294 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
CULTIVATION OF FRUIT—No. IX. 
THE PLUM. 
Those who have seen only the common varieties of 
the plum cultivated by farmers in this state, can have but 
a very imperfect idea of the flavor and excellence of the 
most improved varieties. When the same labor in cul¬ 
tivation, with a little additional care in procuring- fine 
sorts, would afford the very best fruit, it is to be regret¬ 
ted that ninety-nine hundredths, or even more, of the 
fruit cultivated, should be scarcely fit for eating. To fa¬ 
cilitate in procuring better, the following list, with re¬ 
marks, is given. 
White Primordian, Early Yellow, or Jaune Hativc, is 
one of the very earliest of plums, ripening generally in 
western New-York about the middle of the seventh 
month, (July,) and is chiefly valuable on this account. It 
is a small yellow fruit, a good bearer, with a sweet taste, 
though not first rate. It appears to be the best plum at 
the season. 
WilmoVs Early Orleans. —-This is a large fine fruit, ri¬ 
pening early in the eighth month (August.) 
Green Gage. —This is generally admitted to be the fi¬ 
nest of all plums; the genuine fruit is of medium size, 
and round; the stalk half an inch long, a little bent, and 
inserted in a small funnel-shaped cavity; the skin is yel¬ 
lowish green, when fully ripe nearly yellow, mottled 
with russetty red near the stem; flesh melting, separa¬ 
ting imperfectly from the stone, juicy, sugary, and of ex¬ 
quisite flavor. There are many varieties cultivated in 
this State under the name of Green Gage, which appear 
to have originated from stones of the genuine variety, but 
are greatly inferior in flavor. There are other varieties 
of a small green plum, scarcely worth cultivating, which 
are frequently found in the gardens of our farmers, and 
are also denominated the Green Gage, though they no 
more resemble the genuine fruit than the wild crab re¬ 
sembles our finest varieties of apples. 
Prince's Imperial Gage was obtained from the seed of 
me Green Gage; the fruit is much larger than that of the 
Green Gage, and the tree is very productive. Manning 
says that this is “ the most productive and profitable of 
all plums.” Kenrick says, “a single tree of this variety 
at Charlestown (Mass.) owned by S. R. Johnson, has for 
several successive years yielded crops which were sold 
at from $40 to $50 per annum.” Some trees in western 
New-York, called by this name, are not genuine. 
Orleans. —Fruit nearly round, middle sized or rather 
large, skin reddish purple, flesh yellow, firm and good, 
separating freely from the stone. An excellent fruit, ri¬ 
pening about the time of the Green Gage. 
Gifford's La Fayette, figured and described some years 
ago in the Genesee Farmer, was obtained from the seed 
of the Orleans, and is an excellent fruit, remarkable for 
the richness and sprightliness of its flavor. 
j Ruling's Superb. —Fruit very large, often two inches 
or more in length, not inferior in richness, but more acid 
than the Green Gage—of very vigorous growth, and of 
extraordinary excellence. 
Washington. —Fruit oblong, very large, orange yellow, 
with a fine blush next the sun; flesh yellow, firm, sweet, 
and excellent. Though the flavor of this is inferior to 
that of some other varieties, it is highly esteemed as a 
first rate plum. Ripens about a week later than the Or¬ 
leans. 
Imperatrice. —A good plum, ripening in the tenth 
month (Oct.) One of the best late plums. 
Coe's Golden Drop. —Fruit of large size, skin golden 
yellow, spotted with rich red next the sun, flesh yeilow, 
sweet and delicious. Like the preceding, slightly neck¬ 
ed next the stem, a clingtone, and a great bearer. The 
best late plum. The writer has measured them more 
than inches long. 
The Egg Plum , or Yellow Magnum Bonum. —Is a very 
large plum, of a sweet agreeable flavor, but as the tex¬ 
ture is rather coarse, is chiefly used for cooking and pre¬ 
serving. The same remark applies to the Red Magnum 
Bonum, which is harsh and acid. These two are admi¬ 
red as table fruit where finer varieties are unknown. 
