PLUMS. 727 



medium sized ; round, slightly depressed at the apex, and marked with 

 a very shallow suture. Skin, thick, separating freely from the flesh, 

 of a fine clear purple next the sun, and red on the shaded side, marked 

 with several fawn-coloured dots, and thickly coloured with pale blue 

 bloom. Stalk, three quarters of an inch long, set in a rather wide 

 cavity. Flesh, greenish yellow, juicy, and melting, with a rich, brisk, 

 and pleasant flavour, adhering to the stone. 



An excellent plum for drying or preserving ; ripe in October. The 

 young shoots are smooth. The tree is vigorous and an excellent 

 bearer when grown against a wall. The fruit will hang till it shrivels, 

 when it forms a delicious sweetmeat. 



This plum is often met with in the French nurseries under the name of Impe'ra- 

 trice Violctte and Altesse, hence it is that Altesse is sometimes applied to our 

 Blue Imperatrice. It is the Imperatrice of Merlet. The Suisseof Merlet is a long 

 plum, resembling the Red Magnum Bonum, and with the flesh separating from the 

 stone. It is frequently met with in the French nurseries under the name of 

 Quetsche, and I have no doubt it is the Quetsche d'ltalie. 



SULTAN. Fruit, above medium size ; round, marked with a deep 

 suture. Skin, dark purple, covered with a thick blue bloom. Stalk, 

 about half an inch long, inserted in a wide hollow. Flesh, greenish 

 yellow, adhering to the stone, firm, brisk, and sweet, with a pleasant 

 flavour. 



A culinary plum of great excellence ; ripe in the middle of August. 

 It bears considerable resemblance to Orleans, but the tree is a most 

 profuse bearer, and the fruit is so much earlier. Young shoots, smooth. 



A seedling raised by Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, in 1871, from Belle de 

 Septembre. 



Sweet Damson. See Eugene Fiirst. 

 Sweet Prune. See Quetsche. 

 Switzer's Plum. See Suisse. 



TARDIVE DE CHALONS. Fruit, rather small ; round, inclining 

 to oval, and marked with a well-defined suture. Skin, brownish red, 

 thinly strewn with minute dots. Stalk, three-quarters of an inch long. 

 Flesh, firm, tender, sweet, and well flavoured, separating with difficulty 

 from the stone. Shoots, downy. 



A dessert or preserving plum ; ripe in October. 



TAY BANK (Guthrie's Tay Bank}. Fruit, an inch and three- 

 quarters long, and an inch and a half wide ; roundish oval, with a faint 

 suture. Skin, yellow, or greenish yellow, and with crimson specks on 

 the side next the sun. Stalk, upwards of an inch long, slender, 

 inserted almost level with the surface. Flesh, yellow, veined with 

 white, tender, melting, juicy, and richly flavoured ; very sweet, like a 

 preserve, but not equal in flavour to Green Gage, as it lacks briskness ; 

 it adheres to the stone. 



A dessert plum ; ripe in the middle of September. 



