THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 4I 



in the making of a distilled licjuor, a sort of plum brand\-. The dozen 

 or more varieties of Mirabclles differ chiefly in size of fruit and in time of 

 matvirity. The range in size is from half an inch to an inch in diameter and 

 in time of ripening in France from the first of August to the first of October. 



The Red Mirabelle frequently referred to in pomological works is 

 Prunus cerasifera, and the name is wrongly so used, for if not first applied 

 to the several varieties of Insititia it now by almost universal usage belongs 

 to these plimis. The origin of the word, as now commonly used, dates back 

 over two centuries, being found in the pomological treatises of the Seven- 

 teenth Century. The assumption is that Mirabelle is derived from mirablc 

 meaning wonderful, and the name was first so used by the French. 



Unforttmately the Mirabelles are hardly known in America. These 

 plums have so many good qualities of tree and fruit that American pom- 

 ology would be greatly enriched if the best Mirabelle varieties were grown 

 in both home and commercial orchards. They should be used in cookery 

 much as are the Damsons, which they surpass for some purposes. 



St. JuUens. — The St. Julien that the writer has seen in American and 

 European nurseries is unmistakably an Insititia. At one time St. Julien 

 stocks were used almost exclusively in New York nurseries, and few large 

 plum orchards are free from trees which have through accident to the 

 cion grown from the stock. Such trees bear fruit so like the Damson 

 that one is warranted in saying that the two are identical, and that St. 

 Julien is but a name used for a Damson when the latter is employed as a 

 stock. The fruit is sweetish with a taste identical with that of the sweet 

 Damsons. 



Plum -growers who have had experience with plums on several stocks 

 are almost united in the opinion that the St. Julien is the best of all for 

 the Domesticas, at least. St. Julien stocks were formerly imported in 

 great numbers from France, where it is still largely grown for European 

 use. The name seems to have come in use in France more than a century 

 ago, but why given or to what particular Insititia appUed does not appear. 

 There is, however, a distinct variety or type of Insititia used by the French 

 in producing stocks, for French pomologists advise careful selection of 

 mother-plants for the production of the young trees by suckers or layers, 

 and caution growers of stocks in no case to use seeds which bring twiggy, 

 spiny and crooked stocks.' St. Julien plums arc seemingly nowhere gro^^^l 

 at present for their fruits. 



•This subject is well discussed in an article by E. .\. Carriere in Rcviw Horticole 438. 1892. 



