THE ROSE, POME, AND DRUPE FAMILY. 479 



some authors, the Willow-leaved Plum (P. salicifolius) was in- 

 troduced to this country from China in 1822. The hybridiser 

 who wishes to improve our Plums and other hardy fruits should 

 not forget that Wild Plums, Apples, Strawberries, Apricots, and 

 Grapes are found widely scattered over the earth's surface, and 

 these are as capable of being improved as our own wild forms 

 of hardy fruits were when in their original state. It is a pity we 

 have no national garden in which to introduce and cultivate 

 the wild Plums of America and other temperate countries, as 

 some of these might form valuable stocks, or by crossing them 

 with existing forms we might originate new and perhaps hardier 

 or later-blooming races. As a rule, all Plums bear enormous 

 crops in favourable seasons ; but, unfortunately, nearly all our 

 cultivated varieties require either to be eaten as soon as ripe or 

 else to be preserved in syrup or sugar, by which operation 

 much of their fresh, delicate, and juicy flavour is destroyed. 

 We have one or two varieties, however, of which Coe's Golden 

 Drop and Coe's Late Red are examples, which may be pre- 

 served in a fresh state for two or three months, or even longer ; 

 indeed, G. Lindley, in his ' Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen 

 Garden ' (one of the most original and valuable of all works on 

 fruit-trees), mentions that Coe's -Golden Drop has been pre- 

 served for nearly a year by wrapping each fruit separately in 

 soft dry paper, and placing them in a dry place. I have re- 

 peatedly seen both varieties added to the Christmas dessert, the 

 only preservative measures resorted to being fo string them on 

 laths, and hang them up in a dry airy fruit-room. There seems 

 to me a field of improvement open in this direction, and all 

 who raise new Plyms might do worse than turn their attention 

 to the production and multiplication of these late varieties, in 

 the fruit of, which there is already implanted a long-keeping 

 tendency. It is singular to find this point so little attended 

 to by horticulturists, if we except the case of the Grape Vine, 

 to which of late years several very valuable varieties notably 

 Lady Downes's Seedling have been added. Surely if such a 

 soft juicy fruit as the Grape can have long-keeping properties 

 infused into it by cultivation and cross-breeding, this might 

 also be done in the case of the Plum, and many other fruits 

 which come in all at once, and force us to eat them from 

 the tree as the only means of enjoying them in a fresh and 

 natural state. 



P. sinensis, or Chinese Plum, is a hardy shrub or small tree, 

 of which we possess very beautiful double-white and rosy-flow- 

 ered forms. All the ornamental-flowering or variegated-leaved 

 varieties of Prunus may be readily multiplied by budding or 



