528 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 1870. 



tiful this season, and we have become almost surfeited with them, but they are 

 now over in most cases. There may be a few choice Golden Drops, or Irnpe'ra- 

 trices, or Late Reds, or Autumn Compotes, &c, carefully protected in certain 

 places, but nothing in quantity ; even the Damsons are over, leaving us nothing 

 but the ' wee ' Bullaces for our tarts, pies, and puddings ; yet in Covent Garden 

 Plums are still in season, for Sandalls are just coming in. From whence' come 

 they, then ? Not from France, which has the credit of supplying everything re- 

 markable in Covent Garden, but from the market-gardens round London. It was 

 only on Tuesday last that we saw in one celebrated fruit-garden more than 100 

 trees of this Plum in one group ; trees, too, of no ordinary size, being from 20 to 

 40 feet high, with large spreading heads, all densely laden with most beautiful 

 black fruit, every little twig, even, being as thickly set as the berries on a bunch 

 of Grapes ; many bushels might be seen on a single tree : truly they were a grand 

 sight ! Sandall's Plum has many recommendations; it is indeed singular it should 

 be so little known. It is one of the few Plum-trees which produce timber. The 

 tree has a twiggy sort of growth, of the Sloe type, and attains a large size, forming 

 a clean trunk of considerable length, and we have measured some stems 3 feet in 

 circumference. It is very hardy, and a certain bearer. It is one of the very 

 latest, and, from its beautiful appearance, fetches a high price in the market. It 

 has further the great merit of hanging on to the trees up to the very last, and even 

 when quite ripe there are seldom any blown down by the wind. It is very little 

 liable to cracking in wet weather — a failing which is the destruction of so many 

 Plums. It will hang on the tree, and be fit for use during the course of two months 

 — September and October. What a valuable tree, then, would not this be in a 

 private garden — just one to supply Plums for cooking, &c, when wanted, until 

 November ! The fruit is of medium size, roundish, of a beautiful jet-black colour, 

 with a thick bloom ; flesh reddish, clinging slightly to the stone, moderately juicy, 

 with a smack of the Sloe flavour ; an excellent fruit for tarts, &c., and valuable 

 for its lateness. "We know little of the true history of this fruit. It originated, 

 we believe, in some of the market-gardens of Fulham, where it is grown, and with 

 Mr Dancer, of Chiswick. It is known simply as Sandall's Plum." 



Sandall's Plum. — This Plum was raised some 60 or 70 years since by the late 

 Mr Sandall, a market-gardener, then living at Crabtree, Fulham. The original 

 tree is now dead. I can vouch for the above, having lived in the neighbourhood for 

 the last 40 years, and I have seen the old tree scores of times. It is, as you say, a good 

 late Plum, but it is not a sure bearer, being surpassed in this respect by Prince of 

 Wales, Victoria, and Mitchelson's (the last especially) ; and another thing against 

 it (in these fast times), it is at least eight or nine years before it begins to bear. 

 After that time it is a prodigious cropper about once in three years. Any one 

 having half-a-dozen sorts or so cannot do wrong in adding Sandall's, but for a 

 small garden, where there is only room for one Plum,^I would say, plant Mitchel- 

 son's 'Market Gardener.' 



[This also meets the inquiries of J. G. Durham, and a Constant Reader. — Eds.] 



Vine Border (G. S.). — By using fresh horse-droppings, either in the com- 

 position of your soil, or as a top-dressing for your border, you always incur a 

 danger, more or less according to quantities, &c, of producing fungi, which would 

 be injurious to the roots of your Vines. If you have to use manure, let it be 

 partly decomposed at least. 



