Choice dessert plums sent in light boxes (one or two layers only in a box) placed in wood-wool, and with tissue paper covering the inside of the box, and lying between each layer, often sell well. White paper-lace (such as is used for honey sections) sets off good fruit, and makes it more attractive. Pink tissue paper is often used for light fruits. The boxes should be uniform in size and quality of fruit as far as possible. Tissue paper can be bought at 2s. 6d. to 5s. or more a ream, and should not be grudged. The best wood-wool ranges from 18s. to 25s. per cwt. A few visits to Covent Garden, the best shops, and the Crystal Palace Fruit Shows, will not be time or labour lost.
Plums and damsons for market should be gathered and sent before they are quite ripe; if soft and pulpy on arrival, they are valueless. Sort in size and quality as even as possible: keep back all inferior stuff. Only good produce, well sorted and properly packed, placed on the market in good condition, is likely to sell well. Foreigners as well as neighbours compete for custom. In large establishments a packing room with every convenience close at hand is necessary.[11] The market-agent should daily advise what goods are needed.
Storing and Keeping
Plums, as a rule, do not remain good for any length of time after being gathered. They will however last a week or two if laid out in a cool, dark, well constructed place. Slate slabs assist to keep baskets and fruit cool. Some of the late dessert varieties gathered before they are quite ripe, wrapped in paper, will last in a dry place for a long period. Dr Hogg says that "Ickworth Impératrice," a large late dessert variety, if allowed to remain on the tree until it shrivels, then wrapt in silk paper and placed in a dry shelf, will last for many weeks. It is a richly-flavoured plum. The remark is probably true of other late varieties; e.g., the lovely Golden Transparent, "a delicious plum grown against a wall, but not a success in the open" (R. September 12), or Reine Claude de Bavay, which is late, but a poor bearer. The Ickworth Impératrice was not tested by the R.H.S., and is not now often grown. Guthrie's late Green, "a most delicious dessert plum and the heaviest cropper here (i.e. Chiswick R.H.S.) of all the gages," is probably one of the best sorts for keeping as described above. Angelina Burdett (see gages) "if allowed to hang till it shrivels becomes a perfect sweetmeat" (Hogg).
Insect Enemies
1. Aphides are often a great trouble. There are three sorts or more, one called the plum aphis. They attack in spring and cause the leaves to curl up, and so check growth. Steep 4 ozs. of quassia chips in a gallon of soft water for twenty-four hours. Dissolve 2 ozs. of soft soap in this mixture, and add to the infusion. Apply by a painter's brush, and carefully wash the under side of the leaves (Rivers). On a larger scale: "Boil 1 lb. of chips in a gallon of water for twenty minutes, strain off the chips and add 38 gallons of water. Put 1 lb. of soft soap in a gallon of water until dissolved, then add to the rest. Apply by a syringe or sprayer. Where the foliage is young follow the spraying by syringing half-an-hour afterwards" (Castle). Tobacco water made as follows is also a good remedy: "Pour soft boiling water at the rate 1 gallon to 2 ozs. of the strongest shag tobacco, allow it to stand till cool. Its efficacy is increased by dissolving 2 ozs. of soft soap in each gallon at the time it is poured on the tobacco" (Wright). This mixture may be applied with some force by the garden engine. The great point is to syringe or paint with one of these remedies as soon as the evil is perceived.
2. Red Grub is often very injurious. The moth measures about ½ inch across, the caterpillars are pale red, with brown neck and black head. They pierce and drop with the fruit, seek shelter in the bark, where they spin a cocoon and pass the winter. If the trees have been scraped, then washed with a mixture of lime and soot, paraffin and grease (see No. III. pears), or sprayed before the buds open with Bordeaux mixture (see No. II.), and also afterwards, they probably will not suffer. Lime and soot scattered over the ground under the trees will also be useful. If the plums are attacked, collect all fallen fruits and shake the trees every morning, burn the fruits affected or give them to the pigs.
3. The Plum Sawfly also attacks the fruit, laying an egg in the calyx of each flower. The grub is whitish, with brown head. It enters the fruits, feeds on the stone, and causes them to drop. A spraying of the modified mixture No. II. after the fruit has set would be useful, but as the grub pupates in the soil, lime and soot will again be serviceable. Collect and destroy fallen fruit daily.
4. Red Spider, a spinning mite, is a great pest in dry summers. It must be checked by the free use of the syringe or water engine as soon as seen. Yellow spots on the leaves are a proof of its presence. Mix 4 gallons of soft soap solution with ½ lb. of flowers of sulphur; apply with syringe. Strong soap-suds, or even clear water forcibly given are better than nothing.
Fungoid attacks injure the trees. The Bordeaux mixture (No. II.) is the best preventive and remedy if there are any signs of fungus. Cut away all diseased twigs, boughs and branches, and burn them. Fungus spores are scattered by the wind and spread the disease. Drench the trunk and bark in winter with this mixture before the buds swell. Care must be taken not to apply the mixture in full strength to tender leaves and buds.