PLUM 



4710 



PLUMBING 



fruit growers, are cultivated especially in the 

 Pacific coast states and in New York. The 

 Japanese varieties, introduced to American 

 horticulture about 1870, have a more southern 

 range than the European. American native 

 plums, the result of selection and careful breed- 

 ing, are cultivated quite generally in the South- 

 ern states and from the Atlantic coast as far 

 west as the Rocky Mountains. Among the 



THE PLUM 



Form of the tree, as seen during the winter ; a 

 branch, with the leaves and flowers of spring ; the 

 ripened fruit of early autumn. 



popular varieties of plums found in the mar- 

 kets are the green gage, the Lombard, the Bur- 

 bank and the damson. 



Plums are grown in every state of the Union, 

 and the annual yield for the whole country 

 (including prunes) is over 15,480,000 bushels. 

 Among orchard fruits they rank third, follow- 

 ing apples and peaches. Leading states, in 

 amount of crop, are California, Oregon, Wash- 

 ington, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri and 

 Ohio. A plum sold in large quantities in Cana- 

 dian markets is the fruit of the Canada plum 

 tree, a variety of the common American wild 

 plum. This tree is distributed from Newfound- 

 land to Manitoba, and is found also in New 

 England and New York, and farther west. 



Plum trees are generally propagated by bud- 

 ding young shoots grown from seed (see sub- 

 head Bud Grafting in the article GRAFTING). 

 As the trees are usually prolific bearers, the 

 fruit is thinned several times a season, that 

 the ripening plums may be kept two or three 

 inches apart. They are prepared for shipment 

 as soon as they have acquired a good color. 

 See CANNING CLUBS ; FOOD PRODUCTS, PRESERVA- 

 TION OF. W.F.R. 



Consult Bartrum's Book of Pears and Plums; 

 Wright's "Varieties of Plums Derived from North 

 American Species," in United States Department 

 of Agriculture Bulletin /:,'. 



PLUMB A 'GO. See GRAPHITE. 



PLUMBING, plum' ing. There are few things 

 about which the average man knows so little, 

 and about which, if he is a householder, he 

 should know so much, as plumbing. Knowl- 

 edge of its principles is particularly necessary 

 in smaller communities, where plumbers are 

 likely to be out of touch with the rapid prog- 

 ress of sanitary science. But it is helpful any- 

 where, especially in judging whether a plumber 

 is installing unnecessarily expensive work or is 

 omitting wise steps, to save money for himself. 

 Most cities have printed regulations concern- 

 ing the vital points, and, although these are 

 not infallible, in the larger cities they usually 

 embody correct ideas; a copy of them would 

 be valuable to anyone having plumbing work 

 done. 



Modern plumbing fixtures, especially those 

 for the bathroom, are often admired for their 

 beauty, but their cleanliness is what really 

 gives them value. The old-fashioned marble 

 washbowl which collects dirty waste in its joints 

 and corners; the sheathed-in bathtub which 

 gathers dust and dirt around its edges; the 

 kitchen sink built of more or less porous ma- 

 terials which absorb grease and* dirty water 

 all are insanitary; but nothing cleaner can be 

 imagined than the smooth, nonabsorbent and 

 cornerless fixtures it is now possible to secure. 



More important, however, than the visible 

 details of plumbing are its concealed portions. 

 Here the thing to guard against is the escape 

 of sewer gas coming either from the sewer out- 

 side the house or from the drainage pipes 

 within. Every householder should understand 



how a trap operates, 

 for it is in respect to 

 traps that careless or 

 ignorant plumbers 

 make the most serious 

 mistakes. 



The commonest 

 trap is the half S-trap, 

 one form of which is 

 shown in the illustra- 



Vent 



Clean-out 



THE HALF S-TRAP 

 The water in it is 

 tion Since it depends called the seal, because 

 , ., ,. nogascanescape 



for its efficiency upon through it. 



the presence of water, 



every precaution should be taken to prevent 

 the exhaustion of its contents. The chief 

 danger is from siphoning (see SIPHON), which 



