28 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



plums came originally from Armenia and were known as the Armenian 

 plums, coming eventually by the way of Greece to Italy. If this state- 

 ment of its origin be true, Columella 1 knew the fruit, for he says: 



" then are the wicker baskets cramm'd 

 With Damask and Armenian and Wax plums." 



And so, too, Pliny refers to them 7 in his enumeration of varieties in which 

 he says: " the Armenian, also an exotic from foreign parts, the only one 

 among the plums that recommends itself by its smell." 



Hogg 3 says the Reine Claudes were brought from Greece to Italy and 

 cultivated in the latter country under the name Verdochia. Hogg does 

 not give his authority and his statement cannot be verified in any other 

 of the modern European pomologies to which the authors of this work 

 have had access. The very complete history of the agricultural and horti- 

 cultural plants of Italy 4 by Dr. Antonio Targioni-Tozzetti does not give 

 this name. Be that as it may, some variety of this group was introduced 

 into England under the name Verdoch and at an early date, for in 1629 

 Parkinson' enumerates it in his sixty sorts describing it as " a great, fine, 

 green shining plum fit to preserve." Rea e in 1676 also lists and describes 

 it as does Ray,' 1688. 



It is doubtful if Parkinson, Ray and Rea had the true Reine Claude, 

 however, for the Verdacchio, according to Gallesio, 8 one of the best Italian 

 authorities, is an obovate-shaped fruit while the Claudia is a round one. 

 Gallesio says the Claudia was cultivated in many places about Genoa 

 under the name Verdacchio rotondo; about Rome and through Modenese, 

 for a long time, as the Mammola; in Piedmont as the Claudia; and in 

 Tuscany as the Susina Regina. Now (1839) he says, "it is known in all 

 Italy under the name Claudia, and has become so common as to be found 

 in abundance in the gardens and in the markets." 



The name Reine Claude, all writers agree, was given in honor of Queen 

 Claude, wife of Francis I, the fruit having been introduced into France 



1 Columella 10: lines 404-406. 



J The Natural History of Pliny. Translated by John Bostock and H. T. Riley 3:294. Lon- 

 don: 1892. 



8 Hogg, Robert The Fruit Manual Ed. 5:704. 1884. 



4 Targioni-Tozzetti, Antonio, Cenni storici siMa introduzioite di varie piante nell' agricoltura 

 cd horticultura Toscana. Florence: 1850. 



' Parkinson, John Paradisus Terrcstris 576. 1629. 



* Rea, John A Complete Florilege 208. 1676. 



7 Ray Historia Plantarum 2:1529. 1688. 



'Gallesio, Giorgio 2: (Pages not numbered). 1839. 



