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Page 27
In the place of general advice in regard to this fruit I shall give
the experience of Mr. T. S. Force, of Newburgh, who exhibited
seventy varieties at the last annual Orange County fair.
His plum-orchard is a large poultry-yard, containing half an acre,
of which the ground is a good loam, resting on a heavy clay
subsoil. He bought trees but one year from the bud, set them out
in autumn, and cut them back so that they began to form their
heads at two feet from the ground. He prefers starting with strong
young plants of this age, and he did not permit them to bear for
the first three years, his primal aim being to develop a healthy,
vigorous tree with a round, symmetrical head. During this period
the ground about them was kept mellow by good cultivation, and,
being rich enough to start with, received no fertilizers. It is
his belief that over-fertilization tends to cause the disease so
well known as the "black knot," which has destroyed many orchards
in this vicinity. If the garden has been enriched as I have
directed, the soil will probably need little, if anything, from
the stables, and certainly will not if the trees are grown in a
poultry-yard. During this growing and forming period Mr. Force
gave careful attention to pruning. Budded trees are not even
symmetrical growers, but tend to send up a few very strong shoots
that rob the rest of the tree of sustenance. Of course these must
be cut well back in early spring, or we have long, naked reaches
of wood and a deformed tree. It is far better, however, not to let
these rampant shoots grow to maturity, but to pinch them back in
early summer, thus causing them to throw out side-branches. By
summer pinching and rubbing off of tender shoots a tree can be
made to grow in any shape we desire. When the trees receive no
summer pruning, Mr. Force advises that the branches be shortened
in at least one half in the spring, while some shoots are cut back
even more rigorously. At the age of four or five years, according
to the vigor of the trees, he permits them to bear. Now
cultivation ceases, and the ground is left to grow hard, but not
weedy or grassy, beneath the boughs. Every spring, just as the
blossoms are falling, he spreads evenly under the branches four
quarts of salt. While the trees thrive and grow fruitful with this
fertilizer, the curculio, or plum-weevil, does not appear to find
it at all to its taste. As a result of his methods, Mr. Force has
grown large and profitable crops, and his trees in the main are
kept healthy and vigorous. His remedy for the black knot is to cut
off and burn the small boughs and twigs affected. If the disease
appears in the side of a limb or in the stem, he cuts out all
trace of it, and paints the wound with a wash of gum shellac and
alcohol.
Trees load so heavily that the plums rest against one another. You
will often find in moist warm weather decaying specimens. These
should be removed at once, that the infection may not spread.
In cutting out the interfering boughs, do not take off the sharp-
pointed spurs which are forming along the branches, for on these
are slowly maturing the fruit-buds. In this case, as in others,
the careful observer, after he has acquired a few sound principles
of action to start with, is taught more by the tree itself than
from any other source.
Mr. Force recommends the following ten varieties, named in the
order of ripening: Canada; Orleans, a red-cheeked plum;
McLaughlin, greenish, with pink cheek; Bradshaw, large red, with
lilac bloom; Smith's Orleans, purple; Green Gage; Bleeker's Gage,
golden yellow; Prune d'Agen, purple; Coe's Golden Drop; and
Shropshire Damson for preserves.
If we are restricted to very light soils, we shall probably have
to grow some of the native varieties, of the Canada and Wild-Goose
type. In regard to both this fruit and peaches we should be guided
in our selection by information respecting varieties peculiarly
suited to the region.
The next chapter will treat of small fruits, beginning with the
raspberry.
CHAPTER V
THE RASPBERRY
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