PLUM. 



PLUM TREE WEEVIL. 



nnder their several heads, it only remains to 

 speak in this place of the wild and cultivated 

 species of plum tree. The wild plum tree 

 (P. domest ica) is a moderate sized tree, without 

 thorns, found growing sometimes in woods and 

 hedges, flowering in May. The fruit is rather 

 oblong, seldom quite globular, its colour and 

 flavour very variable. "Whether all our cul- 

 tivated plums have originated from this spe- 

 cies, or from the wild bullace tree" (P.imititia), 

 says Sir J. E. Smith, "its thorns having disap- 

 peared by culture like those of the pear tree, 

 is a question which perhaps no botanist can 

 ever solve." As to its varieties, Gerarde de- 

 clares that " to write of plums particularly 

 would require a peculiar volume, and yet the 

 end not be attained unto, nor the stock or kin- 

 dred perfectly known, neither to be distin- 

 guished apart." He adds that each country 

 has an abundance of its own peculiar varie- 

 ties. All the kinds of plum grow well in any 

 common soil, and are increased by seeds or 

 suckers, or by grafting or budding to perpetuate 

 the particular kinds. There are 274 varieties 

 named in the catalogue of the Horticultural 

 Society. As a choice selection for a small 

 garden, Mr. Nicol recommends the following 

 twelve varieties: Jaune Htive, Wilmot's Or- 

 leans green gage, red magnum-bonum, white 

 ditto, Coe's golden drop, Caledonian, mussel, 

 damson, wine-sour, white bullace, blue impe- 

 ratrice. 



The best plums for cultivation may be thus 

 classed 



o. PURPLE Rouyv.^-Shoots smooth. Purple gage; 

 nectarine plum; Kirkes ; virgin; queen- 

 mother. 



Shoots downy. Royal native; Orleans; 

 early Orleans ; Coxe's fine late red; wine- 

 sour. 



b. OHI.\(;. Scoots smooth. Blue imp<':ratrice ; 

 Inkworth imperatrice; Cooper's large red 

 Shoots downy. Blue perdrigon; Shrop- 

 shire damson. 

 a. PALE HOUND. Shoots smooth. Green gage; 

 Knight's large green drying; Lucombe's 

 nonsuch. 



Shoots downy. Drap d'or; Mirabelle; 



Washington. 



6. OBLOXR. Shoots smooth. Coe's golden drop; 



St. Catherine ; White magnum bonum. 



Shoots downy. Gumaraen ; White per- 

 drigon. 



If plum trees are much pruned, they grow 

 too luxuriant to produce fruit, and often gum 

 and spoil. The choice varieties of plums are 

 much esteemed for the dessert; the more com 

 mon sorts are used for pies, tarts, preserves, 

 &c. The wood is employed for turnery and 

 cabinet work, and for the manufacture of mu- 

 sical instruments. 



The following information relative to the 

 cultivation and management of plum trees, is 

 from a communication made by Mr. S. Reeve, 

 of Salem, N. J., to that valuable American 

 work, Hotfy's Orchardist's Companion. 



Plum trees, like other fruit trees, when first 

 transplanted, and for a few or several subse 

 quent years, should be managed and cultivated 

 alike ; but when the plum tree has arrived to 

 maturity and ready to bear, the soil around it 



should be thrown into a hard texture, for in- 

 stance, of the consistency of a gravel walk. 



A pig and poultry yard which remains un- 

 cultivated, and never suffered to become a 

 sward, is also very appropriate, from the cir- 

 umstance of its being promenaded over con- 

 stantly by bipeds and animals so as to preclude 

 the possibility of grass growing. 



In a soil of this description, owing to its he- 

 ng compact and consequently remaining drier, 

 the trees do not grow so fast as in cultivated 

 grounds, the beneficial result is, that the sap cen- 

 tres itself more in the fruit ; whereas, when the 

 sap is too abundant, it is more apt to flow past 

 the fruit into the branches, and thus ultimately, 

 from a want of nourishment, the plums drop 

 off in profusion, owing to their starved condi- 

 tion, and not so much, as it is often supposed, 

 from the bore or sting of the curculio, of which 

 it is frequently found divested when picked 

 from the ground. 



From a compact position or nature of soil 

 as before described, another important advan- 

 tage arises : although not operating as a perfect 

 antidote to the attacks of the curculio, it is 

 nevertheless a great preventive to its depreda- 

 tions, from the circumstance that this insect, 

 when the fruit does fall, not meeting with a 

 surface or soil such as sward, garden ground, 

 &c., in which to take shelter until the following 

 spring, when it hatches and assumes the 

 winged form, and again commences its destruc 

 live attacks upon the fruit. 



Mr. Reeve submits it therefore as his opi 

 nion, that it would fully repay any person 

 for his trouble or expense in removing (which 

 should only be done when vegetation is 

 checked) from the plum tree, when it has ar- 

 rived to the age of 8 to 10 years, all the rich 

 subsoil from around the tree in a circumfe- 

 rence of from 10 to 12 feet down to the clay 

 soil, and fill up the space again with poor earth, 

 sand, or gravel, so as to check the growth of 

 the tree for the benefit of the fruit, in accord- 

 ance with the first principles stated in this ar- 

 ticle. 



PLUM TREE WEEVIL. It is now well 

 known that the falling of unripe plums, apri- 

 cots, peaches, and cherries, is caused by little 

 whitish grubs, which bore into these fruits. 

 The loss of fruit, occasioned by insects of this 

 kind, is frequently very great ; and, in some of 

 our gardens and orchards, the crop of plums 

 is often entirely ruined by the depredations of 

 grubs, which have been ascertained to be the 

 larvae or young of a small beetle of the weevil 

 tribe, called Rhynchcenus (Conotrachelus} Nentp- 

 phar, the Nenuphar or plum-weevil. "I have 

 found the beetles," says Dr. Harris, cf Boston, 

 " as early as the 30th of March, and as late as 

 the 10th of June, and at various intermediate 

 times, according with the forwardness or back- 

 wardness of vegetation in the spring, and hav< 

 frequently caught them flying in the middle uT 

 the day. They are from three-twentieths to 

 one-fifth of an inch long, exclusive of the 

 curved snout, which is rather longer than the 

 thorax, and is bent under the breast, between 

 the fore-legs, when at rest. Their colour is a 

 dark-brown, variegated with spots of white, 

 ochre-yellow, and black. The thorax is ur 



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