PLUMS : THEIR CULTIVATION AND VARIETIES. 101 



to jar down the insects. Soon after the blossoms have fallen 

 from the trees and the small fruit may be seen, we take a mallet 

 of good size, such as can be used with one hand, with a handle 

 three to four feet long ; a piece of cloth — the smoother the 

 better — say from three to six feet wide according to the size of 

 the trees, with a strip of wood on each side and end to keep the 

 cloth in place. The strip of wood on one side of the cloth is in 

 two pieces and the cloth has a slit about half way of its length, 

 running half way through its width, so that when the cloth is in 

 place for jarring the tree, the body or trunk of the tree will be at 

 about the middle of the cloth ; when it is so placed one of the two 

 holding the cloth will strike the head of the iron plug with the 

 mallet and instantly the cuculios, if there are any, will drop down 

 on the cloth, rolled up in a little ball looking like anything but a 

 winged insect, but a good deal like a ripe hemp seed. 



After jarring three or four trees in this way the insects that 

 have fallen on the cloth can be shaken together, and then turned 

 into a pail partly filled with water with a little kerosene on top, 

 where they soon perish. Some use a mallet covered with rubber 

 or other soft material and strike directly on the limbs of the trees. 

 This way may become necessary where the trees are quite large. 

 The object is to shake down the insects and destroy them in the 

 easiest and quickest possible way. 



Some go through their plum orchards and only shake the trees, 

 and so disturb but do not destroy the pests. Still others sprinkle 

 their trees when wet with air-slaked lime or ashes and so secure 

 some fruit, but there is no plan so effectual as the jarring down 

 on a cloth and destroying the insects on the spot. This jarring 

 must be done every morning for from four to six weeks if the 

 insects are numerous, requiring about an hour each morning for a 

 hundred trees. 



If the work of jarring has been faithfully performed and the 

 trees have blossomed well and set fruit, much labor may be 

 required to thin it. This should be done in some cases to save 

 the trees from the effects of overbearing and to secure good sized 

 fruit. 



There are many good varieties of this fruit, but for market we 

 should advise the planting of very few sorts. We have found 

 that a large blue plum sells better than a green or even a red one. 

 The public will not buy a delicious Green Gage so quickly as they 

 will the large showy Bradshaw. 



