298 New Plum — Drap d' Or of Esperiti. 



Oar specimen was in the most perfect preservation, as 

 sound as a Baldwin or Northern Spy; and it will prove a 

 most valuable late apple, taking its place with the two above 

 sorts as late keepers and superior fruits. — Ed. 



Art. III. Notice of a Neio Plwn, called the Drap d' Or of 

 Esperin, u'itli an Etigravi?ig of the Fruit. By the Edi- 

 tor. 



The late Major Esperin, of Belgium, according to the ac- 

 counts in the Belgian Horticultural journals, devoted much 

 of his time to the production of seedling fruits, more particu- 

 larly of pears and plums ; and several of his varieties, espe- 

 cially of the pear, are said to be very valuable acquisitions, 

 superior to any that have been raised since the productions of 

 Van Mons, and fully equal to many of the best produced by 

 that celebrated cultivator. It is also stated, and we presume 

 correctly, that the fruits of Major Esperin have all been pro- 

 duceil without any regard to cross fertilization, or by succes- 

 sive generations, as practised by Dr. Van Mons; but are 

 what may be termed '-chance" seedlings. Josephine de Ma- 

 lines and Suzette de Bavay are said to be two of the very 

 finest pears. Of pears, however, we shall speak another 

 lime. Our object now is to give some account of one of 

 Esperin's seedling plums. 



Drap d'Or (of Esperin) is the name given to this plum in 

 the F^lore des Serres of Van Houtte, where it is represented 

 in a beautifully colored figure, a copy of which we annex, 

 (^fig 27,) and the following descriptive account accompanies 

 the drawing : — 



For this fine variety, we are indebted to that intelligent 

 cultivator and celebrated Belgian pomologist, Esperin, (the 

 Major.) It was raised from seeds, by him, in 183t), and pro- 

 duced its first fruit in 1844; and we are indebted for its 

 preservation to M. Louis Berckmans, d'Heyst Opden-Berg, 

 an amateur and distinguished cultivator, who has communi- 

 cated, in part, the details we have concerning this plum. 

 The fruit is stated to be one of the best of its kind; the 



