311 



quantities, and from whence it was brought 

 into Italy about 114 years B. C. Pliny says, 

 this plum required the warmer sun of Syria : 

 we may therefore conclude, it is still more in- 

 ferior in our climate. 



The Orleans plum takes it's name from 

 the part of France so called. This is a hand- 

 some but an indifferent fruit, and not equal 

 to the common Muscle plum in flavour, 

 although it is more cultivated than even the 

 Green Gage, which is not only the most 

 agreeable, but also the most wholesome of 

 all the plums. This latter plum was called the 

 Heine Claude, from having been introduced 

 into France by Queen Claude, wife to Francis 

 the 1st of that country, but it bears various 

 names in different parts of France. It is often 

 called damas verd; at Tours it is named 

 abricot verd; at Rouen, where it grows abun- 

 dantly, they call it la verte bonne. This 

 plum received the name of Green Gage from 

 the following accident : The Gage family, 

 in the last century, procured from the mo- 

 nastery of the Chartreuse at Paris, a col- 

 lection of fruit-trees. When these trees ar- 

 rived at the mansion of Hengrave Hall, the 

 tickets were safely affixed to all of them, 

 excepting only to the Reine Claude, which 

 was either omitted to have been put on, or 



