In this region plum trees are usually planted two years from the bud, the exception being the Japanese which are sometimes set at a year from the bud. Plum trees in the past have been headed at three or four feet above the ground but the tendency now is to head them lower—half the above distances, and in orchards so planted there seems to be no inconvenience in tilling with modern implements. In the commercial orchards of the State the heads are formed of four or five main branches and in the case of the Domesticas and Insititias about a central trunk but with the Trifloras the leader is often removed leaving a vase-formed head. After the head is formed the subsequent pruning is simple, consisting of cutting out injured and crossed branches and heading-in long, whip-like growths. The Trifloras receive more pruning than the European varieties, as much of the fruit is borne on the growth of the previous season and it is necessary to keep the bearing wood near the trunk. It is the custom to cut rank growing Trifloras severely but the value of such a procedure is doubtful, as the more such a plum is pruned the more it will need pruning in the years to follow. A better plan seems to be to curtail the food and prune as little as possible, though on rich soils the tree would probably grow out of all bounds unless cut back somewhat year after year. About the only cultivated native plums to be found in New York, if a few Wild Goose trees here and there are excepted, are on the grounds of this Station. Experience here demonstrates that, prune as you will, certain varieties of the native species will remain crooked, ungainly and unkempt. Pruning some varieties is necessary in order to permit pickers to get into the dense, thorny heads; heading-in such varieties would make their tops wholly impenetrable. In common with all tree-fruits the best plum orchards are tilled. Such tillage usually consists of plowing in the spring followed by frequent cultivation until the middle of August, at which time a cover-crop of clover, oats or barley is sown. The plum seems to require more water than other tree-fruits—it often thrives in comparatively moist land and fails on sandy soils where the peach would grow luxuriantly. Cultivation to save moisture is very necessary for the plum in the experience of New York growers. Grass and grain have proved ruinous in most orchards where tried, though cultivated crops between young trees to pay for keep until fruiting-time are very generally planted. The claim is made by some, and with a show of reason, that there is less of the brown-rot in tilled orchards than in neglected ones for the reason that the mummied fruits which carry the fungus through the winter are buried by plowing and with shallow cultivation, at least, do not come to light and life.