180 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



Germany, affording ornament and a grateful shade and 

 refreshment to the traveller at the same moment." 



The Plum. 



182. Its History and Classification. The plum is also 

 one of the anciently cultivated fruits of central Asia. 

 Eegel says in the Gartenflora, published in Berlin: "The 

 common plum of the district of Tashkend and of the more 

 elevated settlements of the southern territory is the 

 beautiful Bokharan variety. It is particularly abundant in 

 Karaegin, and may be found also in the middle district of 

 the Paendsh valley." 



Henry Lansdell, D. D. , also spent much time investigat- 

 ing the fruits of central Asia. He reports finding an 

 apricot-tree five feet and three inches in diameter of stem, 

 and plums that were red, yellow, and black, "particularly 

 well flavored," on October llth. 



De Candolle says: "It is very doubtful if Prunus 

 domestica is indigenous in Europe. Authors who have 

 seen the species in the east do not hesitate to say that it is 

 ' subspontaneous.' " 



Some of the Asiatic plums seem to have been first 

 introduced in Europe and planted on the Volga bluffs, as 

 their culture there we were told goes back to the early 

 history of that region. But varieties of the Prunus 

 domestica type have been so long cultivated in west 

 Europe that the race has changed in leaf, bud, and fruit 

 materially from that found at this time in central Asia, 

 which we know more nearly resembles the Chinese and 

 Japanese plums (Prunus triflora). Several of the Russian 

 plums we met with ou the Volga had the triple bud, leaf, 

 and pasty flesh of the Japan varieties, and we met with 

 plums at the great fair at Nishui Novgorod, in 1882, that 

 exhibited all the characteristics of the triflora and domestica, 



