114 WILD. PLUMS FRUIT ALLEY. 



budding nor engrafting. A sucker from this root 

 soon grows a fine tree, and of so little delicacy that 

 it may be set in a hedge. The small yellow, or 

 yellow and pink coloured, is the best for eating; a 

 large purple, called the Whitcorn but the name 

 is perhaps local is best for preserving. A row of 

 such trees about the outside of the garden, with 

 some in the shrubbery, and one or two in the best 

 soil, will prove a valuable treasure. The fruit is 

 not greatly prized, but is always eaten; and it re- 

 joices the table for a whole year by excellent pre- 

 serves. No one can look without pleasure on those 

 trees covered all over with purple and golden fruit 

 in clusters and swarms. In blossom, towards the 

 end of April, they are the most beautiful objects in 

 nature shooting into the sky the most picturesque 

 forms of aerial lightness, and white as the clothing 

 of angels. Yet is so bright a beauty associated with 

 a happier sight the season of ripe plums and pre- 

 serves, and the smiles of children looking for a jelly 

 piece. 



As a useful and interesting addition to the ordi- 

 nary methods of standard cultivation, let one or 

 both sides of some convenient walk be thickly 

 planted with paradise stocks; the rows to be each 

 four feet from the walk, and the trees in the row 

 not more than three feet apart. Supposing the 

 walk to be thirty yards in length, you will thus 

 have sixty young trees, which will cost, I believe, 

 less than two shillings. When they have stood 

 one or two years they may be grafted; and in case 



