238 Plums and Plum Culture 



agating them in the nursery. Still, layering is not a 

 very desirable method for general use. If the sand 

 cherry comes to be used much for stocks, perhaps the 

 layer method of growing stocks of this species will be 

 found more useful. 



Cuttings. Some of the plums grow well from cut- 

 tings. This is especially true of Marianna, and mil- 

 lions of Marianna cuttings are made every year in this 

 country, mostly for stocks. It is best to take the cut- 

 tings in the late fall. Cut them to lengths of five to 

 seven inches, and tie in bundles of fifty or one hundred. 

 Place these bundles in boxes of damp sand, sawdust or 

 moss, and keep them from severe freezing till planting 

 time. They may then be set in furrows, or in trenches 

 opened with a spade. The St. Julien plum grows fair- 

 ly well from cuttings, and nearly all the Myrobalan 

 varieties may be propagated in this way. Some of the 

 Japanese varieties, especially Satsuma, have been 

 grown from cuttings in the southern states. Prac- 

 tically, however, propagation by cuttings is confined 

 to the Marianna. 



Budding. The ordinary methods of shield-bud- 

 ding are very extensively applied to the propagation of 

 the plum. This method is used on all stocks. The 

 work is done in August or September, whenever the 

 bark slips best. The process is described in all the 

 books on general horticulture; it has been illustrated 

 and elucidated so often in the horticultural journals, 

 and every fruit grower is so familiar with it, that we 

 need not occupy space to describe it in detail here. 

 Budding is usually easier and cheaper than grafting: 

 and there is a notion prevalent among fruit men that 

 it is better adapted to all the stone fruits. There 

 are certainly some exceptions to be made among 

 the plums. For instance, most varieties when worked 



