PLUM TREES. 31 



PLUMS 



On Plum Roots. 



The plum, like the pear and ^jiher finer fruits, attain its gieatest perfection 

 on our heavy soil, being entirely free from disease. The curculio, a small, dark 

 brown beetle, ofteh stings the fruit, causing it to drop off; but the following di- 

 rections, faithfully observed, will secui-e a good" crop of this spliendid fruit 



As soon as the blossoms are fallen, spread two sheets under the tree, and 

 give the tree a sudden jar by striking a smart blow with a hammer upon the 

 stub of a limb sawed from the tree for the purpose; the insects will drop on the 

 sheet, and can be killed. Collect all the fallen fruit and burn or feed to swine. 

 Eepeat the operation eveiy day for two or three weeks. It should be done be- 

 fore sunrise. 



The Hale Plum.— Most vigorous tree of all the Japans. Fruit large, bright 

 orange, mottled with cherry-red. 

 Superb in quality; fully equal to Im- 

 perial Gage; none so fine for the fam- >^ j ^^4 \ 

 ily. Ripens middle of September. Its 

 season of ripening, great size and beau- 

 ty will make it the most profitable of 

 all plums in market. Prof. L. H. Bai- 

 ley, the highest American authority on 

 Japan plums, in Cornell Bulletin 106, 

 January, 1896, ""Revised Opinions on 

 Japan plums," says of the Hale plum: 

 ''A very handsome, large, round-cor- 

 date plum, usually lop-sided; orange, 

 thinly overlaid with mottled red, so as 

 to ha ^e a yellowish red appearance, or, 

 in well-colored specimens, deep cherry 

 red, with yellowish specks; flesh yellow p 

 soft and juicy (yet a good keeper,) not ' 

 stringy, with a very delicious, slightly 

 acid peachy flavor; skin somewhat sour; 'rHE hale plum. 

 cling. Very late. I know the fruit only from specimens sent at two or three 

 different times by Luther Burbank. To my taste, these specimens have been 

 the best in quality of all the Japanese plums." 



The first tree cost $500 two years ago. Price now — i$l each, .'JIO per dozen, 

 S75 per hundred. 



Satsuma. — Fruit very large, nearly globular, ('Broadly conical, with a 

 blunt, short point, suture very deep."— Bailey) skin very dark and dull red all 

 over, with gieenish dots and an under color of brown red; flesh blood-red, firm, 

 rather juicy, good quality; cling. Flesh so firm and solid as to enable it to be 

 kept in fine condition after being picked. A grand market sort. .Coming in, as 

 it does, after all the European plums and the main crop of peaches are gone, it 

 finds a more than ready market. We are each year more and more impressed 

 with its great value as a market plum. It is grand for preserving, and a grand 

 keeper for retail trade. 



Abundance. — This is a remarkable fruit, and unlike any other i^lum. In 

 growth it is so strong and handsome as to deserve being planted as an ornamen- 

 tal tree— equalling in thrift and beauty Keiffer pear, which it even excels in 

 early and profuse bearing. The fruit is very large, showy and beautiful, amber 

 colored, turning to a rich, bright cherry, with a decided white bloom, and high- 

 ly perfumed; fiesh light yellow, exceedingly juicy and tender, and delicious. 



Burbank. — Of the many vaiieties introduced from Japan, the Burbank is 

 the most promising, its flavor being the best. The trees are universally vigor- 

 ous, and has strong branches, and begins to bear usually when two years old. 

 The skin of the root is thick and is almost curculio-proof. An admirable ship- 

 ping variety; ripens from June 20 till the last of the month. 



