i68 



MV GARDEN. 



THE PLUM. 



" I will dance and eat plums at your wedding." 



Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor. 



The Plum (Prunus domestica) is a useful fruit in its season. We 

 grow about seventy kinds, but there are innumerable varieties, some 

 named and some without names, which are in use. New varieties are 

 obtained by sowing the seeds of approved kinds, and varieties are 

 propagated by budding the desired kind on a plum 

 stock. When a plum is on its own roots, it may 

 also be propagated by suckers. 



Fig. 304. — Rivers' 

 Early Favourite. ' 



Fig. 305. — Lawrence's 

 Gage. 



Fig. 30O. — Green Gage. 



Fig. 307.— Golden Drop. 



Plum-trees do not grow well in my soil, and I have been compelled 

 to raise many of the trees and plant them in loam ; nevertheless, we 

 always obtain sufficient for the use of the house. The first dessert 

 plum which we ripen is Rivers' Early Favourite (fig. 304), which 

 is constantly fit for use about the third week in July, when grown 

 on a bush. The Early Mirabelle is a nice little plum, following close 

 upon it. ' The Reine Claude Violette is a very beautiful fruit ; it and 

 Kirke's, both of which ripen in September, are fine purple plums. 



The Orleans plum is excellent when ripe, and the Jefferson is very 

 fine. Lawrence's Gage (fig. 305) is a fine plum resembling the Green 

 Gage. It ripens at the end of August. The Goliath, which is generally 

 abused, is better, when ripe and well grown, than is reputed. The Green 

 Gage (fig. 306) is by common consent the king of plums, but then in this 

 country it is a bad bearer. When it does bear, the fruit is magnificent ; 

 and no garden should be without standard trees, which the cultivator 

 may be perfectly certain will bear some years, but not every year. Coe's 

 ■ All the figures of plums ai-e drawn one-half of their diameter. 



