118 THE PLUM. 



THE PLUM. 



This fine feuit can be grown in much colder parts of the 

 country than the Cherry, the tree being much hardier than any 

 of the Heart and Bigarreau class. Wild Plums are found grow- 

 ing in aU parts of the Dominion, and may by judicious cross-fer- 

 tilization become the foundation of a very hardy and valuable 

 race of Plums. 



The Prunes of commerce are dried Plums, by no means as 

 highly flavored as those which every Canadian housekeeper may 

 provide by drying the Plums grown in our own fruit gardens. 



The tree will grow in almost every soil, but it is most at 

 home and yields its best and heaviest crops in heavy, clay loams. 

 In sandy soils it is more subject to the curculio insect, for the 

 reason that this insect when in the grub state can more readily 

 penetrate into the ground to undergo its transformations into the 

 beetle state. Common salt has been found to be an excellent 

 fertilizer for this tree, promoting .its health and luxuriance. Half 

 a peek strewn, during the month of April, on the ground under 

 each bearing tree will be enough. The black knot has been 

 found to be a very troublesome disease, affecting the branches of 

 the Plum tree, and if left alone in a few years causing the death 

 of the tree. This disease is most prevalent upon trees growing 

 in land that is imperfectly drained, and attacks the damson 

 Plums in preference to aU other varieties. Unfortunately, it is 

 not confined to the damsons, but spreads first to the other purple 

 sorts, and then, though in a less degree, to the yellow varieties. 

 It is first seen as a soft swelling of the bark, which continues to 

 increase in size until the outer cuticle of the bark is burst and 

 the swelling assumes a rough, uneven surface. By degrees this 

 becomes black and hard, rent with fissures, and quite dry. The 

 cause of this disease is not yet known, and the best cure, besides 

 growing the tree in a thoroughly drained soU, is persistent am- 

 putation and bm-ninc of these excrescences. Top-dressing the 



