THE ROSE, POME, AND DRUPE FAMILY. 4/7 



thousands being raised annually from seed (stones) for this 

 purpose, is evidently as distinct as the Sloe (P. spinosa), for it 

 varies but very little from seed. There are indeed two varie- 

 ties, one bearing greenish-yellow and the other clear yellow 

 Bullace-like fruits. The greenish-yellow-fruited form is com- 

 mon in France and Belgium, grown under the name of Mira- 

 belle, its fruit forming an excellent conserve ; and it is also very 

 largely multiplied from cuttings, which root freely in moist 

 peaty soil, and used as a stock for Plums, Peaches, and Apri- 

 cots. It appears to be a native of the Himalayas, and possibly 

 also of China and Japan. 



The American Beach or Sand Plum (Prunus maritima), a 

 small tree, which will flourish on the poorest of sandy soils, 

 especially near the sea, deserves an intelligent trial as a stock 

 for the larger-fruited varieties of P. domestica. It forms a low 

 bush or small tree on the sea-coast, extending from Maine to 

 the Gulf, and bears large quantities of Cherry-like fruits of a 

 red or reddish-purple colour, covered with a rich blue bloom. 

 The fruit is very much prized for preserving, and even if seed- 

 lings from it do not answer as stocks, there seems no reason 

 why this species should not be improved by hybridisation or 

 selection, it being especially adapted for culture on barren 

 coast-lands, where little else will vegetate. 



Prunus armeniaca (Apricot) is a native of the mountains 

 in Armenia, and is the Prcecocia of the Romans, while Pliny 

 remarks that it was grown in Italy in his time. This fruit does 

 not appear to have been known in England until 1524, when 

 Woolf, gardener to Henry VIII., introduced it from Italy. 

 The Apricot, like the Almond, differs in having varieties with 

 both bitter and sweet kernels. Thus the " Breda " and a 

 variety cultivated in Upper Egypt called the " Musch-Musch," 

 " Amande Aveline," and some others, have sweet kernels, which 

 may be eaten like sweet Almonds ; while the " Moor Park " 

 and others have bitter kernels. The Apricot is very distinct 

 in foliage and wood from all the other species of Prunus or 

 Amygdalus, and the granular pulp of the fruit is another dis- 

 tinction. Its leaves, indeed, more resemble those of the Lom- 

 bardy Poplar than any of its own allies ; but its near relation- 

 ship to the Plum and Almond and Peach is proved by the fact 

 that it succeeds perfectly when grafted on either the Muscle or 

 Common Plum as a stock ; and, as we have previously noted, 

 either Peaches, Almonds, or Nectarines may be grafted on the 

 Apricot as a stock ; and two or three centuries ago the Red 

 Roman Nectarine, then the rarest of hardy fruits, was found to 

 succeed best when grafted on an Apricot branch which had 



