THE HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



273 



mixed soils will grow good Plums. The Plum is a 

 surface-rooting tree, and two feet of good border is 

 sufficient for it. But on dry bases — as on the chalk 

 — it had better have six inches or a foot more. 



The Plum being a much smaller tree than the 

 Apple or Pear, standards may be planted in orchards 

 from fifteen to twenty-five feet between the rows, 

 and about fifteen from tree to tree in the rows. 

 Plum orchards furnished with pyramidal, or bush- 

 trees, may be planted in rows from seven to ten feet 

 apart, and from five to seven feet from plant to 

 plant. Plum-trees on walls should have from 

 twenty to thirty feet between them, as many sorts — 

 such as Coe's Golden Drop, the Jefferson, and even 

 some of the stronger-growing Gages — being thus 

 skeletonised on warm walls, make vigorous shoots, 

 that fruit most profusely when allowed to run 

 far, and furnish wide areas. Espaliers being much 

 cooler, the trees need not have more than half these 

 distances between them. Ground or wall cordons 

 have done remarkably well : the first, at distances 

 of four feet apart, and carried along a foot from the 

 ground ; the second, at distances ranging from a foot 

 to eighteen inches. 



The best Plums — such as the finer Gages, Coe's 

 Golden Drop, Jefferson, Kirke's, and many others — 

 deserve the best wall and warmest aspect that can 

 be found for them, on dwelling-houses, stables, out- 

 houses, farm-buildings, as well as in the garden. 

 Some of the hardier Plums will also ripen on north 

 walls, and most even of the best will thrive and 

 fruit on all other aspects. 



Plums may also be planted in lines, or groups, in 

 the garden, and orchards formed of them alone, or 

 mixed with other fruit-trees. The Plum is also 

 admirably adapted for placing in hedgerows at 

 distances of from thirty to fifty feet. It would be 

 easy to work and plant specially straight and tall- 

 stemmed trees for this purpose ; and, if properly 

 managed, Plum-trees in hedgerows could hardly fail 

 to combine beauty and profit. Groups of tall trees 

 in shrubberies, and woods, would thrive well in 

 many a sheltered nook and corner, provided always 

 that Bullfinches, that get not only ravenous but mad 

 over Plum-buds, are kept from them. 



Pruning and Training.— See Peach, Apricot, 

 and Pear. One word must, however, be added about 

 Plum cordons, especially those grown near to the 

 ground. Xo attempt must be made to keep the 

 bunches of fruit-spurs too close to the stem. By 

 permitting them to grow somewhat freely and 

 roughly, so that the cordon is at least a foot through, 

 heavy crops of Plums of first-rate quality may be 

 gathered from these yearly, unless they are blighted 

 by frost, or picked clean of blossom-buds by the bullies. 

 90 



General Culture.— For protection of the blos- 

 soms or fruit, mulching, or surface-feeding, and 

 watering of the roots, thinning, swelling, and serving 

 the fruit, see Peaches and Nectarines. 



Fruit-thinning is, however, of more importance 

 for Plums than for either of these fruits, as the Plum 

 is apt to set enormous crops in favourable springs, 

 which so exhausts the trees that they seldom bear 

 again for several years. 



Suckers are also often produced in such profusion 

 from Plum-roots as to become a really troublesome 

 disease. Surface digging, or even root-pruning, is 

 very apt to increase the number of suckers. 



As to swelling and ripening Plums, nothing helps 

 them so much as a heavy overhead syringing on the 

 evenings of all hot days, from June until they ap- 

 proach maturity. 



The gathering of Plums differs considerably from 

 that of Peaches, Nectarines, and Apricots. Even the 

 right time to gather choice dessert varieties is more 

 difficult to determine, as the visible signs of matu- 

 rity are far less strongly marked. Orlean, Gage, and 

 other Plums begin to fall when ripe, and these may 

 be carefully gathered or shaken into nets or mats. 

 But all dessert Plums should be gathered and served 

 with the stalks intact, and what may be called the 

 cling-stalk varieties are best severed from the trees 

 with a sharp knife or scissors. 



Plums need very careful handling so as not to 

 displace the bloom, and should be garnished with 

 their own leaves in dishes or baskets. 



Diseases and Insects. — The Plum under 

 healthy conditions is less subject to disease than any 

 other stone fruit. Even gum, unless it runs to great 

 length, seldom does serious harm. Canker seldom 

 appears unless it is caused by gum, or what are 

 called blights, and mildew is far less common on 

 Plums than on Peaches. The fact of the near relation 

 of Plum stocks to their heads has been held to favour 

 their greater immunity from these and other dis- 

 eases. 



The gum of the Plum often seems to originate 

 from the attacks of an insect or moth, Tortrix Wce- 

 beriana. The moths deposit their eggs in the cre- 

 vices of the bark, and two generations of caterpillars 

 are mostly produced, one in June and the other in 

 August. These penetrate and feed on the inner bark, 

 and result in the production of red-looking spots, 

 most appropriately called "rust" by cultivators. 



The sawfly, Tenthredo morio, and the red grub of 

 the Plum, Tortrix nigricana, also prey on the fruit. 

 The first lays its eggs in the calyx of the bloom, and 

 the larva?, so soon as hatched, eat their way into the 

 fruit, which grow more rapidly for a time in conse- 

 quence of their interference, and then drop off. 



