150 



Descripllons of Select Varieties of Plums. 



from the root of a grafted tree in New York, which had been 

 destroyed by lightning below the graft ; a few suckers came 



up from the root, and 

 these were sold in New 

 York market. Mr. Bol- 

 mar was the purchaser 

 of one of them, and 

 when his tree came 

 into bearing, he re- 

 quested Mr. Floy to 

 call and see it ; this he 

 did, and the beauty of 

 the foliage, as well as 

 the immense size and 

 beauty of the fruit, sur- 

 prised him. Mr. Bol- 

 mar gave him buds, 

 from which he propa- 

 gated the variety, and 



nursery : he also had a drawing made of the fruit at that time, 

 (1818,) which is now in his possession. 



The late Mr. Prince also gives an account of it in the Pom. 

 Manual, where he states that the variety was well known in 

 Flushing about the year 1824, at which period there were 

 several trees of "the thickness of a man's thigh," and that it 

 was cultivated, for a long time, under the name of the Superior 

 Gage. He was unable to trace it any farther than Flushing, 

 and he had strong evidence that it was one of the numerous 

 seedlings which his father raised about the year 1790, from 

 the Green Gage, when the Imperial Gage, Red Gage, and 

 other fine varieties, were originated from the same lot of seeds. 



The Washington is of exceedingly vigorous growth, and^ 

 consequently, does not come into bearing very early ; but, by 

 judicious pruning of the branches, and occasional pruning of 

 the roots, young trees may be brought much earlier into bear- 

 ing than usual. It is a great and constant bearer when it 

 once begins to fruit, and the branches frequently need propping 

 up to prevent their being broken by the weight of fruit. Some 



