296 PLUMS. 



Fair's Golden Drop. Jlort. Soc. Cat. Ko. 103. accord- 

 ing to the Pom. JS'lag, 



Branches smooth. Leaves with two globular glands at 

 the base. Fruit oval, of the largest size among Plums, 

 about two inches and a half long, and two inches in diame- 

 ter, deeply marked by the suture, pitted at the point, ab- 

 ruptly tapering and hollowed oat at the base for the recep- 

 t.on of the stalk. Stalk three quarters of an inch long, slen- 

 der. Skin greenish yellow, with numerous rich spots of 

 bright violet red next the sun. Flesh greenish yellow, ad- 

 hering firmly to the stone. Juice very sweet and delicious. 

 Sto7ie sharp-pointed. 



Ripe the end of September, and will hang some time upon 

 the tree after it is matured. 



This will keep for a considerable length of time after it 

 is gathered, either by suspending it by the stalk upon a string, 

 withinside a window facing the sun, or by wrapping it in soft 

 paper, and keeping it in a dry room. By this latter method, 

 I have eaten it exceedingly good in October, twelve months 

 after it had been gathered. 



It was raised by the late Jervaise Coe, a market gardener 

 at Bury St. Edmund's in Suffolk, more than thirty years 

 ago. He informed me it was from the stone of a Green 

 Gage, the blossom of which, he supposed, had been fertil- 

 ized by the White Magnum Bonum, the two trees of which 

 grew nearly in contact with each other in his garden. It 

 requires an east or a west wall ; on the former the fruit at^ 

 tains its greatest perfection. 



46. DowNTON Imperatrice. Hort. Trans. Vol. v. 

 p. 383. 



Branches long, smooth. Fruit shaped almost like the 

 Blue Imperatrice, but larger, and not so much lengthened at 

 the stalk end. Skin dull yellow, very thin. Flesh yellow, 

 soft, juicy, with a high flavoured acidity. 

 Ripe in October, and will keep a month. 

 Raised by Mr. Knight, of Downton Castle, from a seed 

 of the White Magnum Bonum, the blossom of which had 

 been impregnated by the pollen of the Blue Imperatrice. Its 

 fruit was exhibited at the Horticultural Society, December 

 1, 1823. 



The young wood has much the appearance of the White 

 Magnum Bonum, but grows nmch stronger, more so indeed 

 than any Plum I have ever seen, frequently, on vigorous 

 stocks, shooting from buds eight feet the first year. 



