306 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



The wild sloe and bullace are indigenous to this coun- 

 try, and in all probability the only kinds that are natives ; 

 but, like the wild crab-apple, they have furnished stocks 

 for every variety of their own species ; and this fruit ap- 

 pears to have been attended to in early days, if we may 

 judge from the variety that Gerard had in his garden at 

 Holborn, in 1597. " I have," says he, " three score 

 sorts in my garden, and all strange and rare : there be in 

 other places many more common, and yet yeerely 

 commeth to our handes others not before knowne. The 

 greatest varietie of these rare plums are to be found in 

 the grounds of Master Vincent Pointer, of Twicknam." 



The damson, or damascene plum, takes its name from 

 Damascus, where it grows in great quantities, and from 

 whence it was brought into Italy about 114 years B. C. 

 Pliny says, this plum required the warmer sun of Syria : 

 we may therefore conclude, it is still inferior in our 

 climate to what it is in Italy. 



The Orleans plum takes its name from the part of 

 France so called. This is a handsome but an indifferent 

 fruit, and not equal to the common muscle plum in 

 flavour, although it is more cultivated than even the green- 

 gage, which is not only the most agreeable, but also the 

 most wholesome of all the plums. This latter plum was 

 called the Reine Claude, from having been introduced 

 into France by Queen Claude, wife to Francis the First 

 of that country, but it bears various names in different 

 parts of France. It is often called Damas verd; at Tours 

 it is named Abricot verd ; at Rouen, where it grows abun- 

 dantly, they call it la Verte bonne. This plum received 

 the name of Green-gage from the following accident : 

 The Gage family, in the last century, procured from the 

 monastery of the Chartreuse at Paris, a collection of 

 fruit-trees. When these trees arrived at the mansion of 

 Hengrave Hall, the tickets were safely affixed to all of 



