114 



THE TRUE PEACH PLUM. 



" jMr. Rivers has lately sent to this coun- 

 trj-, trees of the Peach Plttm, which, he 

 says, is the Prime Peche of Brittany, superior 

 to and quite distinct from the Nectarine." 



Singularly enough accident made us ac- 

 quainted with the fact that, in the city of 

 Schenectady in this state, the genuine Peach 

 Plum has been considerably cultivated for 

 more than twenty years in the greatest per- 

 fection. Mr. Charles H. Tomlinson of that 

 place, desirous of clearing up some doubts in 

 relation to the plum known as Duane's Pur- 

 ple, brought us at the close of July, some 

 very remarkable looking plums, strikingly 

 different from any other variety.* Having 

 excellent colored drawings and descriptions 

 of the Prune. Peche, both in the Jardin 

 Fruitier of Noisette, and the Pomologie 

 Fran(^aise of Poiteau, we recognized the 

 specimens immediately as the genuine old 

 Peach Plum of France, which is scarcely 

 at all known to cultivators, from its hav- 

 ing been confounded with the Nectarine 

 Plum. 



This true Peach Plum is a superb fruit. 

 It could never have been received correctly 

 in the garden of the London Horticultural 

 Society, for a single glance at the external 

 appearance of the fruit is sufficient to dis- 

 tinguish it from all other plums. Its color, as 

 is correctly shown in the colored plates of 

 the two French authors just mentioned, 

 is a dark salmon-red, while that of the Nec- 

 tarine Plum, as every one knows, is a dis- 

 tinctly purplish-red. Again, the Peach Plum 

 ripens here ten days before the Washington, 

 making it among the earliest of Plums. 

 (Noisette says, in France it ripens from the 

 tenth to the twentieth of July.) The Nec- 

 tarine Plum does not ripen here till the 

 middle or last of August, a week or ten 



* Mr. Tomlinson has favored us with a letter on this sub- 

 ject, which our readers will find among the Boineslic Notices. 



days after the Washington, and three weeks 

 later than the Peach Plum. 



Considering its larjre size, its early matu- 

 rity, and agreeable flavor, we think the 

 Peach Plum will be a valuable acquisition 

 to our fniits. Mr. Tomlinson showed us 

 some specimens when we were in Schenec- 

 tady on the first of August, one of which 

 measured six inches and a half in circum- 

 ference. We have prepared an outline of 

 this variety, and made the following descrip- 

 tion with the fruit before us. 



Fig. 34. The Peach Plum. 



Peach Plum. Prune Piche, Noisette, 

 Poiteau. — The tree is a pretty strong grow- 

 er, with stout smooth shoots. Fruit very 

 large, shaped more like a peach than a plum, 

 being usually wider than its depth ; regu- 

 larly formed, roundish, much flattened at 

 both ends ; suture shallow, but strongly 

 marked ; apex much depressed, with a 

 punctured mark at the point. Skin light 

 brownish-red, nearly a salmon colour in its 

 lightest portions, sprinkled with obscure dark 

 specks, and covered with a delicate pale 

 bloom. Stalk very short, rather stout, set 

 in a shallow narrow cavity. Flesh pale 

 yellow, a little coarse-grained, but juicy and 



