PLUMS AND DAMSONS. 



/~\UR cultivated varieties of plums are considered to have been derived from the 

 Wild Plum (Prunus domestica). It is believed to be a native of Asia Minor, and 

 was probably introduced to Greece from Syria. It is mentioned by Theophrastus in 

 the fourth century B.C., and by Dioscorides, a native of Cilicia and a Greek physician, 

 in the first century of the Christian era. From Greece it passed to Italy, and from 

 thence to France and the other parts of Europe. It is naturalised in our hedges and 

 copses. The Green Gage is supposed to be a native of Greece; it was mentioned by 

 Parkinson in 1629, under the name of Verdoch, and, from the way he spoke of it, 

 seems to have been not at all new or even rare. Various sorts of plums are known to 

 have been introduced into this country from Italy and France during the fifteenth 

 century, but the date of plum cultivation is uncertain and remote. Damsons are 

 simply oval and improved forms of the Bullace (Prunus insititia), found wild in many 

 parts of Great Britain. It has a wider range than the Sloe (P. spinosa), for, according 

 to Hooker, " the sloe is confined to Europe, the bullace extending to North Africa and 

 the Himalaya." 



The plum is the hardiest of our stone fruits, and the crop is, next to the apple, 

 the most useful. Its season extends in a fresh state from July to November; pre- 

 served or dried, throughout the year or indefinitely. Dried plums (prunes) have long 

 formed an important export of France, and some varieties can be profitably dried in 

 this country. 



Eipe plums are wholesome and nutritious. The choicer varieties are prized at 

 dessert, and also for culinary purposes. The best dessert plums are the most economical 

 (in sugar) for preserving; yet sub-acid plums and semi-acrid damsons are the most 

 popular for that purpose. 



SELECT VARIETIES. 



I. GAGES. 



True gage plums consist of three well-defined types : 1, Green Gage ; 2, Purple Gage ; 3, Transparent Gage ; 

 all marked by the same characteristics of form, flavour, and the flesh parting from the stone. Their sub-varieties differ 

 only from the type in being earlier or later; their characteristic divergences will be noted. Varieties that have 



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