216 ELUM. 



and put all these to the gravy ; if you find the gravy not rich 

 enough, add a piece of butter. Divide the pig down the 

 back, after having separated the head. Put it on the dish 

 feet outward, the brown skin of course upwards, and the 

 head on either side ; or put it on separate dishes half and 

 half, placing them at opposite ends of the table. Before re- 

 moving the pig from the spit, expose it on each side to the 

 cold air that it may crisp. A pig of the above age takes 

 about two hours before a good fire. It must be attended to 

 constantly, or it will get scorched. 



PLUM (Prunus domestica, L.). The plum of our gar- 

 dens is from the southern parts of Europe, or from Asia, but 

 it has become thoroughly naturalized; the wild native plums, 

 of which there are two or three distinct species, have never 

 been much cultivated. The plum-tree is hardy, and requires 

 little pruning, excepting to cut off diseased branches, and to 

 thin off a crowded top. Pruning is always undertaken before 

 midsummer, to prevent the flow of sap. 



The plum is easily propagated by sowing the seeds of any 

 hardy variety, excepting the damsons, which are rather un- 

 certain, and budding the seedlings when about two years old 

 with desirable varieties. Soils charged with heavy clay are 

 favorable for the plum. The muck from salt-water marshes is 

 excellent manure for this fruit-tree, and common salt is also 

 much approved of; it is applied to the surface of the soil un- 

 der each matured healthy tree, early in spring, in proportions 

 regulated by the size and constitution of the tree ; some cul- 

 tivators put half a peck of coarse salt to large bearing trees, 

 sprinkling the surface as far as the branches extend. Salt 

 is excellent for the plum-tree, both as a fertilizer and as a 

 preventive to the attacks of the curculio, or plum-weevil 

 (Rhynchcenus Nenuphar), an insect whose ravages sometimes 

 entirely destroy the hopes of the cultivator of the smooth- 



