THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



The tree does not grow so shapely as some, and if 

 left alone, sends up innumerable suckers. On this 

 account you will find that the Bleecker is short-lived, 

 and needs very frequent replanting. However, 

 you can get so many small trees for your replant- 

 ing that it will cause you little trouble to always 

 have enough Bleecker trees, while the small trees 

 will begin to bear at three years of age. The mar- 

 ket call for plums is first for Bleeckers, and after 

 that for Shropshire Damson and Green Gage. The 

 plum is, par excellence, the fruit for preserves, for 

 jam, for puddings; and no country home can com- 

 fortably begin its career without a few plum trees. 

 Meanwhile, you cannot afford to wholly overlook 

 the prunes — which are only a sort of plum. Among 

 the best sorts are Fellenberg, Sugar, Pacific, and 

 Giant — say one of each. 



A select list of pears, affording a good succession 

 from July to April, would be, for early summer, 

 Margaret, Tyson, Clapp's Favorite, Bartlett; for 

 autumn, Flemish Beauty, Onondaga, Seckel, Shel- 

 don; for early winter, Anjou, Danas Hovey, Law- 

 rence, Nelis ; for later winter use — to be kept like 

 winter apples — Josephine, Patrick Barry, Col. Wil- 

 der, and Oliver DeSerres. There are so many 



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