890 THE PLUM. 



One of the most important forms of the plum in commerce is that of 

 pruncsj as they are exported from France to every ])art of the world. 

 We quote the following interesting account of the best mode of prepar- 

 ing prunes from the Arboretum Jiritannicum : — 



The best prunes are made near Tours, of tlie St. Catherine Plum 

 and the Prune d'Agen ; and the best French plums (so called in Eng- 

 land) are made in Provence, of the Perdrigon blanc, the Brignole, and 

 the Prune d'Ast ; the Provence plums being the most fleshy, and hav- 

 ing always most bloom. Both kinds are, however, made of these and 

 other kinds of plums, in various parts of France. The plums are 

 gathered when just ripe enough to fall from the trees on their being 

 slightly shaken. They are then laid, separately, on frames or sieves 

 made of wicker-work or laths, and exposed for several days to the sun, 

 till they become as soft as ripe medlars. When this is the case they 

 are put into a spent oven, shut quite close, p.nd left there for twenty- 

 four hours ; they are then taken out, and the oven being slightly re- 

 heated, they are put in again when it is rather waimer than it was be- 

 fore. The next day tliey are again taken out, and turned by slightly 

 shaking the sieves. The oven is heated again, and they are put in a 

 third time, when the oven is one-fourth degree hotter than it was tlie 

 second time. After remaining twenty-foiir hours, they are taken out, 

 and left to get quite cold. They are then rounded, an operation which is 

 performed by turning the stone in the plum without breaking the skin, 

 and pressing the two ends together between the thumb and finger. 

 They are then again put upon the sieves, which are placed in an oveii 

 fi'om which the bread has been just drawn. The door of the oven is 

 closed, and the crevices are stopj^ed round it with clay or dry grass. 

 An hour afterwards the plums are taken out, and the oven is again 

 shut, with a cup of water in it, for about two hours. When the 

 water is so warm as just to be able to bear the finger in it, the prunes 

 are again placed in the oven, and left there for twenty-four hours, when 

 the operation is finished, and they are put loosely into small, long, and 

 rather deep boxes, for sale. The common sorts are gathered by shaking 

 the trees ; but the finer kinds, for making French plums, must be 

 gathered in the morning, before the rising of the sun, by taking hold of 

 the stalk between the thumb and finger, without toviching the friut, 

 which is laid gently on a bed of vine-leaves in a basket. When the bas- 

 kets are filled, without the plums touching each other, they ai-e removed 

 to the fruit-room, where they are left for two or three days exposed to 

 the sun and air ; after which the same process is employed for the others ; 

 and in this way the delicate bloom is retained on the fruit, even when 

 quite dry. 



Propagation and Culture. The plum is usually propagated in 

 this country by sowing the seeds of any common free-growing variety 

 (^ avoiding the Damsons, which are not readily worked), and budding 

 them, when two years old, with finer sorts. The stones should be 

 planted as soon as gathered, in broad drills (as in ])lanting peas), but 

 about an inch and a half deep. In good soil the seedlings will reach 

 eighteen inches or two feet in height the next season, and in the 

 autumn or the ensuing spring they may be taken from the seed-beds, 

 their tap-roots reduced, and all that are of suitable size planted at once 

 m the nursery rows, the smaller ones being thickly bedded ixutil after 

 another season's growth. 



