PYRAMIDAL PLUMS TREES. 83 



My trees on the sloe are some years old, and are dwarf 

 and prolific. The first year after grafting they made 

 vigorous growth ; but this is a very common occur- 

 rence with stocks that ultimately make very prolific 

 trees ; it is so with the pear on the quince, the apple 

 on the Paradise, and the cherry on the Mahaleb. 

 The greengage seems to grow more freely on the sloe 

 than any other sort. I have three fine vigorous bush- 

 es, now about ten years old, growing in the white 

 marly clay, with chalk-stones, peculiar to some parts 

 of Essex and Hertfordshire. The sloe seems to delight 

 in this soil, so inimical to most kinds of fruit trees. 

 My greengage plums are almost vigorous in their 

 growth ; and what appears strange is, that the stock 

 seems to keep pace with the graft — there is scarcely 

 any swelling at the junction. The roots of these trees 

 have not been touched, and they appear to have gone 

 deeply into the solid white clay. The plum on the 

 sloe is easily arrested in its growth by root-pruning. 

 I have some trees, four years old, not more than eight- 

 een inches high, and yet covered with blossom buds. 1 

 These have been only once root-pruned, and are form- 

 ing themselves into nice compact prolific bushes. As 

 no peculiar culture, or disease, requires to be noticed, 

 I have only to give a selection cf sorts calculated for 

 pyramids. These are also well adapted for walls with 

 W., K W., E., or S. E. aspects. 



1 Since this was written, I have found plums grafted on the plum stock so 

 easily dwarfed by annual or biennial removal, that, unless iu hard clayey soils, 

 found to be unfavorable to the plum, there is no occasion to employ the sloe stock, 

 unless as an experiment. 



