HORTICULTURE 227 



Sparingly known in cultivation, chiefly in the form known as the 

 Sisson plum (var. Kellogg'd). 



In respect to varieties, it is difficult to make any classification of 

 those of the domestica stock. Perhaps the best that could be done 

 would be to make four loose groups, as follows: 1. Damsons, com- 

 prising very small firm plums of various colors, generally borne in 

 clusters, the leaves mostly small. The run-wild plums of old road- 

 sides and farmyards are mostly of the damson type. 2. The green 

 gages, comprising various smallish, green or yellow-green plums of 

 spherical form and mostly of high quality. Keine Claude is the com- 

 monest representative of this group in New York. There seems to 

 be no specific Green Gage generally propagated in this country. 

 The name has now come to represent a class of plums. 3. Large 

 yellow plums, such as Coe's Golden Drop, Washington, and the like. 

 4. Large colored plums, including the various red, blue and purple 

 varieties, like the blue prunes, Lombard, Bradshaw, Quackenboss, 

 etc. In respect to hardiness of the different types of plums, it may 

 be said that the Japanese and domestica varieties are about equally 

 resistant to cold. The Americana types are very hardy. 



The Plum Orchard. Concerning the general question of plum 

 growing, it may be said that the plum is emphatically a special fruit ; 

 that is, it is one which does not have a regular standing in the mar- 

 ket as pears, apples or even peaches have, but is more or less depend- 

 ent for its sale upon the general supply of other fruits. In other 

 words, it is a fruit of secondary importance, so far as the market is 

 concerned. This being the case, it will readily be seen that it is not 

 a difficult matter to overplant for the plum market. 



The plum thrives upon a variety of soils, but it generally does 

 best when planted upon clay loam. It usually thrives best upon 

 lands which are suited to pears, or upon the heavier lands which are 

 adapted to apples. Yet there are many varieties which thrive well 

 upon lands which are comparatively light and sometimes almost 

 sandy. 



The stocks upon which plums are grown are various. By far 

 the greater number of the trees in the north are now grown upon 

 the myrobalan stock, which is a species of rather slow-growing plum, 

 native to southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia. This is the 

 stock which is sometimes recommended in the older fruit books for 

 the making of dwarf trees; but unless the top is kept well headed in, 

 the trees generally make normal growth upon it. Trees grown upon 

 this root are usually larger and finer at one or two years of age than 

 those grown upon other plum stocks, and the probability is that they 

 are nearly as useful from the grower's standpoint as any other. 

 However, there are some varieties which overgrow the myrobalan, 

 and the stock is very likely to sprout from the ground and thereby 

 cause trouble. In the southern states the peach is largely used as a 

 stock upon which to grow plums. It is undoubtedly a very excellent 

 stock for sandy lands, and, in fact, is probably more preferable for 

 such lands than the myrobalan itself. Some varieties of which the 

 Lombard and French Damson are examples do not take well upon 



