Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-03-15
For the SPECTATOR
POPULAR PLUMS. 0
for Obtaining full Crops.
BY r. H. HAINES.

=
the plum is very difficult fruit to grow
1t Is the more highly priced on that &C
count. 1t certainly is q decided favor
lite, otherwise persons living in larg,
cities like New York and Boston. woulC
not be found paying for plums at tht
rate of cent plum at the retail fruit
stands or of two to three dollars for 8
half bushel of the fruit in the wholesale
merkets- On some accounts the plum
Is difficult fruit to grow, not so much
from its requiring any special training
or cultivation, as superb large plums
are often grown on ground that is not
touched by plow or hoe oftener than
once five or ten years, but the difficulty
arises from the fact of the liability of
the plums to be stung and injured by q
little insect called the cssrculio, causing
the fruit to decay or fall to the ground
before r1pening. The curculio 10 small
grayfsh- brown insect, abouG one-eighth
of an inch long, and with wings that
appear like two little humps on its back
Owing to the crescent shaped mark that
1t makes, when biting in the young
fruit and laying its eggs. it has also been
given the name of the "Iittie Turk"
However, fine crops Of plums can
easily be obtained in most sections of
the country, notwithstanding this in
sect. One of the simplest, or surest
methods, is to plant the plum trees in a
chicken yard, or to turn the plum Or
chard, if not large, into q poultry yard
when the trees become of bearing age
If pigs are allowed to run in the orchard
and eat up the injured fruit as it falls,
then they will prove almost equally as
serviceable as chickens. Another meth-
cd Is to plant the trees aa the edges of
brooks or ponds, 40 that the branches
ehall hang over the water. Still anoth-
is to have the ground closely paved with
large flat stones or shells around the
trees. AS plums are nearly always
picked from the trees, and not from the
ground, none of the above plans will in
terfere very much in gathering the fruit.
! could give many other successful plans
for preventing the fruit from being in
jured by the curculio, but must now
turn my attention to giving descriptions
of some of the finer varieties of plums
General Hand This is handsome,
very large, golden-yellow plum, that is
supposed to have originated near Ian
caster, Pennsylvania. The fruit is of a
Toundish, oval shape, and frequently
marbled with greenish yellow. It is q
snowy. attractive looking plum, sweet,
and moderately juicy, and of fair quail
ty,-ripens in September It succeeds
better in New York. Pennsylvania and
in some Of the Gulf States, than it does
at the West or North. t,.
Wild Goose. This Ia proving quite a
favorite In many localities, but especial
ly in places where it had been considered
difficult to grow the ordinary varieties
of plums. IL has been heralded through
out the length and breadth of the coun-
try as being ''curculio- proof" plum
Though this is not strictly the case, yet
it appears in many places to be less at
tractive to that little insect either ON ao-
count of its thicker skin, or something
distasteful in the fruit. The Wild Goose
is of small or medium size; round of
yeilowish red color, and ripens mOder-
ateiy early. Though it is excelled in
quality by some other plums, yet as it
succeeds SO generally throughout the
United States. and even in Wisconsin
and Minnesota, it will probably eontin-
to be favorlte.
Richlasaa is plum that is not very
widely known. The fruit is of medium
size; of a purplish red color, tinged with
blue; of oval form. and of quite good
quality. 1t ripens in August. at
at about the middle of the plum season.
1t is grown for either marketing or table
use, and thus far mostly within the
Middle States.
Ponds Seeding This is one of the
largest and most beautiful of plums.-
The fruit is of oval form skin of vel
low color, profusely dotted with red,
and with white bloom. 1t ripens in
and is of moderately good
quality It is of English origin, and
has not ye been very generally tested,
but thus far has proved quite promising
where grown
Che's Golden Drop, Imperial Gage,
Washington, and Yeelow Egg. are some
of the largest, best and most delicious of
yellow plums, and are very general fa-
vorites The first is quite late variety,
and the second moderately early. Lons-
bard, reddish purple plum, is popular
on account of its great hardness at the
far North. Plums are planted in the
Spring before the buds have made much
growth, and in the Fall when the leaves
are about ready to fall, or have fallen.-
AS they are not very large growing trees
they can be planted within 15 or IS feet
of each other. They grow quickly, and
will add greatly to the enjoyment of the
fruit grower. -
MOORESTOwN, N. J. 1-t..
SIGNIFICANCE OF PERSONAL BEAU
TY.-A beautiful person is the natural
form of a beautiful soul. The mind
builds its own house. The soul takes
precedence of the body and shapes the
body to its own likeness. A vacant
mind takes all the meaning Ou, of the
fairest face. A sensual disposition de-
forms the handsomest features. A cold,
selfish heart shrivels and distO1ts the
best looks. A mean, grovellng spirit
takes all the dignity out of the figure
and all the character out of the counte
nance A cherished hatred transforms
the most beautiful liDeaments into an
image of ugliness 1t is as impossible to
preserve good looks with brood of bad
passions feeding on the blood, set of
low loves tramping through the heart,
and selfish, disdainfnl spirit enthrOned
in the will, as to preserve the beauty of
an elegant mansion with litter OF
swine in the basement, q tribe of Gyp-
sizes in the parlOr and owls ami vultures
in the upper part Badness and beauty
will no more keep company a great
while than poison will consort with
health. or an elegant carving survive
the furnace fire. The experiment of
putting them together has been tried for
thousands of years, but with one unva-
rying result There is no sculptor like
the mind. There is nothing that so re-
fines, polshes and ennobles face and
mien as the constant presence of great
thoughts. The man who lives in the re-
gion of ideas, moonbeams though they
be, becomes idealized. There are no
arts, no Gymnastics, no cosmetics which
can contribute a tithe so much to the
dignity, the strength, the ennobling OF
mans looks as great purpose, high
determination, noble principle, an un-
uuenchable enthusiasm. But more pow.
erful still than any of these as beauti-
fer of the person Is the overmastering
purpose and pervading disposition OF
kindness in the heart. Affection Is the
organizing force in the human constitu
ton. Woman is fairer than man be-
cause she has more affection than man
LONELINESS is the outside of love. Kind
ness, good will, prevailing desire an(
determination to make others happy
| make the body temple of the Holy