218 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



we had the worst failure that we have ever known with the pre- 

 pared grafts, whereas those taken in the usual way were as good 

 as need be. I have already said I found one exception to the 

 advocates for early cutting and retarding grafts ; in M. Edward 

 Pynaert's book, "L'Amateur du Fruit," he quotes from the writ- 

 ings of M. Carriere, a Belgian amateur, to the effect that contrary 

 to the usual practice he never cuts his grafts until the moment 

 when he wishes to use them, and the only case in which he 

 would use grafts, other than freshly cut, is when one receives them 

 at a time when it is not possible to use them immediately, or 

 when the work has unavoidably to be done very late. It is 

 needless to state that this question of dormant grafts applies to 

 all kinds of fruit trees which are usually propagated by grafting. 



Passing from the subject of propagation to that of planting 

 and subsequent management, we find that as a rule plums suc- 

 ceed best when grown in an unrestricted form ; they are im- 

 patient of close pruning, under which treatment they frequently 

 gum, consequently most market growers plant them as bushes 

 or half- standards, and after cutting back the shoots for a couple 

 of years, so as to form well-balanced trees, they leave them, so 

 far as pruning is concerned, severely alone. In our gardens we 

 frequently see closely-pruned pyramids, but rarely do these carry 

 fruit, for the plum, being somewhat rampant in its growth, when 

 closely pruned makes strong shoots at the expense of fruit buds ; 

 the only remedy is to lift trees which are required for pyramids 

 several times whilst young, and thus check the root action and 

 throw them into bearing, and under this treatment and with a 

 favourable climate the finest quality of fruit can be grown. From 

 the Trent to the Lowlands of Scotland all the best varieties of 

 plums require and deserve a wall to bring them to perfection ; 

 many of our old gardens are provided with fine walls, and a few 

 are covered with fine trees, but in the majority of old gardens 

 which it has been my lot to see, the wall trees (more especially 

 in the case of plums) can only by courtesy be called trained 

 trees. It is true that the steins are fastened in some way to the 

 wall, but the spurs are so far away as to be almost outside any 

 beneficial effect of the radiated heat therefrom, and, as a rule, if 

 the wall be of moderate height the lower half of the tree upon 

 it is devoid of spurs, and the larger part of the whole tree is 

 above the wall altogether. I have seen wires placed above the 



