528 



FRUIT GARDEN. 



narily good situations; and if protected with 

 portable board copings while the trees are in 

 bloom, it will be found a pretty certain security 

 against late spring frosts. The fundamental 

 rules are, allowing the shoots plenty of room on 

 the wall or espalier by thinning out the older 

 branches that may have become exhausted, 

 or can be readily spared, and laying in young 

 wood as required, either by being directly at- 

 tached to the wall, or trained upon the older 

 and barren branches. There are often gross 

 watery shoots which arise towards the lower 

 part of the tree near the stem, which, if not 

 rubbed off during summer, must be totally cut 

 off at winter pruning ; but it is better to pre- 

 vent their appearance altogether, either by 

 finger-pruning in summer, or root-pruning in 

 autumn. In regard to distance, the smaller- 

 growing sorts should have their main branches 

 laid in about 6 or 7 inches apart, and the larger- 

 growing ones at 9 or 10 inches ; and on these, 

 and between them, the young wood is to be 

 trained. The plum bears the knife better than 

 the cherry, but the less knifing on any tree the 

 better; for if the roots be under proper control, 

 very little winter pruning will be found neces- 

 sary. All the sorts bear their fruit on small na- 

 tural spurs, which form on the ends and along 

 the sides of the bearing shoots, of from one to 

 three years' growth ; in most sorts, however, it 

 is two years before the spurs on these branches 

 bear fruit. By great neglect, spurs will extend 

 to a considerable distance from the wall ; these 

 should be cut back to the bud nearest their 

 origin, or removed entirely, and the branch on 

 which they grow covered with such young 

 shoots as can be most conveniently made avail- 

 able. 



Summer pruning should commence about the 

 beginning of May, and consists chiefly in dis- 

 budding, or rubbing off with the finger and 

 thumb, all foreright shoots and back shoots (that 

 is, those which protrude from the front or back 

 surface of the branches), excepting where there 

 may be a vacancy to fill up, where a young shoot 

 from the side of the branch cannot be brought 

 in for the purpose, for it is better to have a 

 somewhat ill-placed shoot than no shoot at all. 

 This pruning, or disbudding, should be gradu- 

 ally gone on with, the first operation being a 

 removal of foreright and back wood. Towards 

 the end of May, if the trees are strong, gross 

 shoots will show themselves, and these, when 

 about half a foot in length, should have their 

 points pinched off. In three or four weeks after, 

 a more general going over and disbudding should 

 take place, because by that time it is readily 

 seen what shoots are fit for being finally retained ; 

 and these should be immediately trained to the 

 wall or espalier, or tied down upon the naked 

 old branches of the tree, and all the others re- 

 moved. Avoid laying in too much wood, and 

 regulate the distance, shoot from shoot, accord- 

 ing to the size of the leaves of the sort. 



Winter pruning. — Dwarf-standard trees, if 

 root-pruned, will require little attention at this 

 time further than thinning out and reducing the 

 spurs, and snags or stumps of shoots pinched 

 back at summer pruning. The young short- 



jointed shoots, tied down upon the older 

 branches during summer, will become fur- 

 nished with blossom-buds during the next 

 summer, and these should not be interfered 

 with ; only such as are not required should be 

 cut off entirely, excepting in cases where young 

 wood is wanted to fill up blanks, then such as 

 are best placed for the purpose should be cut 

 back to one or two buds from their base, which 

 will induce the production of young shoots to 

 fill the vacant spaces. 



The following diagram shows the comparative 

 sizes of plums. 



Fig. 231. 



SIZES OF PLUMS. 



a Washington, large; b Coe's late red, medium ; 

 c Mirabelle, small. 



SELECT LIST. 



Abricotee rouge. — Size medium ; quality se- 

 cond-rate ; colour clear red in the shade, violet 

 in the sun, covered with a fine blue bloom ; 

 form oval ; separates from the stone. Ripe end 

 of August. Of French origin. Known in Eng- 

 land as Red apricot plum on account of its 

 apricot flavour. Young wood smooth. 



Apricot. — Size above medium ; quality good ; 

 flesh yellow, melting, juicy, and high flavoured ; 

 colour yellow, tinged with red ; form roundish. 

 Ripe in September. Branches quite downy, 

 nearly white ; suture deep. Dessert fruit. This 

 is the true Apricot plum of Duhamel, not that of 

 Thompson, which is much inferior, a clingstone, 

 which this is not, also having smooth branches, 

 and an oval fruit. 



Angelina Burdett. — Size medium ; form some- 

 what oblong ; colour rich purple, copiously 

 covered with an azure bloom ; flesh amber 

 green, parting freely from the stone ; flavour 

 delicious ; ripens upon an open standard about 

 the middle of August. Against a wall it would 

 no doubt ripen sooner. One of three excellent 

 plums originated from seed by Mr Henry Dow- 

 ling, of Woolston, near Southampton, about ten 

 years ago. 



