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APPENDIX. 
PRIZE ESSAYS BY STUDENT A. E, BENNETT. 
THE PLUM (Prunus Domestica) 
Is a naturalized English fruit, but its original country is supposed 
to be Asia Minor. 
The genus prunus belongs to the extensive natural order 
Rosacez. , 
The plum is a deciduous tree, attaining the height of 15 or 
20 feet, and forming a moderately spreading head. 
Plums are amongst the hardiest of all stone fruits, and the crop 
is one of the most remunerative if the season be at all favorable. 
USEs. 
The fruit is used for dessert, cooking, drying, tinning, and 
bottling purposes. 
A wine is also made occasionally from plums. 
In some parts of Europe there is distilled from the fruit an 
excellent spirit. The leaves of the plum are also largely used to 
adulturate tea. 
Its wood is valuable for turning and in the manufacture of 
musical instruments. 
PROPAGATION. 
The best plum trees are obtained by grafting and budding on 
seedlings or cuttings of Mussell, Julien, Myrabolan, or Cherry 
Plum. 
A French variety of the latter is now being extensively used as. 
a stock. The plum has been worked on apricot and almond 
roots, but this practice is invariably not successful in some soils. 
In layering the varieties used are the Mussel and Julien, which 
are also extensively used as stocks. 
It is possible to root-graft the plum, but it is not often practised. 
The two diagrams (Figs. 1 and 2) show the most successful 
modes of treatment—seedlings raised from the Common Plum, 
the Blue Gage, &c. 
For dwarfing the seedlings of the Mirabelle are chiefly 
employed. 
Some sorts reproduce themselves nearly true from seed, such as 
the Green Gage. 
