86 Lessons in Fruit Growing. 



Growing seedlings. Pits for producing stocks should be 

 gathered from vigorous, healthy plum trees. They should 

 be removed from the pulp and stratified in sand, or the 

 fruits may be mashed in plenty of sand, and the sand con- 

 taining the pits should be buried a few inches deep in the 

 soil, in a Avell-drained place, until early the following spring, 

 when the pits should be planted not over three-fourths inch 

 deep, 3 or 4 inches apart, in rows 3^ or 4 feet apart. 



To prevent washing-out of the pits, the planted rows 

 may be covered with narrow boards until the young plants 

 appear, when the boards should be promptly removed. 

 After the plants have started, the soil about them and be- 

 tween the rows should be well cultivated throughout the 

 season. 



Grafting. The young trees should be large enough for 

 budding by the latter part of summer. If the seedlings are 

 intended for crown-grafting, cions may be cut the follow- 

 ing spring, after frost has left the ground, but before 

 growth has started in the stocks or cions, and inserted at 

 once in the crown of the seedling. Root-grafting the plum 

 is not generally satisfactory. The trees may be top-grafted 

 with fair success, as described for crown-grafting, or with 

 autumn-cut cions, tightly packed in dry leaves and kept 

 over winter in a cool cellar. 



Propagation from root cuttings. The plum is readily 

 propagated from root cuttings taken from trees that are 

 growing " on their own roots," i. e., that have not been 

 grafted. The shallow roots may be cut into three-inch 

 pieces in autumn and packed in boxes with alternate lay- 

 ers of moist sand, and the boxes may be stored over winter 

 in a cool cellar. As early in spring as the soil can be 

 worked, the cuttings are planted upright, with their dis- 

 tal end about three-fourths of an inch below the surface. 



