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Dried plums are principally imported 

 from Portugal, and the neighbourhood of 

 Marseilles in France; from whence also prunes 

 are brought : this latter variety is mostly 

 used in medicine. 



Plums of all kinds are considered more 

 agreeable than wholesome, but like the pear, 

 they lose their bad qualities by baking. 

 Plums in general are moistening, laxative, 

 and emollient, except the bullaces and sloes, 

 which are astringent. They are cooling, 

 quench thirst, and create an appetite, and 

 therefore agree best with hot constitutions; 

 but they do not sit easy with those that have 

 weak stomachs. In years that plums are very 

 plentiful, and consequently much eaten, 

 fluxes generally abound; hence it appears 

 that they ought always to be eaten very mo- 

 derately, and then they should be quite ripe 

 and sound. (Brookes.) The damson plum 

 produces a tolerably pleasant wine, and an 

 exceedingly agreeable kind of jelly called dam- 

 son cheese. The wild plum was used in me- 

 dicine by the ancients, and the bark of the 

 tree is thought to be equal to the Peruvian 

 bark in cases of intermitting fevers. 



