THE PLUM. 309 



in any of our forests; neither has it been found wild, 

 either in Armenia or any of the neighbouring pro- 

 vinces. M. Regnier is of opinion that it is a native 

 of Africa, and that its limits appear to be a parallel 

 between the Niger and the range of the Atlas moun- 

 tains, from whence it has, by cultivation, been carried 

 towards the north. 



Apricots are very plentiful, and in great variety, in 

 China; and the natives employ them variously in the 

 arts. From the wild tree, the pulp of whose fruit is 

 of little value, but. which has a large kernel, they ex- 

 tract an oil; they preserve the fruit wet in all its 

 flavour; and they make lozenges of the clarified 

 juice, which afford a very agreeable beverage when 

 dissolved in water. The apricot attains the size of 

 a large tree in Japan. It also flourishes in such 

 abundance upon the Oases as to be dried and car- 

 ried to Egypt as an article of commerce. In those 

 sultry climates, the flavour is exquisite, though the 

 fruit is small. 



Gough, in his British Topography, states that the 

 apricot-tree was first brought to England, in 1524, 

 by Woolf, the gardener to Henry VIII. Gerard 

 had two varieties hi his garden. 



THE PLUM Prunus domestica. 



The plum appears to be still more widely diffused 

 in its original locality than the apricot; and it is 

 much more prone to run into varieties. It is a 

 native of Asia, and of many parts of Europe; and 

 even grows wild in the hedges in some parts of 

 Britain, though possibly it may have found its way 

 there from some of the cultivated sorts, and have de- 

 generated. The plum, and almost all its species, is 

 very apt to run under ground, and produce suckers 

 from the roots. Duhamel says that if plums are 



TOL. II. 9 



