310 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



a. Plum. 6. CItcrry. 



o;rafted low, and covered with earth, they push out 

 shoots which may be transplanted. 



Plums of various sorts appear to have been intro- 

 duced into England as early as the fifteenth century. 

 These varieties came to us from France and Italy. 

 The " Green-gage" is the Reine Claude of France, so 

 called from having been introduced into that country 

 by the wife of Francis I. It is called Gage in Eng- 

 land, after the name of the family who first cultivated 

 it here. The " Orleans" probably came to us when 

 we held possession of that part of France from which 

 it takes its name. Lord Cromwell introduced several 

 plums from Italy, in the time of Henry VII. The 

 damson, or damascene, as its name imports, is from 

 Damascus. 



In some countries, particularly in Alsatia, a con- 

 siderable quantity of alcohol is f)roduced from plums 

 and cherries by fermentation. Dried plums form a 

 large article of commerce, under the name of prunes 

 and French plums. 



There are nearly three hundred varieties of plums, 

 many of which are, perhaps, only dissimilar in name. 

 The Washington, a modern variety, which is stated 



