PLUMS. 115 



This fruit ripens several weeks earlier than the peach to 

 which it is allied. The National Convention of Fruit- 

 growers, adopted unanimously as of the first quality known 

 in the United States, the following varieties, viz : The 

 Large Early, Breda, and Moorpark. The kind known as 

 the peach apricot was pronounced identical with the Moor- 

 park. 



The tendency of this tree to put out its flowers very 

 early in the season, and much before the Almond and 

 Peach, subjects its fruit to great risk from nipping spring 

 frosts. This difficulty increases in proceeding from the 

 North to the South. 



The PLUM TREE (Prunus domestica) is considered by 

 Sir J. E. Smith as a native of England. Many of the best 

 cultivated varieties, however, have been introduced from 

 France. The Hort. Soc. Catalogue enumerates 274 sorts, 

 though probably all of these are not well ascertained. We 

 shall first notice a few of the best dessert plums, and then 

 give a list of select kitchen sorts. 



The Green- Gage is the Heine Claude of the French. 

 Being a great favorite at Paris (as it is everywhere else) 

 during the ferment of the first Revolution, when all allu- 

 sions to royalty were proscribed, it retained its popularity 

 under the title of Prune Citoyenne. It was introduced into 

 England by the Gage family, and the foreign name having 

 been lost, it obtained its present appellation. It is a fruit 

 of first-rate excellence, the flavor being exquisite. The tree 

 deserves a place against an east or west wall, where the 

 fruit acquires a larger size, without materially falling off in 

 richness of flavor. Treated as a wall tree, it seldom bears 

 well till it be old ; and it is very impatient of exact train- 

 ing, as indeed most plums are. In warm situations it 



