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The distinction as plums and prunes of species of the same 
genus of plants is somewhat recent. They used to be called plums 
by English-speaking people, just as in France they are all known a 
prunes. In France, however, the fruit when dried and cured ar} 
known as pruneau, and it is thus that in America and other coun- 
tries the word prune is specifically given to those plums wheh - 
cure into a firm, meaty, dried fruit, from which the seed is not re- 
moved. 
In the descriptions of suitable varieties given below, prominence 
has been given to those which are dried into prunes, as they pe 
happen to constitute excellent dessert fruit, and being meaty, sweet, 
aud firm, they pack and carry well. 
Such varieties as the Robe de Sergent, Fellenberg, or Italian 
Prune, having been left out, as they are shy and disappointing 
bearers, although they are of excellent quality. In California they 
are now being as rapidly replaced by more profitable sorts as they 
were extensively planted a few years ago. , 
Plums have been classified into different families such as :— 
Ist. Prunus domestica, native of Asia, and the parent of 
European varieties such as damson, greengages, and 
varieties commercially known as prunes. 
2nd. Prunus cerasifera, of which the myrobolan or cherry 
plum is the type. These are natives of South-Hast- 
ern Europe and South-Western Asia, and are used 
mostly for stocks; they are the parents of Mariana 
and other varieties, which are either offshoots of this 
species or hybrids. Red and yellow fruit; also LP. 
pissardii, with claret-coloured leaves. 
3rd. Prunus triflora, or the Japanese type. 
4th. Prunus simoni, or the apricot plum, a native of China. 
Prunes have been disappointing in many parts of Western 
Australia, where, although they bloom well, fruit badly. They are 
better at home in the cooler and moister districts of the South- 
West, and even there they do better when irrigated in the summer 
months to strengthen their buds. Like shy-bearing apricots, they 
should be systematically summer pruned by cutting off portion of 
the laterals, and now and again leaving the leaders unpruned for 
one season, but eutting them back the following year. Pollination 
may also be defective, and planting different varieties in alternat- 
ing rows is recommended. Potash and bonedust by nourishing the 
buds, favour fruitfulness. 
Dauson, E.—Cultivated for cooking purposes. There are sev- 
eral varicties of this fruit all originating from the native English 
plum. Amongst the best is Crittenden’s Cluster, or Prolifie. Fruit 
larger than any of the others, roundish oval, skin black, and coy- 
ered with a thin bloom, Tree a heavy bearer. Young shoots downy. 
