2 5 2 THE NURSERY-BOOK. 



Pleroma, Lasiandra, including Melastoma. Melastomacece. 



Seeds. Propagated mostly by cuttings of growing shoots 

 in a close frame at any season. 



Plum (Prunus, many species). Rosacece. 



There are so many species of plums in cultivation, and 

 the varieties of the same species are often so different in 

 constitution and habit, that it is difficult to give advice con- 

 cerning their propagation. All the species grow readily from 

 fresh, well-ripened seeds. The pits should be removed from 

 the pulp and then stratified until spring. If they are allowed 

 to freeze, the germination will be more uniform, as the pits 

 will be more easily opened by the swelling embryo. Plum 

 pits are rarely cracked by hand. The strong-growing species 

 and varieties, especially southwards, will give stocks strong 

 enough to bud the first season ; but the weaker ones must 

 stand until the next season after the seeds are planted. In 

 all the northern states, however, plum pits are usually sown 

 in seed-beds, in the same manner as apple and pear seeds. 

 The seedlings are taken up in the fall, and the following 

 spring set out in nursery rows, where they are budded in 

 August. 



Plums are extensively grown from suckers, which spring 

 in great numbers from tne roots of many species. In France 

 this method of propagation is largely used. So long as 

 graftage does not intervene, the sprouts will reproduce the 

 variety ; and even in grafted or budded trees this sometimes 

 occurs, but it is probably because the tree has become own- 

 rooted from the rooting of the cion. It is a common notion 

 that trees grown from suckers sprout or sucker worse than 

 those grown from seeds. Layers are also extensively em- 

 ployed for the propagation of the plum. Strong stools (page 

 35) are grown, and the long and strong shoots are covered in 

 spring throughout their length the tips only being exposed 

 and every bud will produce a plant, Strong shoots of vig- 

 orous sorts will give plants strong enough the first fall to be 

 removed into nnrsery rows. Mound-layering is also em- 

 ployed with good results. Root-cuttings, handled like those 

 of blackberry, grow readily, but some growers suppose that 

 they produce trees which sucker badly. Many plums grow 

 readily from cuttings of the mature recent wood, treated the 

 same as long grape cuttings. This is especially true of the 

 Marianna and its kin (P. umbellata], which are grown almost 

 entirely from cuttings. Some sorts of the common garden 

 plum (P. domesticii] also grow from cuttings. 



Plums are worked in various ways, but ordinary shield- 



