PEACHES, PLUMS AND CHERRIES 331 



years before we came into possession. It would hardly be classed as a remark- 

 ably thrifty tree, and yet it is healthy, free from black knot, and does not 

 seem to be troubled by the curculio. Our chickens have the free range of the 

 woods where it grows, and this fact may, to some extent, account for its free- 

 dom from insects. In fact, from our experience in the past, we believe that 

 a chicken yard is about the best place for plum trees. All the old European 

 varieties are peculiarly liable to the attacks of the curculio, and a regular 

 jarring of the trees in a poultry yard will keep them down as effectually as any 

 plan we have ever tried. Then, too, the droppings of the poultry will give 

 much plant food to the trees. Plums of the more recently introduced Japan- 

 ese varieties are inclined to grow long, rank shoots and to get overloaded. 

 The pruning should be similar to that of the peach to preserve the trees in 

 a round headed shape, and to keep the fruit spurs well distributed over the 

 tree. One fact in regard to plums, and especially the native and Japanese 

 sorts is the repugnance they have in many varieties to self impregnation. 

 Hence it is important that the varieties should be well mixed together in the 

 orchard. A farmer who had an orchard of the Wild Goose plum asked me 

 one day why it was that only one corner of the orchard bore heavy crops. I 

 asked him if there were any other plum trees near that corner. He said that 

 there was a hedge row of the native Chicasa plums there. The reason was 

 then quite apparent, for the wild plums were helping to set the fruit. While 

 plums do well in a sod after they have attained a bearing size, we would, as 

 in the case of apples and pears, grow the sod solely for the benefit of the trees 

 and would not cut hay from it, but simply keep it mown and let the grass 

 decay where it falls. In addition to this an annual application of 300 to 

 400 pounds per acre of a mixture of acid phosphate and muriate of potash, 

 in proportion of five parts of the phosphate to one of the potash, will keep up 

 the fertility of the soil and the health and productiveness of the trees. 



CHERRIES. 



Cherries, like plums, will thrive well in uncultivated soil, as is well at- 

 tested by the immense trees along the fence rows in the Middle Atlantic 

 States. But the Morello class of pie cherries thrives best under the same treat- 

 ment as the peach, and should be well cultivated if fine crops are expected. 

 The sour cherries are the only ones that can be grown with success in the 

 South Atlantic coast region, though the finer sorts thrive in all the mountain 

 country of the Southern Alleghanies. The same treatment as to manuring 

 that has been advised for the peach will suit the cherry as well. In the South, 

 the trees of the larger cherries should always be upon the Mahaleb stock, and 



