PLUMS, AND A FEW GOOD KINDS. 135 



pale yellow, tinted on the sunny side when it ripens, 

 and sweet and rich in flavour. The stalk is of medium 

 length and slender ; the flesh pretty firm, yellow, and 

 adhering to the stone. The branches are smooth. It 

 is a good plum for preserving. 



The White Bullace is worth growing if a spare corner 

 can be found for a tree on account of its excellence and 

 richness when preserved ; the preserve will keep a year, 

 and it is particularly luscious and fine-flavoured. The 

 fruit is small and round, and generally grows in pairs. 

 It is yellowish- white when ripe, a little mottled with 

 red on the sunny side, firm and rather acid. The flavour 

 is not very good, but it improves when the fruit hangs 

 on the tree until frost touches it, and it is very nice for 

 cooking. It is said to be ripe in October, but it will 

 hang longer. The branches are slender, twiggy, and 

 covered with down. 



The above-named sorts will offer good choice for most 

 gardens. If only six kinds could find room, I should fix 

 on the following : Wilmot's Early Orleans, as a good 

 early plum, Greengage, Orleans, Apricot or Cherry 

 plum for preserving, Coe's Golden Drop, and Impera- 

 trice, as first-rate late and keeping sorts. 



I have not mentioned the Magnum Bonums, because 

 several others are more generally useful, and more pro- 

 ductive ; but both the white and the red are fine in size 

 and appearance, and very good for preserving and 

 cooking. They are ripe in September. They are among 

 our oldest kinds, having been favourites in the reign of 

 Charles the First. The Morocco is a very good hardy 

 early plum, which bears well as a standard, and ripens 

 several weeks before the Orleans. It is a middle-sized, 

 round, dark, bloom-covered plum, very nice in flavour, 

 and will do better than most kinds in unfavourable 

 localities. Lucombe's Nonesuch is another nice hardy 

 plum, similar to a Greengage in appearance and flavour, 

 but larger and handsomer, with a fine bloom, and a 

 little variegation in colour. It ripens the same time as 

 the Greengage. 



