FRUITS. 171 



THE PLUM. 



In its superior varieties, this is a delicious fruit, and is gen- 

 erally easily cultivated. It prefers a strong clay loam, but 

 does well in any ordinary ground except a light sand. It 

 should be planted like the apple, though on a smaller scale, 

 as it has a smaller and less vigorous growth. The proper 

 distance is sixteen to twenty feet apart. There are t\vo for- 

 midable impediments in the cultivation of the plum. One 

 i ; an insect, which attacks the wooil, and deposits its egg in 

 the s nailer branches. This is followed by a large swelling 

 or excrescence and if suffered to remain, will soon destroy 

 its prodtictivness. The best and surest remedy is to cut off 

 the branch at once and burn it. The Curculio commits its 

 depredations on the young fruit sooa after the blossoms dis- 

 appear. These are frequently so destructive as to kill the 

 fruit of an entire orchard. Several methods of destroying 

 them have bc^en suggested of which the most simple and 

 effectual is, to plant the trees in such places as will admit the 

 wine and poultry to feed upon the fallen fruit and insects. 

 Salt sprinkled around the tree in the spring is said to destroy 

 t!i":ii. The smoke of rotten wood, leaves and rubbish which 

 have been burned under the trees when in blossom has 

 s mictim^s proved beneficial. Paving the earth under the 

 limb.? to prevent the burrowing of the insects, and some 

 o^her ivmDriies are recommended. This is a serious evil, 

 requiring more observation and experiment than it has yet re- 

 ceived. 



VARIETIES. The common blue or horse plum is cultiva- 

 i-.vi i:i numerous sub-varieties. Some of these are very good, 

 others utterly worthless. Good plums are as easily raised 

 as poor one?. Young trees bearing an indifferent fruit, can 

 bo headed down and grafted as readily as apples, but this rc- 

 q-iiros to 1)3 done a month earlier in the spring and before the 

 buds begin to swell. The best kinds are the Yellow, Green, 

 Autumn, Bleeckers, Imperial, Prince's Yellow, Frost, Purple, 

 and the Red Gages ; Coe's Golden Drop, the Jefferson, the 

 Grunge, the Washington, the Columbia, Smith's Orleans, 

 and the lied Magnum Bonum. 



This last variety is more liable to the attacks of the circu- 

 lio than many others. But its vigorous growth, great pro- 

 ductivnes.s when not attacked and its excellent quality for 

 the table renders it a desirable fruit. For drying, the Ger- 

 man prune is perhaps the best, although several of the plums 



