110 



THE BLACKTHORN, 



really wild state ; and even when it is occasionally met 

 with in hedges, approaches much more closely in character 

 to the undoubtedly wild Bullace-tree, or Blackthorn, than 

 it does to the garden varieties. The inference which wo 

 may safely draw from this fact is, that if the yellow 

 , magnum bonum plum 



may be referred for its 

 origin to the small black 

 fruit of the " domesti- 

 cated plum," as we find 

 it in our hedges, wo 

 have at least equal 

 reason for referring the 

 latter to the sloe-tree. 



For many of our best 

 varieties of plum we are 

 indebted to the French. 

 First among these 

 stands the Green-gage. 

 It is known in France 

 by several names : that 

 of "Reine Claude" was 

 given to it from its 

 having been introduced 

 into France by Queen 

 Claude, wife of Francis 

 I. During the Revo- 

 lution, so great was the horror entertained against every- 

 thing bearing the slightest allusion to royalty, that in 

 order to retain its popularity it was obliged to change its 

 name to " Prune citoyenne," Citizen-plum. It received its 

 name Green-gage from the following circumstance. The 

 Gage family, in the last century, procured from the monas- 

 tery of Chartreuse at Paris, a collection of fruit-trees, the 

 names of which were in every instance but one carefully 

 attached to them. That of the Reine Claude, however, had 

 been either omitted by the packer, or been rubbed off 



MYROBALAN PLUM. 



