PRUNING THE PRUNE 



313 



get suckers from a wild stock. Sprout-grown trees can not, how- 

 ever, be defended unless some special point like that claimed by 

 Mr. Gillet can be attained by them. 



PLANTING AND PRUNING 



As with other trees, there is difference of opinion as to the 

 best distance apart for plum trees. The present tendency is 

 toward wider planting; not nearer than twenty feet is the usual 

 advice, and on rich land, twenty-two or twenty-four feet is better. 



The plum, in California, is a most rapid grower; six to ten 

 feet from the bud or graft in a season, and about as much after 

 the first winter's cutting back, is not at all unusual. At this rate 

 of progress, then the tree soon runs up and away, in a spindling, 

 sprawling fashion, unless severely cut back for the first few years. 

 Neglected trees of some varieties show long, streaming branches, 

 arching outward, and exposing the bark to sunburn (to which 

 it is very sensitive), breaking the tree to pieces as the fruit gets 

 weight, and, even if supported by props, breaking off at the bear- 

 ing of the prop. This condition of the tree can only be obviated 

 by low heading and moderate cutting back each year, with due 

 regard to limiting the amount of bearing wood to get large fruit. 

 For such plum varieties the suggestions on forming the tree and 

 subsequent treatment in the chapter on pruning will be found help- 

 ful. This reference to repressive treatment for brittle-wood plums 

 is emphasized by experience with the Sugar Prune of which 

 Mr. Leonard Coates of Morgan Hill says : 



"The sugar prune is a great bearer, but the tree must receive very different 

 pruning from that given the French prune. The annual growth must be short- 

 ened in every winter from one-half to two-thirds, and all laterals and fruit 

 spurs must be cut back at every pruning. Of course, judicious thinning out 

 of wood also needed. This will result in a very large, showy product for long- 

 distance shipments, as fresh fruits, which have brought satisfactory returns." 



Pruning the French Prune. Growers of the French prune, and 

 other varieties of similar growth of strong and pliable wood, have 

 reached substantial agreement as to the best practice. The old 

 method of cutting back bearing trees has been abandoned. Cutting 

 back the young tree to secure sufficient low branching is followed 

 by thinning of shoots from this low head so that the tree shall 

 not become too dense or carry too much bearing wood. . The 

 strength in the head depends upon proper spacing and arrange- 

 ment of the branches as insisted upon in the chapter on pruning; 

 and large, well-ripened fruit, which is essential to successful and 

 profitable drying, is conditioned upon avoiding excess of branches 

 and admission of sufficient light to the tree. 



A rather longer central stem is retained than in the old style, 

 and a central stem throughout is admissible if one prefers it and 



