PLUMS AND DAMSONS. 



155 



roots made rapid progress towards the surface, 

 and on again digging the soil for cropping, 

 the trees suffered from the loss of the young 

 roots which had been formed. 



Suckers that spring from the roots of the 

 Plum should be removed. They are more 

 apt to push from trees that are sickly than 

 from healthy ones. The under side of the 

 foliage is sometimes entirely covered with 

 aphides, and when this is the case of course 

 the tree cannot long remain healthy, however 

 well it may be circumstanced in other re- 

 spects. Every possible means should there- 

 fore be adopted to keep the foliage clean; 

 and at the same time, in order that it may 

 be naturally healthy, the roots must be duly 

 supplied with moisture. Established trees in 

 full bearing should each season be dressed 

 either with farmyard or artificial manure, other- 

 wise they are apt to become exhausted and 

 bear but indifferent crops of fruit. 



Gathering and Preserving the Fruit. — Plums 

 should be allowed to remain on the tree as long 

 as possible. Choice fruit ought to be gathered 

 by severing the stalk with a pair of grape 

 scissors and without disturbing the bloom, 

 especially if the fruit is of a variety intended 

 to be kept for some time. Such kinds as Coe's 

 Golden Drop, Ickworth Imperatrice, Eeine 

 Claude Violette, and others, may be kept for 

 months fit for dessert if gathered in dry 

 weather, wrapped in paper, and laid in a dry 

 airy place. 



Evaporating Plums. — For this purpose the 

 fruit ought to be quite ripe; if shrivelled a 

 little, so much the better; they must be graded 

 according to size and condition. Place the 

 trays containing the fruit first over the furnace 

 in the upper flue of a Universal American Fruit 

 Evaporator (Eider's patent), heated to a tem- 

 perature, at this place, of 220° to 240°; leave 

 them until they are about to burst, then take 

 them out and cool them as quickly as possible. 

 Then place them in the evaporator at the rear 

 end of the upper flue until they begin to shrink, 

 when they should be taken out again and al- 

 lowed to cool, before replacing them again in 

 the front of the upper flue to be finished. They 

 must be stirred or turned, to prevent their 

 sticking to the frame. It is not advisable to 

 dry them until they get hard; when the stone 

 in the fruit moves about readily, they are about 

 fit. With a temperature of 220° to 240° 

 medium-sized fruits will require about eleven 

 hours to evaporate. 



Propagation. — Some kinds of Plums are pro- 



pagated by seed, others occasionally by suckers ; 

 but the usual mode of propagating the culti- 

 vated varieties is by budding and grafting. 

 Propagation by sowing the stones is employed 

 for raising stocks on which to graft Plums, 

 Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots. The Mussel, 

 White Pear Plum, and St. Julien are the sorts 

 chiefly employed for stocks. For standards the 

 Mussel answers well. 



The stones, as soon as taken from the fruit, 

 should be sown in a bed of rich sandy soil an 

 inch apart, in drills 2 inches deep, and 9 inches 

 or 1 foot asunder. Some recommend the stones 

 to be dried a little in the sun, packed in dry 

 sand till November, and then sown. The French 

 stratify the stones till spring, and then plant 

 them out in rows. By either of these modes 

 the seedlings will be fit for transplanting into 

 nursery lines in autumn. In doing this the 

 unripe extremities of the leading and side 

 shoots should be cut off; the tap-root may also 

 be shortened. Twelve months after this they 

 ought to be cut down to two buds above the 

 surface. In the following spring both buds will 

 likely push, but only one should be allowed to 

 grow for a standard stem, or for being budded 

 high or low as may be desired. 



Budding and grafting are the modes usually 

 adopted for propagating the varieties. Strong- 

 growing sorts intended for standards may be 

 grafted or budded near the ground, and the 

 stem formed from the scion. In the case of 

 weaker-growing kinds, such as the Mirabeile, it 

 is better to allow the stock to grow up, and 

 bud or graft it standard high. Some prefer 

 budded plants, others those which are grafted; 

 but, if properly worked, good trees can be 

 obtained by either mode. Nurserymen usually 

 have less ground-work on hand at the budding 

 than at the grafting season, and therefore find 

 it convenient to propagate at the former period. 

 Besides, if buds should not take, the stocks can 

 be grafted in the following spring. In order 

 that the graft may form a sound union, atten- 

 tion to a few particulars is necessary. The 

 scions should be taken off early in the season, 

 say in January, or at least before the buds 

 begin to push. At the same time the stock 

 should be headed down near to the place where 

 the scion is to be put on. If either the scion 

 or the stock, or both, are too far advanced 

 when they are cut, success is rendered uncer- 

 tain. Even if the graft should take, gum or 

 canker is likely to follow. The grafts of Plums 

 are more apt to fail than those of Apples and 

 Pears; yet, when the stocks are early headed 



