340 



CHIPS. 



[Sept. 1885. 



Grips. 



Prunis Simoni. — Professor Biuld, 

 who has been tryhig to introduce this 

 new tree into tlie western prairies, has 

 reason to believe it should not be 

 planted except in very favourable locali- 

 ties north of the 41st parallel. As with 

 most of the oriental fruits, it reaches its 

 highest perfection in a hot, dry, summer 

 air, and south of the above parallel 

 should flourish in the prairie States 

 even better than in the valley of the 

 Moselle in France, where it is now 

 popular. 



In all respects it is a botanical 

 curiosity. In colour of bark, and in all 

 points, exce])t the net-veining and 

 colour of the leaves, it resembles the 

 peach. In fruit it comes nearer to a 

 flattish, smooth brick-red tomato than 

 to any of our stone fruits, yet in smell 

 and flavour it api^roaches very near the 

 nectarine. 



Its history and character are well 

 given by Simon Louis, of Metz, France 

 (now Germany), in his (htide Pratique, 

 who says : " It is one of the most inte- 

 resting, and undeniably one of the most 

 remarkable introductions made for a 

 long time fi'om the Celestial Empire. 

 It is due to Mr. Eugene Simons, who 

 sent it to the Paris Museum of Natural 

 History when he was French Consul at 

 Pekin. It forms a small tree, with 

 quite large, long, oval, elliptic leaves of 

 a dark, shining green. In general 

 appearance it is between our European 

 prunes and the double-flowering prunes 

 of China. Its flowers are small, white, 

 and oj^en in early spring. Its fruits 

 are very jjretty, with very short stem, 

 of the size of the Orleans plum with 

 brick-red or dark cinnabar colour. 

 They are much thicker than long, and 

 have a deep cavity at each extremity. 

 The flesh shows a hue apricot yellow, is 

 firm, and has a peculiar aromatic flavour 

 not found in the plums we cultivate. 

 This distinct species adds a new type 

 to our fruit collection — a type without 

 a representative among our fruit trees." 



July in February. — In a graphic 

 account of a garden party given on 6th 

 February last at Pasadena, Los Angelos 

 county, California, by a lady who, a 

 few years ago, dwelt in Mount Florida, 

 Glasgow, we find the following : — 



" Fruits in February ! Oh, yes. For 

 breakfast that morning we had straw- 



berries, tomatoes, guavas, bananas, 

 oranges, and lemons and Japanese per- 

 simmons fresh from the ranch, and 

 water-melons and apples of the growth 

 of 1884, and all of them delicious. Yes, 

 there is fruit to pick ; and we hunt the 

 luscious strawberries on the vines and 

 the lemon-coloured guavas on the bushes, 

 and the ripest oranges on the ti-ees. 

 And there are flowers to pick ! Flowei's 

 in February I Oh, yes indeed. We 

 have the blossoms of the orange and 

 lemon and peach trees, the gi'ound 

 under the latter covered as with a pink 

 snow. We have the blossoms of the 

 lime hedges and the blackberries and 

 strawberries, and as you see the beauti- 

 ful clusters of white you would think 

 we were preparing for a royal wedding. 

 And as to geraniums ! — well, we do not 

 go to the gardens for them, j^referring 

 to let their pink and white and flame- 

 hued blossoms add to the glory of the 

 •lay. And so we run down to the 

 'gully,' a chasm that is frightful to 

 look at in places, and there we get our 

 geranium blossoms, aprons full of them. 

 All the refuse cuttings, I must explain, 

 are throv/n in the ' gully,' and they 

 take root and grow with rich luxuriance, 

 and convert the frightful spot into a 

 wild garden of the most brilliant hues. 

 And these are not single geraniums, 

 but double ones of the rarest kind. An 

 Eastern florist would go mad to see how 

 recklessly we pull off bunch after bunch 

 of blossoms, but we know nothing will 

 kill the plants after they have once 

 taken root there ; that in a week's time 

 the ' gully ' will be all aflame again. 



"I am'curious to see how many flowers 

 I can find in the garden beds at this 

 time, the dullest season in the year foi- 

 flowers here. So I go out with pencil 

 and paper and count. I find thiity- 

 three different kinds ; and this count 

 gives no idea of the bloom, for of these 

 kinds there wei'e many varieties of 

 different colour. As, of course, gera- 

 niums, not less than twelve kinds ; of 

 roses, as many more ; and if I were to 

 have gone to a neighbour's I should 

 have found 240 kinds of roses in bloom ! 

 And many of these I counted Avere in 

 the wildest profusion, great clumps of 

 heliotrope from which I could gatlier a 

 peck of clusters and they not be missed ; 

 while petunias and marguerites might 

 have been ])lucked by the bushel." 



