208 On the Cultivation of the Plum. 



whole of it to the depth of fifteen or twenty inches. At the time, 

 I had a fine lot of cherry and peach trees which were covered 

 with flower buds ; but as soon as the warm weather of spring 

 came on they soon gave signs of decay, and, before the close of 

 summer, were all nearly or quite dead. Grapes, strawberries, &c., 

 shared the same fate.* I was much surprised, however, to notice 

 the vigor of the plum trees that season ; they made uncommonly 

 large shoots ; and the foliage was of a dark green and most vigor- 

 ous growth ; they seemed, in fact, to have taken a new start, and 

 they have ever since continued to grow with the same strength, 

 bearing full crops every season, more particularly the last. The 

 bark is smooth and free from all excrescences of any kind ; and the 

 fine appearance they have is entirely different from any other I 

 have seen. 



Plum trees I have found are kept in better health and a more 

 vigorous state, by setting their roots somewhat higher in the soil than 

 most other trees. In planting I have set them at the distance of 

 about twenty feet apart. In pruning, considerable care is requisite, 

 and the branches should not be cut indiscriminately as is often done 

 by many persons, taking out a branch here and there, and leaving 

 the tree without any shape ; in the first place, very few large limbs 

 should be taken off at all ; all trimming should be performed on 

 the young wood, and the judicious pruner must look ahead a year 

 or two if he would excel in the cultivation of the plum. Cut out 

 the branches in the middle of the tree and keep it open, so that the 

 air and sun can penetrate freely to the fruit. In the month of July, 

 part of the new shoots should be rubbed off with the fingers, and 

 the others headed down so as to make them throw out laterals upon 

 which the greatest quantity of fruit is produced ; keep the branches 

 well shortened, and every year, in the month of July, go over 

 the trees and rub off and cut away as above directed. By this 

 course of culture the trees will be more dwarf in their growth, and 

 the branches, being kept thin of wood, will produce a much larger 

 quantity of fruit.' 



The grafting of the plum on peach stocks has lately prevailed to 

 a considerable extent with nurserymen, and many trees have been 

 spread about the country grown in this manner. A k\v years since, 

 I visited many of the nurseries near the city of New York, and 

 purchased from one or two a large number of plum trees. I did 

 not know, at the time, that they were on the peach stock ; but when 

 I received the trees and commenced setting them out, I immediately 

 perceived what they were. They were planted with the same care 

 that all my other trees were, and during summer they made a vig- 



* Residing in tlie same iieigliborhood, and veiy near Mr. Pond, our 

 garden suffered in a like degree witli his. Many of our trees were in- 

 jured, and strawberries and many other small plants totally destroyed. 

 The plum trees were, however, all the more vigorous. — Conds. 



