TRANSPLANTING STOCKS. 137" 



small-sized garden trees may be raised on the smaller 

 kinds of the Canada Plum. The first year's growth, and 

 even the second, is quite vigorous on them ; but after 

 that the vigor diminishes, and the trees become quite 

 prolific. This and the Cherry Plum are principal stocks 

 for dwarfing. 



Plums for seeds should ripen well on the tree ; they are 

 then gathered, the pulp washed off, and the seeds dried 

 and put away in boxes of -sand, in alternate layers, as 

 recommended for cherries. They may be sowed in fall or 

 spring, as circumstances, already mentioned, will admit. 



Nearly all plums used for stocks may be propagated by 

 layers. Mother plants, or stools, are planted out and cut 

 back as recommended for Paradise, etc. ; the shoots of the 

 previous season's growth are pegged down flat in the 

 spring, and two inches of earth drawn over them. Every 

 bud on these layers will produce a shoot that, generally, 

 will be well enough rooted in the fall to be separated from 

 the stool, and planted out into nursery rows the following 

 spring. These layered shoots are cut off close to the old 

 plant, and the upright shoots produced during the pre- 

 vious season may be again pegged down. 



The stools, or mother plants, managed in this way, re- 

 quire the best treatment to maintain their vigor, that a 

 supply of strong shoots may be produced every season fit 

 to lay down in the spring. Weak, slender shoots, unfit 

 to layer, should be cut out early in the season, to aid the 

 growth of those intended for use. 



SECTION 3. TRANSPLANTING STOCKS. 



This comprehends three separate operations taking 

 up, dressing or pruning, and replanting / but before 

 touching on the details of these operations, it may be well 

 to consider 



1st. The age at which Stocks should be transplanted. 

 On this point there seems to be a diversity of opinion. 



