WORTHY GENERAL CULTIVATION. 409 



" The wooden frame, h h, is that on which the two doors are hung. 

 The door, </, which covers the arch, (and which is represented in the 

 cut as open and fastened up,) shuts up the front of the upper part 

 of the oven. In the middle of this upper door or flap is a round 

 vent-hole, for the escape of the moist vapor, k is an iron damper 

 or slide, to be placed in the flue at / /, in order to regulate the heat. 



"A thousand fully ripe quetsches (prune plums) make about 

 ten pounds of dried prunes. 



"Plums of different kinds may be dried, either whole or deprived of 

 their skins and stones. In the latter case, they are styled prunelles" 



CHARACTERS AND CLASSFICATION. The characters of the plums 

 are represented by the texture of the flesh as combined with its 

 juiciness and flavor ; and what are termed gages (a word really of 

 no meaning as applied to the fruit) represent fruits of round form, 

 very delicate, and of a rich, sugary, jnicy, high flavor. The prunes 

 are known as those fruits that are dry in the texture of their flesh. 

 The character of size is one of which Washington may be taken as 

 large, Green Gage as medium, and Mirabelle as small; while the wood 

 being smooth or downy, needs no explanation, and the depressed line 

 on one side, called a suture, is the same as in cherries or peaches, 

 and often serves as a guide in detecting varieties. The classification 

 by most writers of divisions of green, white, or yellow, and of blue, 

 or red, or purple, we adopt only in our text descriptive of each 

 distinct variety ; preferring as a practical matter, here as elsewhere 

 in our work, to follow that of, in short, best, very good, and good. 



VARIETIES. These are far too numerous for any practical use ; 

 and while we may have possibly reduced too much, we yet feel that 

 the uses and wants of community will be best supplied in this fruit 

 by a few really valuable, and for the particular purposes pointed out 

 in our text descriptive. 



CLASS I. Worthy General Cultivation. 

 BLEECKER'S GAGE. 



German Gage. 



RAISED at Albany, N. Y., about forty years since, by Mrs. Bleecker. 

 The tree is of healthy, hardy habit, and a regular, sure bearer. 

 Branches, downy ; leaves, dark green ; fruit, medium size, roundish 

 oval, very regular ; suture, slight ; skin, yellow, with numerous im- 

 bedded white specks, and a thin white bloom ; flesh, yellow, rich, 

 18 



