58 



seems to 

 lum bush 

 Of these 

 low, but 

 lay, equal 

 ' without 

 not pre- 



The im- 

 Stales, I 



Quebec. 



medium 

 ie I have, 

 stringent, 



qualities 



I would 

 urculio as 

 ', though 

 observes, 

 :hing. 

 nes from 

 il gardens 

 they have 

 umber of 

 ian seed- 

 ing, dark, 



not rich, 

 e Skoros- 

 best of 

 on a little 

 le recom- 

 ivere ripe. 

 Espec- 

 •iety. At 

 ca, a large 

 er a large 



tree, grown from suckers, and found to be very productive ; I count- 

 ed 150 plums on one branch. Here, too, we find the Yellow Egg, 

 whether our old Yellow Egg or not I cannot say ; tree seemingly 

 hardy, but either from want of proper ripening of wood, or from 

 some other cause, not a good bearer. 



At Tula, we find quite a variety in the pe&sant orchards, and 

 among them Reine Claude. Yes, in Russia, we find a family of 

 Reine Claudes, red, white and blue; and Mr. Lauche, in his 

 Deutsche Pomologie, describes such varieties. They are of very 

 fine quality, extra quality, but in the cold climate of Tula, they are 

 planted at an angle of 45 degrees or less, and bent down to the 

 ground before the snow falls. Thus protected by a covering of 

 snow they often bea^;. bountifully. When too old to bend down 

 they are allowed to take their chances, often bear a crop or two 

 and then die. A whitish plum, known as the White Hungarian, 

 has also proved successful, as well as the White Otschakovskaya 

 and the White Vengerka. At Orel, we find a collection of the 

 best under names which mean large blue, large yellow, &c. At 

 Kursk, we find the Reine Claudes planted more freely, but unless 

 laid down, they are not reliable, though they may sometimes bear a 

 good crop in the sheltered peasant gardens around Kursk. At 

 Kiev, we find more of the German and French varieties, and, 

 therefore, notes from that climate are less valuable to us. 



The Prunus Spinosa, of Russia, is very interesting, and quite 

 common as far north as any other plum. The peasants always 

 said it was not a plum, but called it by the Russian name for thorn. 

 There is a large fruited variety of it, round, blue and really good for 

 cooking, far better than our Canadian wild plum for that purpose. 

 We saw it bearing heavily in many places. 



A dwarf variety of the Spinosa should be introduced into our 

 gardens as an ornamental curiosity. The fruit is quite small, blue, 

 covered, with a bright blue bloom. I have seen it for sale in the 

 markets, but fear it would be very sour. The bushes are seldom 

 more than three feet in height, and I have seen little round-headed 

 bushes, not more than eighteen inches in height, loaded with 

 lovely blue fruit. Strikingly curious and beautiful. 



