552 " THE FEDIT MANUAL. 



Golden Gage ; Great Green Damask ; Grosse Reine ; Ida Green Gage ; 

 Isleworth Green Gage ; Mirabelle Vert Double ; Queen Claudia ; Heme 

 Claude ; Reine Claude Grosse ; Rensselaar Gage ; Schuyler Gage ; 

 Sucrin Vert ; Trompe Gargon ; Trompe Valet ; Vei'dacia ; Verdochio ; 

 Vert Bonne ; Vert Tiquetee ; Wilmot's Green Gage). — Fruit, medium 

 sized ; round, and a little flattened at both ends ; dimpled at the apex, 

 and marked on one side by a shallow suture, which extends from the 

 stalk to the apex. Skin, tender, yellowish green, but when fuUy ripe 

 becoming of a deeper yellow, clouded with green, and marked with 

 crimson spots, and covered with thin ashy-grey bloom. Stalk, half an 

 inch to three-quarters long, inserted in a small cavity. Flesh, greenish 

 yellow, tender, melting, and very juicy, with a rich, sugary, and most 

 delicious flavour. It separates freely from the stone. 



One of the richest of all the plums ; ripe in the middle and end of 

 August. The tree is a vigorous grower, hardy, and an excellent 

 bearer, and the young shoots are smooth. It may be grown either as 

 a standard, espalier, or trained against a wall ; but it is found that .the 

 richest flavoured fruit is from a standard, though not so large as from 

 a wall. When there is an abundant crop the trees should be gone 

 over about the month of June, and thinned ; for if the whole is allowed 

 to be ripened, the fruit wiU be smaller and insipid, and wanting that 

 richness which is peculiar only to this variety. It is greatly improved 

 by being grafted on the Apricot. 



This universally known and highly esteemed f rnit has been longer in this country 

 than is generally supposed. It is said to have been introduced at the beginning of 

 the last century by Sir Thomas Gage, of Hengrave Hall, near Bury St. Edmunds, 

 who procured it from his brother, the Rev. John Gage, a Roman Catholic priest 

 then resident in Paris. In course of time it became known as the Green Gage 

 Plum. 



In France, although it has many names, that by which it is best known is Grosse 

 Reine Claude, to distinguish it from a smaller and much inferior plum called Heine 

 Claude Petite. The Green Gage is supposed to be a native of Greece, and to have 

 been introduced at an early period into Italy, where it is called Verdochia. From 

 Italy it passed into France, during the reign of Francis I., and was named in honour 

 of his consort Queen Claude ; but it does not appear to have been much known or 

 extensively cultivated for a considerable period subsequent to this, for neither 

 Champier, Olivier de Serres, Vautier, nor any of the early French writers on 

 husbandry and gardening, seem to have been acquainted with it. Probably, about 

 the same time that it was introduced into France, or shortly afterwards, it found its 

 way into England, where it became more rapidly known, and the name under which 

 it was received was not the new appellation which it obtained in France, but its 

 original Italian name of Verdochia, from which we may infer that it was brought 

 direct from Italy. It is mentioned by Parkinson, in 1629, under the name of Verdoch, 

 and, from the way he speaks of It, seems to have been not at aU new, nor even rare. 

 It is also enumerated by Leonard Meager in the " list of fruit which I had of my 

 very loving friend. Captain Gurle, dwelling at the Great Nursery between Spital- 

 fields and Whitechappel," and is there called Verdocha. Even so late as the middle 

 of the last century, after it had been re-introduced, and extensively grown under 

 the name of Green Gage, it continued to bear its original title, and to be regarded 

 as a distinct sort from the Green Gage. Hitt tries to describe the distinction ; but 

 as he tries also to show that the Reine Claude is also distinct from the Green Gage, 

 his authority cannot be taken for more than it is worth ; a remark which may safely 

 be applied to all our pomologists of the last century. Miller also laboured under 

 the same misapprehension as Hitt, for in his Dictionary he says, speaking of the 



