THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 1 19 



Besides the plants discussed above various nondescript members of 

 the genus Prunus are used as stocks for cultivated plums under particular 

 circumstances or for particular purposes. Seedlings of Munsoniana plums 

 are supposed to be preeminently adapted for low wet lands. J. W. Kerr 

 believes that seedlings of Prunus hortulana are excellent stocks for native 

 plums as they never sucker. 1 The Sand plum (Prunus augustifolia 

 watsoni) offers possibilities as a -stock for dwarfing larger growing species. 

 According to Hansen, 3 who reviews the literature and describes several 

 experiments of his own, the western Sand cherry (Prunus besseyi) 

 dwarfs varieties worked upon it and has the merits of being extremely 

 hardy and of producing trees which bear early and abundantly. As stated 

 in the discussion of Subcordata, stocks of this plum have been used on 

 the Pacific Coast and discarded because it dwarfs trees and suckers badly. 

 According to Wickson,' the apricot and almond are sometimes used as 

 stocks for plums in California and in some instances with considerable 

 success. 



Lastly, suckers are not uncommonly used by plum-growers for certain 

 varieties. Thus in the western part of New York, the plum-growing region 

 of the East, several varieties as the Reine Claudes and some of the Dam- 

 sons are propagated from sprouts taken from the base of old trees. This 

 method can be used, of course, only when the trees are grown upon their 

 own roots. The writer was told by plum-growers in Germany and France 

 that most of the plums in gardens and small plantations, constituting the 

 majority of the plums in the two countries, were propagated from suckers. 

 This method has small merit except that it enables a grower to get a few 

 trees cheaply and perhaps gives a better tree of some varieties for a heavy 

 soil. Beyond question it gives trees with a tendency to sucker an un- 

 desirable attribute. 



In the horticultural literature of the time recommendations for top- 

 working plums are rather frequent. It is true that many varieties of 

 plums grow slowly and make crooked growths, especially in the nur- 

 sery, but in the attempts at grafting in New York the failures are 

 more conspicuous than the successes. If top-working is decided upon, 

 the earlier in the life of the tree it is done, the better. For the Domesticas 

 at least, the Lombard is probably the best stock. The method of top- 



1 Waugh Plum Cult. 247. 1901. 



'Hansen, N. E. S. D. Sta. Bui. 87. 1904. Ibid. 93:68. 1905. 



' Wickson, E. J. California Fruits 348. 1891. 



