32 THE PLUMS OF NEW YORK. 



time geographical division of Italy. 1 The Perdrigon plums, especially the 

 varieties having this name, have been grown extensively for two centuries 

 about Brignoles, France, where they are cured and sold as Brignoles prunes. 

 Since they are much grown in what was formerly the province of Touraine, 

 France, thjey are sometimes called Touraine plums. The early pomological 

 writers, as the Princes, Kenrick, Coxe, and even Downing, described White, 

 Red, Violet, Early and Norman Perdrigon plums, but these are not now 

 listed in either the pomologies or the nurserymen's catalogs of this country 

 though the group is represented by Goliath, Late Orleans and Royal Tours. 

 These plums might almost be included with the Imperatrice group, differ- 

 ing only in the smaller and rounder fruits. 



The Yellow Egg Plums. 2 There are but few varieties belonging to 

 this group, but these are very distinct, and include some of the largest and 

 handsomest plums. The origin of varieties of this group can be traced 

 back over three centuries and it is somewhat remarkable that the size 

 and beauty of the Yellow Egg Plums have not tempted growers during 

 this time to produce a greater number of similar varieties. Rea, 3 in 1676, 

 described the Yellow Egg under " Magnum Bonum or the Dutch Plum " 

 as " a very great oval -formed yellowish plum, and, according to the name, 

 is good as well as great." The Imperial, which afterward became the Red 

 Magnum Bonum, is mentioned by Parkinson * in 1629 as " Large, long, 

 reddish, waterish and late." Earlier names in France, how early cannot be 

 said, were Prune d'Oeuf, yellow, white, red and violet, or the Mogul with 

 these several colors, and the Imperiale with the three or four colors. Later 

 the name d'Aubert was applied to the Yellow Egg. Though this fruit 

 was first known in England as the Imperiall, and later as the Magnum 

 Bonum, it has been grown for at least two centuries in that country as 

 the Yellow Egg, and under this name came to America in the latter part 

 of the Eighteenth Century. Koch 6 places these plums in the Date-plum 

 family. The varieties of this group now grown and more or less well-known 

 are Yellow Egg, Red Magnum Bonum, Golden Drop and Monroe. 



The characters which readily distinguish the Yellow Egg group are, 

 the large size of the fruit, possibly surpassing all other plums in size, the 



1 In the first edition of Species Plantarum Linnaeus called these plums Prunus domestica ferni- 

 cona; in the second edition the varietal name was changed to " Pertizone." In the Prodromus 

 Seringe designates the group as Prunus domestica touronensis. 



'The Prunus domestica aubertiana of Seringe. (DC. Prodr. 2:533. l82 5-) 



* Rea, John A Complete Florilege 209. 1676. 



4 Parkinson, John Paradisic Terrestris 576. 1629. 



8 Koch, K. Dent. Obst. 560. 1876. 



