied on is so large that 

 growers have not been very attentive to this 

 matter. In the northwestern states only, 

 where winters are very severe, it has been 

 found that none but the Americana and 

 Miner-like varieties can be depended on; 

 and consequently they have practically sup- 

 planted all others. 



Many plums now in cultivation are curs- 

 ed with the most objectionable habits of 

 growth. This is true of the native plums 

 as a whole, and almost without exception, 

 They are wild and wayward growers. They 

 seldom make good, nicely shaped tops. They 

 may be symmetrical and comely enough dur- 

 ing youth, but old age brings out their wild 

 and untamed nature. They resent pruning 

 and training. The tops get so full of zig- 

 zagging twigs, dead branches and thorns 

 that the blackbirds can't get in to build their 

 nests and are obliged to fly away to the ap- 

 ple orchard. I think that those enthusias- 

 tic western plant breeders who are bending 

 their most praiseworthy energies to the pro- 

 duction of native plums with larger fruit 

 and thinner skins, might well spend some 

 pains to get a variety with a tree amenable 

 to the practices of civilized horticulture. 

 There are very few plum trees, however, of 



any type or class, which make comely, man- 

 ageable trees. Burbank is sprawling, and 

 Wickson grows too straight and willowy. 

 Gen Hand makes too much wood, while Mc- 

 Laughlin doesn't make enough. These 

 things have to be taken into account in the 

 selection of varieties. 



Most varieties bear too much and too of- 

 ten. Many varieties will bear themselves 

 to death if left alone. There are few sorts 

 which one need reject on account of shy 

 bearing, though there are a few, of which 

 Gen Hand and Wickson are perhaps ex- 

 amples. For the rest, the grower has 

 rather to plan for careful thinning of the 

 fruit. The grower should select somewhat 

 carefully with a view of proper pollination. 

 This, however, is a subject by itself, and has 

 been so often discussed of late that we may 

 safely let it pass here. 



The principal diseases which attack the 

 plum are monilia, or ripe, rot of the fruit, 

 and black knot. Both of these diseases can 

 be controlled by proper management; and 

 the careful plum grower will therefore take 

 small thought for the selection of varieties 

 which shall be exempt. Most of the so- 

 called " iron-clad " and " immune " varie- 

 ties, moreover, have proved not to be so 

 ironclad nor so immune when it came to the 

 test. We used to hear that the Japanese 

 plums were not subject to the attacks of the 

 black knot ; but we now know better. There 

 are measurable distances among varieties in 

 their susceptibility to disease, and this may 

 be a consideration, though hardly ever a 

 prime consideration, in the selection of va- 

 rieties. — American Horticultnrist. 



