HORTICULTURE 



Fruit 

 Garden. 



Plum. 



. 



the border of the cherry-house or the peach-house, with 



success. 



Plum. 



99. 1\icPlum-iree,(Prnmis domeslica, L.) is complete- 

 ly naturalized in this country, but can scarcely be said 

 to be indigenous to Britain: it is however admitted into 

 our Flora by Sir J. E. Smith, and is figured in English 

 Botany, plate 1783. There are many varieties, of which 

 seme of the oldest and best marked are P. prceoox, the 

 primordian ; damascena, the damask or damson ; Julia- 

 na, the St Julian ; pert'gona, the perdrigon ; and cerea, 

 the magnum bonum. Parkinson enumerates no fewer 

 than sixty sorts. Miller describes only about thirty. 



100. 1'he following are the kinds chiefly cultivated at 

 present: ' 



White primordian. 



Early clamask. 



Black damask. 



Precoce de Tours. 



Maitre Claud. 



Monsieur's plum. 



Imperatrice. 



White Perdrigon. 



Blue or Violet Perdrigon. 



Red Perdrigon. 



Queen Claudia, or true 



green-gage. 

 White gage. 

 Blue g.ige. 



Apricot plum. 

 Mirabelle. 

 Drap d'or. 



White imperial, or mag- 

 num bonum. 

 Red imperial. 

 St Catherine. 

 Orleans. 

 Fotheringham. 

 Winesour. 

 La Royale. 

 La Roche-corbon. 

 Coe's golden drop. 



The While Primordian, which is also called St Bavna- 

 by's plum, and sometimes Jaune-Hative, is the earliest 

 plum we have, commonly ripening in the end of July. 

 The fruit is small, of a longish shape, sugary, but with- 

 out much flavour. One tree on a wall is reckoned 

 enough, the tree being a free bearer. 



The Early Damask, or Morocco, immediately succeeds 

 the white primordian. The Precoce de Tours and Mai- 

 tre Claud are well flavoured plums, and the trees grow 

 freely, and bear well as standards. 



Monsieur' s Plum, or the Wentworth, is a large fruit, 

 somewhat resembling the white magnum : the tree is a 

 copious bearer, and answers very well as a standard : 

 the fruit is much used for tarts and in sweetmeats. The 

 Imperatrice is remarkably late, seldom ripening on stan- 

 dards till the end of October. 



The Perdrigons are melting, sugary, and perfumed 

 fruits ; the trees are not very free bearers, but are in 

 many places planted as espalier and dwarf standards. 



The Queen Claudia of Rouen, or Verte-bonne, seems 

 to be the proper Green-gage ; "the best (says Mr Nicol, ) 

 the most generally known, and most highly esteemed OT 

 the plum Kind." A few trees of this sort are generally 

 trained to a south-east or south-west wall ; but in a shel- 

 tered situation, and where the soil is a rich deep loam, 

 with a dry bottom, the fruit acquires a higher flavour 

 when produced on standards. The white or yellow gage, 

 and the blue or red gage, though inferior to the green, 

 are much cultivated. 



The Drap-d'or, golden drop, or cloth of gold plum, is 

 a good fruit ; but it requires a wall, and the tree is not 

 in general a plentiful bearer. 



The White Imperial, or white magnum bonum, has also 

 several other names, as yellow magnum, Holland mag- 

 num, Mogul plum, and egg plum. It is a very com- 



mon fruit; of a large size; sweet, but with no great 

 flavour ; excellent for tarts and sweetmeats : the tree ^ 

 grows freely, and seldom fails to bear, either on a wall, 

 or as a standard. 



The Ht-d Imperial is likewise called red magnum bo- 

 num ; it is also a large fruit, and of fine appearance ; 

 but it is principally used for baking and preserving : the 

 tree is a free bearer as a standard. The St Catherine 

 hf.s :i rich sweet juice, and is fit either for the dessert, 

 or for being used in confectionary. 



The Orleans is a middling good plum, of which there 

 are several varieties, as the old or red, the new, and 

 white. The tree is a vigorous grower, and great bearer : 

 it succeeds perfectly as a standard, but is sometimes 

 placed against a wall : it is well suited for a market 

 fruit-garden. 



The Fotheringham, or sheen plum, is a beautiful large 

 red fruit, of considerable flavour ; " there is hardly any 

 plum that excels it,'' says Forsyth : the tree answers 

 equally well for a wall, or as an espalier or standard. 



The Wine-sour is a plum said to be of Yorkshire ex- 

 traction ; it is not much cultivated, but seems deserving 

 of attention ; it is very late, and chiefly used for pre- 

 serves. 



La royale is an excellent plum, of a red colour ; the 

 tree however is generally a dull bearer. The Roche- 

 corbon, or red diaper plum, is large and of high flavour. 

 Cue's Golden Drop is a late ripening plum, the me- 

 rits of which have within these few years been attended 

 to, in consequence of a recommendation by Mr Knight 

 in the first volume of the Horticultural Transactions of 

 London. This gentleman considers it as a new varie- 

 ty, while others allege that it has been known for many 

 years. The tree is distinguished by the great size of 

 its foliage, the leaves being often five inches long and 

 three broad. The flesh of the fruit is of a golden co- 

 lour when ripe ; on the side next the sun, the skin is 

 dotted with violet and crimson. It is beautifully figu- 

 red in Hooker's Pomona, t 14* ; and is there announ- 

 ced as superior to any late plum at present in the Bri- 

 tish gardens. It keeps many weeks : Mr Knight men- 

 tions, that he suspended some of the fruit by their stalks 

 in a dry room in October, and that they remained per- 

 fectly sound till the middle of December, and were 

 then not inferior, either in richness or flavour, to the 

 green gage, or the drap d'or. This variety requires a 

 wall, but succeds extremely well on a west aspect. 



The Bullace-plum is the fruit of a distinct species of 

 Prunus, P. imititia, which grows naturally in hedges 

 in England. It is often planted in shrubberies or lawns; 

 it is a great bearer, and the fruit is excellent for baking 

 or preserving. There is a variety with wax-coloured 

 fruit, called the White bullace. The Myrobalans, at 

 clierry-plum, is by some considered as only a variety of 

 the common plum ; but others rank it as a distinct spe- 

 cies : Willdenow describes it under the title of P. cera- 

 sifera. 



101. If the wall be high, or above ten feet, a plum- 

 tree is allowed about 24 feet in length ; if it be low, 

 perhaps 50 feet, horizontal training being in this case 

 adopted. An east, south-east, or south-west aspect is 

 found to be better than a full south exposure, in which 

 last the fruit is apt to shrivel and become mealy. Se- 

 veral kinds bear well as espalier trees ; and many as 

 standards. Even in some parts of the Highlands of 

 Scotland, the yellow magnum and the green-gage trees 

 may be seen thriving luxuriantly, and bearing excellent 

 crops of fruit. The late Mr Hunter of Blackness, a 

 zealous Scottish horticulturist, describing the garden of 



Kraft 



Garden. 



