40 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



PRUNING. 



When I set the trees, I cut out all superfluous branches, and cut 

 back all limbs to form a well proportioned head. For the first three 

 or four 3'ears I cut back about one-fourth to one-half of the previous 

 year's growth, always in the spring before the trees start to grow. 

 They should not be pruned at the trunk, but at the end of the 

 branches. No stone fruit will bear pruning as we prune the apple 

 and pear. 



The plum in this part of the State is the most profitable fruit 

 grown. There is always a demand, at a good price, while apples 

 and pears are a drug in our markets about every other year. 



Mr. D. P. True of Leeds Centre read the following paper : 



NOTES ON PLUM CULTURE. 

 By D. P. True. 



The cultivation of this fruit has been attracting more attention 

 among fruit-growers of late ; and its great productiveness and early 

 bearing added to its ready sale in our local markets go a long way 

 towards making it a very popular fruit. Having given the plum con- 

 siderable attention for the past fifteen years I will give a brief state- 

 ment of facts and theories. My first experience was with an old Dam- 

 son tree that had struggled on for years, a disgrace to the premises. 

 I began to try all the remedies that I could hear of with very poor 

 success until I commenced to cut off the black knot, and the tree 

 was so badly diseased that it was finally cut down ; but it sent up 

 vigorous shoots that have borne many bushels of plums ; but the 

 best was that it learned me this lesson, that by care and constant cut- 

 ting I could control the black knot. Black knot in those days was 

 thought to have been caused by an insect, but late years our 

 scientists have established the fact beyond a doubt that the cause is 

 of a fungoid nature, and the disease is spread from tree to tree b}- 

 spores that float in the air, and that being the case, it would seem 

 that to burn the black knot is as important as to cut it off, as it i& 

 claimed that it will send off its spores just as readily after being cut 

 as before. 



In plum-growing a proper location is of greater consequence 

 than in most other fruits for the following reasons : In the first place 



