120 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



working is to graft in early spring or bud in late summer. Grafting 

 ought to be used more often than it is to renew the tops of injured trees, 

 as the difficulties in doing this are not much greater than in the case of 

 apples. 



PLUM ORCHARDS AND THEIR CARE. 



Plum trees in New York are set from twelve to twenty feet apart. 

 The amount of room given seems to depend mostly upon the custom in 

 the locality, though, as all agree, it should depend upon the soil and the 

 variety. The deduction which plum-growers are drawing from these 

 experiences is that the plum should have more room than is generally given 

 it, therefore, wider plantings are more the rule now than formerly. Little 

 attention has been paid to mixed planting for cross-pollination in this 

 State, as the Domesticas are planted almost exclusively and seem under 

 orchard conditions to be self-fertile. 



In this region plum trees are usually planted two years from the bud, 

 the exception being the Japanese which are sometimes set at a year from 

 the bud. Plum trees in the past have been headed at three or four feet 

 above the ground but the tendency now is to head them lower half the 

 above distances, and in orchards so planted there seems to be no incon- 

 venience in tilling with modern implements. In the commercial orchards 

 of the State the heads are formed of four or five main branches and in 

 the case of the Domesticas and Insititias about a central trunk but with 

 the Trifloras the leader is often removed leaving a vase-formed head. After 

 the head is formed the subsequent pruning is simple, consisting of cutting 

 out injured and crossed branches and heading-in long, whip-like growths. 

 The Trifloras receive more pruning than the European varieties, as much 

 of the fruit is borne on the growth of the previous season and it is necessary 

 to keep the bearing wood near the trunk. It is the custom to cut rank 

 growing Trifloras severely but the value of such a procedure is doubtful, 

 as the more such a plum is pruned the more it will need pruning in the 

 years to follow. A better plan seems to be to curtail the food and prune 

 as little as possible, though on rich soils the tree would probably grow 

 out of all bounds unless cut back somewhat year after year. 



About the only cultivated native plums to be found in New York, 

 if a few Wild Goose trees here and there are excepted, are on the grounds 

 of this Station. Experience here demonstrates that, prune as you will, 

 certain varieties of the native species will remain crooked, ungainly and 

 unkempt. Pruning some varieties is necessary in order to permit pickers 



