VARIETIES OF PLUMS 369 



stone semi-clinging, oval, turgid, tapering at the base, blunt at the apex, 

 with thickly pitted surfaces. 



567. Bavay (Fig. 197). Bavay's Green Gage. — Bavay is one 

 of the best green plums. The fruit is unex- 

 celled for dessert, and its delicious flavor is 

 retained in cooking, making the somewhat 

 rare combination of a first-rate dessert and 

 culinary plum. It is also a good market sort, 

 keeping and shipping well. The trees bear 

 young, annually, and heavily, sometimes too 

 heavily, and while not so hardy, large, ro- 

 bust, or long-lived as could be wished, yet in 

 these respects they are superior to most va- 

 rieties of Reine Claude plums. This is a 

 seedling of Reine Claude produced by Major 

 Esperen, Mechlin, Belgium, about 1832. ^^''- l^'- ^^^'^^'• 



Tree of medium size and vigor, upright-spreading, open-topped, hardy, 

 very productive. Fruit late; of medium size, round-oval, halves equal; 

 cavity abrupt; suture a line; apex roundish; color straw-yellow, obscurely 

 streaked and splashed; bloom light; dots numerous, small, gray, obscure, 

 clustered about the apex; stem thick, short, pubescent, adhering to the 

 fruit; flesh rich golden-yellow, juicy, fibrous, tender, sweet, pleasant; very 

 good; stone free, oval, necked, blunt at the apex, with pitted surfaces. 



Group 2. Fruits Black- or Blue-purple 



568. Italian Prune (Fig. 198). Fellen- 

 herg. — The fruit is finely flavored, whether 

 eaten out of hand, prepared for the table or 

 cured as a prune. In cooking, the yellow 

 flesh changes to a dark wine color, very at- 

 tractive in appearance, with a most pleasant 

 sprightly flavor ; as a cured prune, the flesh 

 is firm and meaty, yet elastic, of good color 

 and a perfect freestone. The prunes from 

 this variety are noted for long-keeping. In 

 the uncured state, the product keeps and 

 ships well. The trees are large, hardy, pro- 

 Priine. ^ ^^^ ductive, well-formed, and bear regularly ; yet 



