PLUMS. 



97 



states that although he has the Washington, Green Gage, two 

 varieties of the Orleans, and other kinds of the first character, 

 he deems it at least equal, if not superior in flavour to any of 

 them, and that he is not singular in this opinion, as several of 

 the first amateurs of fine fruit in that quarter think it excellent. 



COOPER'S LARGE RED. PH. CAT. 



Cooper's plum. Coxe. 



Cooper's large. Lond. Hort. Cat. 



Cooper's large American. 



This plum is of extraordinary size, measuring within an 

 eighth of two inches in each direction ; the skin is of a fine dark 

 purple colour ; the flesh is yellowish green, rich, juicy and of 

 pleasant flavour. The fruit makes excellent preserves, but 

 should be used for this purpose before fully ripe, and it has 

 been also recommended to take off the thin outward skin. 

 This plum is at maturity in August; its great defect is an in- 

 clination to rot, for which it is hoped a preventive may be dis- 

 covered. It is a native variety, and originated from the stone 

 of an Orleans plum, planted by Joseph Cooper, Esq. of Glou- 

 cester county, New-Jersey. 



KIRKE'S PLUM. POM. MAG. LOND. HORT. CAT. 



This is said to be one of the best plums they have in Eng- 

 land, and I copy the following description from the Pomolo- 

 gical Magazine, published in London : 



" It is very handsome, a most abundant bearer both as a 

 standard and upon a west or east wall, and its flavour is 

 scarcely inferior to that of the Green Gage. It was first 

 brought into notice by Mr. Kirke, whose name it bears, and 

 was met with by that gentleman in a singular way. Passing 

 along the street one day, he was struck with the beauty of a 

 basket of plums in a fruiterer's window. Upon tasting them, 

 he was surprised to find that they excelled in flavour any purple 

 plum with which he was acquainted. The fruiterer had re- 

 ceived them from a gardener in the country, who, it afterwards 

 appeared, had procured the variety from the garden of a geu- 



VOL. II. 13 



