1 6 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



Assuming, then, that the plums known in pomology as Domestica 

 plums belong to one species, the original habitat of the species may be 

 sought. In spite of the great number of varieties of plums now grown 

 in Europe and western Asia, and the importance of the fruit both in the 

 green and dried state, the history of the plums cannot be traced with much 

 certainty beyond two thousand years. Though stones, without doubt those 

 of the Insititia or Damson and the Spinosa or Blackthorn plums, are found 

 in the remains of the lake dwellings in central Europe' the pits of Domes- 

 tica plums have not yet come to light. In the summer of 1909 the writer, 

 in visiting historic Pompeii, became interested in the illustrations of fruits 

 in the frescoes of the ancient buildings, but neither in the houses of the 

 ruined city nor in the frescoes in the museums in Naples could he find 

 plums, though several other fruits, as apples, pears, figs and grapes were 

 many times illustrated. An examination of the remains of plants pre- 

 served in the museum at Naples taken from under the ashes and pumice 

 covering Pompeii gave the same results. No stone-fruits were to be found, 

 though if widely used these should have been on sale in the markets of 

 Pompeii at the time of the destruction of the city, which occurred late in 

 August, — the very time of the year at which the examination was made 

 and at which time plums were everywhere for sale in Rome. This obser- 

 vation is but another indication that plums were not well-known before 

 the beginning of Christianity, since Pompeii was destroyed in 79 A. D. 

 In Greek literature the references to plums are few before the Christian era 

 and these are more likely to some form of Insititia, as the Damsons, rather 

 than to the Domesticas. 



Pliny gives the first clear accotmt of Domestica plums and speaks 

 of them as if they had been but recently introduced. His account is as 

 follows:' " Next comes a vast number of varieties of the plum, the parti- 

 colored, the black, the white, the barley plum, so-called because it is ripe 

 at Barley harvest, and another of the same color as the last, but which 

 ripens later, and is of a larger size, generally known as the 'Asinina,' from 

 the little esteem in which it is held. There are the onychina, too, the 

 cerina, — more esteemed, and the purple plum; the Armenian, also an 

 exotic from foreign parts, the only one among the plums that recommends 

 itself by its smell. The plum tree grafted on the nut exhibits what we 

 may call a piece of impudence quite its own, for it produces a fruit that 

 has all the appearance of the parent stock, together with the juice of the 



'Heer Pflanz. Pfahlb. 27, fig. 16. 



' Bo stock and Riley Nat. Hisl. of Pliny 3:294. 1892. 



