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 Imperatrice," 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
Imperatrice 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.