A Plea for the Plum - Trees. 23 



A PLEA FOR THE PLUM-TREES. 



" Surely you are not ordering plums ? " said a friend a few days since, 

 looking over our shoulder as we were writing an order for the " few more 

 fruit-trees " which every one owning an acre of land feels it incumbent 

 upon him to plant each spring. " And why not ? " we returned with some 

 warmth. " Simply because you can't make them grow, in the first place; 

 and, in the second place, won't get any fruit." Two gratuitous and untrue 

 assertions, as we proved to our friend, and as we are about to show to you, 

 O pomological reader of " The Journal of Horticulture " ! And, first, any 

 one can make a plum-tree grow ; for there is no fruit-tree more easily trans- 

 planted, or which will more readily adapt itself to various soils. Yet the 

 result of the growth is usually a plentiful crop of black-wart ; and the har- 

 vest of fruit, both from the diseased state of the tree and the attacks of the 

 curculio, is reduced to a minimum. A few years of this result generally 

 satisfies the most ardent cultivator of plums ; and some spring morning his 

 plum-trees go into the brush-heap, and their places are supplied by dwarf 

 pears or other more desirable fruit. This had been our friend's experience ; 

 and thus his surprise that one whom he had credited with some slight 

 knowledge of horticulture should deliberately order plum-trees. 



If memory serves us, however, not all the plum-trees that came in re- 

 sponse to that order are planted in our garden ; and a certain then incredu- 

 lous friend is now looking forward to crops of plums of his own raising. 



And thus it chanced, our order filled, we lighted our cigars for a stroll in 

 the garden. A turn in the walk brought us in sight of some small trees, or 

 rather overgrown bushes, which seemed loaded with flower-buds, and which, 

 to the practised eye, at once revealed themselves as plum-trees. The bud 

 developed into snowy bloom ; and flower, in turn, to golden, green, and pur- 

 ple plums. No black-wart marred the smooth beauty of the branches, nor 

 aphis curled the leaves. Year follows year with the same promise, which 

 a little careful culture, and attention given at the right time, fulfils in due 

 time. How is it done ? Some five years since, we determined to grow 

 plums ; not being willing, in this respect, to admit the doctrine of impossi- 

 bility. Having been through a curculio experience, and not having a large 