The plum is propagated by budding or grafting. The 
former can only be successfully practiced on the most 
thrifty stocks. 
The principal enemy to the plum is the Curculio. This 
is a small insect with an elongated thorax and head which 
resembles a proboscis in appearance. The whole insect 
is not more than a quarter of an inch long, of a dark 
brown color, the sheaths covering the wings, slightly va¬ 
riegated with lighter colors, the body resembling in size 
and appearance a ripe hemp seed. About the time the 
fruit attains the size of a large pea, it commences its work 
of destruction. It makes a small incision in the young 
fruit and lays its egg in the opening. Its presence may 
now be perceived by examination, as these crescent-sha¬ 
ped incisions are very easily seen. The egg soon hatch¬ 
es into a small white worm, which penetrates deeper and 
feeds upon the fruit, causing it to fall prematurely to the 
ground, or if it ripens, it is unsound and gummy. The 
worm, when the fruit falls, makes its way into the earth, 
where it remains through winter, as is supposed in the 
pupa state, to be transformed the succeeding spring into 
a perfect insect and thus to perpetuate its race. Several 
expedients have been proposed and tried, to destroy it or 
prevent its ravages. The easiest and most effectual is 
that of confining a sufficient number of swine with the 
trees, to eat all the injured fruit which falls, in doing 
which, they destroy the worm before it can escape to 
the earth. The crop of the succeeding season will of 
course escape. When this has been pursued perseve- 
ringly and thoroughly, it has proved completely success¬ 
ful. In one instance, known to the writer, the plum 
trees bore well for seventeen successive years. To ren¬ 
der this operation easy and effectual, all trees which are 
liable to attacks of the Curculio, should be planted sepa¬ 
rately, so that they may be enclosed apart for the confine¬ 
ment of the swine, which if permitted to range the whole 
orchard would not do the work so effectually. 
But swine cannot always be admitted, and it is also de¬ 
sirable to preserve the fruit of the present season. In this 
case, the best remedy is the following. Spread white 
sheets under the tree, and jar it briskly. The insects im¬ 
mediately drop upon the sheet, and remain motionless a 
few seconds, during which time they may be destroyed 
by a pinch of the thumb and finger. While lying upon 
the sheet, they are not readily distinguished by an inex¬ 
perienced eye from the withered blossoms. The opera¬ 
tion should be repeated twice or three times a day so 
long as any remain. This remedy rarely fails if tho¬ 
roughly anti unremittingly pursued. The importance of 
jarring the tree strongly, will be perceived by the fol¬ 
lowing statement of a correspondent in the Genesee Far¬ 
mer in the second volume. (e Not three days ago, I saw 
that many of the plums were punctured, and began to 
suspect that shaking the tree was not sufficient. Under a 
tree in the remote part of the fruit garden, having spread 
the sheets, I therefore made the following experiment: 
On shaking it icell, I caught_/iye Curculios; on jarring it 
with the hand, I caught twelve more; and on striking the 
tree with a stone, eight more dropped on the sheets. I 
was now convinced that I had been in an error; and call¬ 
ing in the necessary assistance, and using a hammer to 
jar the tree violently, we caught in less than an hour, 
more than two hundred and sixty of these insects.” 
Trees near path doors and other frequented places, are 
frequently observed to be full of fruit, while others are 
all destroyed. The insect is frightened away from the 
former, by frequent passing. Hence favorite trees of the 
plum, nectarine or apricot, may be often planted to ad¬ 
vantage near such frequented places, and the fruit will 
escape. The black excrescences on the branches of the 
plum may be prevented by a constant and vigorous ex¬ 
cision of the affected parts, and burning them as fast as 
they appear. 
The plum is by some cultivators regarded as only fitted 
for heavy or clay soils; and some striking instances are 
given in proof. But the writer has seen trees in abun¬ 
dant bearing year after year, and yielding fruit of the 
finest quality, on light or sandy soils. A porous earth 
may possibly furnish a better retreat for the curculio; but 
to what extent this may be true, requires further exami¬ 
nation. J. J. T. 
Macedon, 8 mo. J5, 1844. 
