ITS USES. 263 



but it has become naturalized in this country, and in many 

 parts of it is produced in the greatest abundance.* That the 

 soil and climate of the middle states are admirably suited to tTiis 

 fruit is sufficiently proved by the almost spontaneous production 

 of such varieties as the Washington, Jefferson, Lawrence's Fa- 

 vourite, etc. ; sorts which equal or surpass in beauty or flavour 

 the most celebrated plums of France or England. 



USES. The finer kinds of plums are beautiful dessert fruits, 

 of rich and luscious flavour. They are not, perhaps, so en- 

 tirely wholesome as the peach or the pear, as, from their some- 

 what cloying and flatulent nature, unless when very perfectly 

 ripe, they are more likely to disagree with weak stomachs. 



For the kitchen the plum is also very highly esteemed, being 

 prized for tarts, pies, sweetmeats, etc. In the south of France 

 an excellent spirit is made from this fruit fermented with honey. 

 In the western part of this state, where they are very abundant, 

 they are halved, stoned, and dried in the sun or ovens, in large 

 quantities, and are then excellent for winter use. For eating, 

 the plum should be allowed to hang on the tree till perfectly 

 ripe, and the fruit will always be finer in proportion as the tree 

 has a more sunny exposure. The size and quality of the fruit 

 is always greatly improved by thinning the fruit when it is half 

 grown. Indeed to prevent rotting and to have this fruit in its 

 highest perfection, no two plums should be allowed to touch 

 each other while growing, and those who are willing to take this 

 pains, are amply repaid by the superior quality of the fruit. 



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

 that of prunes, as they are exported from France to every part 

 of the world. We quote the following interesting account of 

 the best mode of preparing prunes from the Arboretum Brit- 

 tanicum. 



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



* There are three species of wild plum indigenous to this country of tolerable 

 fla.vour, but seldom cultivated in our gardens. They are the following. 



I. The CHICKASAW PLUM. (Prumis Chicasa, Michaux.) Fruit about three 

 fourths of an inch in diameter, round, and red or yellowish red, of a pleasant, sub- 

 acid flavour, ripens pretty early. Skin thin. The branches are thorny, the head 

 rather bushy, with narrow lanceolate, serrulate leaves, looking at a little distance, 

 somewhat like those of a peach tree. It usually grows about 12 or 14 feet high, 

 but on the Prairies of Arkansas it is only 3 or 4 feet high, and in this form it is 

 also common in Texas. The DWARF TEXAS PLUM described by Kenrick is only 

 this species. It is quite ornamental. 



II. WILD RED OR YELLOW PLUM. (P. americana, Marshall.) Fruit roundish- 

 oval, skin thick, reddish orange, with a juicy, yellow, sub-acid pulp. The leaves 

 are ovate, coarsely serrate, and the old branches rough and somewhat thorny. 

 Grows in hedges, and by the banks of streams, from Canada to the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico. Tree from 10 to 15 feet high. Fruit ripens in July and August. 



HI. The BEACH PLUM, or Sand Plum. (P. maratima, Wang.) A low shrub, 

 with stout straggling branches, found mostly on the sandy sea-coast, from Massa- 

 chusetts to Virginia, and seldom ripening well elsewhere. Fruit roundish, scarcely 

 an inch in diameter, red or purple, covered with a bloom ; pleasant, but some- 

 what astringent. Leaves oval, finely serrate. 



