108 THE MINIATURE FEUIT GAEDEN 



MARKET GARDEN PLUM TREES 



Plums, like pears, open up a rich field to the amateur 

 market gardener, for it is found that they are so easily 

 made into articles of exportation, by jam and bottling, 

 that the demand is limitless. 



The same method of culture as given for pyramidal 

 pears on the quince stock (p. 10) is at once the most 

 simple and beneficial. 



The trees may be planted six feet apart, row from 

 row, and six feet apart in the rows ; for a few years the 

 centre of the spaces between the rows may be cropped 

 with dwarf bashes of currants and gooseberries. I grow 

 strawberries, but onion or other light crops of vegetables 

 may be grown. As soon as the trees have made suffi- 

 cient growth to shade the ground, which may be in five 

 or six years, more or less, the ground should have a 

 dressing of manure, and be left undug ; the hoe only, to 

 kill the weeds, should be employed. The following kinds 

 will be found the best for this mode of culture: — 

 Early Prolific, The Ozar, Sultan, Victoria, Monarch, 

 Pond's Seedling, Cluster Damson, Autumn Compote, 

 and Grand Duke. The second sort named is so pyra- 

 midal in its growth that it will last many years without 

 being crowded. 



The Autumn Compdte and Victoria, two very hardy 

 useful plums, may be planted six feet apart as directed, 

 but their stems will require a stake to each to support 



