768 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
where money is invested generously in tiling and fertilizing 
—namely, our modest friends, the Storrs & Harrison Co. of 
Painesville, Ohio. You should own the land in order to 
keep it in a high state of fertility which will grow the old 
time virgin crops and make the heavy cost of propagation 
a profitable investment. The production of any crop 
which calls for intensive methods, is not profitable except 
where all conditions are most favorable. It might be very 
profitable raising sheep on $io.oo-an-acre land, for they do 
most of the work themselves, but it would be a losing 
proposition if you tried to grow corn. 
fruit and plant flotcs 
VARIETIES OF PEACH FOR TEXAS 
A prominent peach grower of Texas recommends the 
following varieties of peaches for the eastern part of the 
state. 
Greensboro is the first to ripen and runs from June ist 
to June 8th. It is a handsome early peach and carries well. 
Following Greensboro is Arkansas Beauty. This 
continues the season until June 15th. It is spoken of as a 
peach of great beauty, about the size of Elberta with the 
same shape and color. It is yellow in flesh and a clingstone. 
Its thick skin makes it an excellent shipper. 
Mamie Ross and Carmine ripen the second week in 
June and are in season for ten days to two weeks. The 
fruit of these varieties is large and handsome, being beauti¬ 
fully blushed. The flesh is white, and a partial freestone. 
Hiley or Early Bell, as it is often called, comes in about 
the middle of June and continues until the last week. 
This is a first class freestone, the flesh being firm, and of 
very high quality. It is a good shipper. 
A variety of the same season as Hiley, and very much 
appreciated in eastern Texas is called Shappey or Early 
Elberta. This is somewhat smaller than the ordinary 
Elberta, a difference chiefly in regard to size and earliness. 
It is not quite as good a shipper as the Elberta. 
Bell of Georgia begins to ripen the last week in June 
and continues the season until Elberta comes in, which is 
about the first week in July. Elberta is the queen of 
peaches of Texas as in Georgia, and in fact most of the 
peach growing sections. The peach season was a fairly 
satisfactory one in eastern Texas this year.* 
PLUM PROPAGATION 
Among the standard varieties of plums now offered for 
sale by nurserymen many have originated through the 
careful selection of superior varieties of wild plums, im¬ 
proved by bringing under cultivation says Bulletin 114 of 
the Iowa Experiment Station. The plum may be propa¬ 
gated either by budding or by root grafting, but generally 
the former practice is the more successful as the work is 
done at the close of the active growing period—usually the 
fore part of August. In southern and eastern nurseries 
the Marianna and Myrobolan plums, and the peach are 
often used for plum stocks, but they are not recommended 
for use in the Middle States because they lack hardiness. 
In top grafting the plum it is important that the stock and 
the cion belong to the same or a closely related species, 
otherwise the union is apt to be unsatisfactory and the 
tree becomes poorly developed and is short lived. For the 
American varieties stocks of the native species should be 
used. Miner is highly recommended as a stock for the 
Americana plums by Iow T a growers. 
This type of plum abounds throughout the prairie 
regions and does well on black prairie soil, as well as on 
heavy clay soils along streams, but so long as the drainage 
is reasonably good does well on a wide range of soils. 
Under average conditions spring is the best time for plant¬ 
ing the plum, yet fall plantings may be done with success 
with a favorable moisture supply, provided the work is 
done early. Generally 18 to 20 feet apart gives ample 
room. Sufficient pruning should be done to correct the 
tendency of an excess of fruit spurs and heavily-shaded top 
which are liable to result in poorly colored fruit and the 
development of plum fruit rot. Any cross branches should 
be removed. 
ENGLISH PRUNING AND PLANTING EXPERIMENTS 
Experiments of the past few years conducted at the 
Woburn Experimental Fruit Farm (Ridgmont, Beds., 
England) have proved according to the statement of the 
horticultural superintendent, that the least pruning the 
more fruit, not only in weight, but in value as well. The 
carefully kept records of yield show that the unpruned 
tree had yielded fifty per cent more in gross value during 
the same period under the same conditions than the hard 
pruned tree of the orthodox method. The experiments of 
the superintendent were on bush apples, and he, therefore, 
advocates judicious pruning, the least the better, having in 
mind the making of the tree. To obtain correct results, 
certain leaves (the sixth from the ends of the shoots) were 
dried and weighed, and were found to give a very accurate 
measure of how the tree was doing. At intervals of three 
years measurements of height, spread of branches, and girth 
of stem were taken, and every year all the apples cropped 
were counted and weighed. The experiments showed that 
trees should be cut back as soon as they are planted, but as 
regards fruiting, the less pruning there is done the better. 
The pruning experiments have been made on 117 varieties. 
It was found also that the average size of the fruit was not 
affected by pruning. 
Planting Methods —As to the methods of planting 
trees tried, it was found that a row of'trees planted on un¬ 
trenched ground, the roots not trimmed but huddled into a 
small hole and stamped on, gained double when compared 
wfith trees planted in the ordinary way. From this experi¬ 
ment repeated several times and always with the same 
result, it was decided that it was the stamping or ramming 
of the trees which gave the good effect; Another series of 
experiments proved that two-year-old maidens were the 
best to plan, and trees at that age did much better than 
three- or four-year-old trees. It was also proved to be 
profitable to grow vegetables and fruit entirely separate, as 
the u'ndercropping between fruit trees had not been found 
satisfactory or profitable. 
