85 



It must be remembered that the plum is by no means 

 easy to bud or graft in a very dry climate. Care must 

 therefore be taken to choose not only the precise season for 

 the rising of the sap in the stock, but also to judge of the 

 local weather which prevails at the time of taking the job 

 in hand. Insert the buds, by preference, on the south side 

 of the stock, work quickly, and tie somewhat more tightly 

 than is usual with other buds. 



Comparatively speaking, the plum is a very hardy tree 

 and equable in its growth, which never reaches above a 

 moderate height. It may therefore be permitted to run to 

 the standard shape, if the particular variety tends that way. 

 Most varieties will balance themselves pretty uniformly if 

 the ordinary care be taken the first year or two in shaping 

 the head. The plum will allow of a larger number of 

 principals to be" left after the second year, and this 

 will result in making the usual bushy or pyramidal 

 head. The plum really requires very little pruning beyond 

 thinning out a too crowded head, which is almost all the 

 winter pruning that the tree will bear ; in the summer a 

 pinching back and thinning out of the laterals is recom- 

 mended. The object is to produce as many as possible of 

 the short spurs which carry the fruit. Hence such long 

 straight laterals as may be retained must be shortened in 

 to at least half their length, and upon them the expected 

 spurs will begin to start ready to carry the next year's 

 crop. At the apex of these laterals new growths will be 

 formed in their turn, and such of these as are retained 

 must be treated in the same way. 



Perhaps the most important feature in plum growing is 

 the production, on a commercial scale, of the dried prunes. 

 It is probable that the output of this wholesome and excel- 

 lent product will in a few years double itself again and 

 ugain, while the growing of plums for market for ripe fruit 

 will have but little significance. The best imported French 

 prunes are made of the Prune D'Agen, Brignole or Maitre 

 Claude. But other kinds of plums are also used. The 

 fruit is gathered when just ripe enough to come away 

 easily, and laid without touching on frames of lath. On 

 these it is exposed for several days to the sun until quite 

 soft. Every example that is the least touched by insects 



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