Chap. X. 



APRICOT— PLUMS. 



345 



iniji. 



their race : in France the Alberge is constantly reproduced from seed 

 with but little variation. In Ladakh, according to Moorcroft, 70 ten varieties 

 of the apricot, very different from each other, are cultivated, and all are 

 raised from seed, excepting one, which is budded. 



Plums {Primus insititia).— -Formerly the sloe, P. spinosa, was thought to 

 be the parent of all our plums ; but now this honour is very commonly 

 accorded to P. insititia or the bullase, which is found wild in the Caucasus 

 and N.-Western India, and is naturalised in England. 71 It is not at all 

 improbable, in accordance with some observations made by Mr. Kivers, 72 

 that both these forms, which some botanists rank as a single species, may 

 be the parents of our domesticated plums. Another supposed parent- 

 form, the P. domestica, is said to be found wild in the region of the 



K 





Fig. 43.— Plum Stones, of natural size, viewed laterally. 1. Hullace Plum. 2. Shropshire Damson. 

 3. Blue Gage. 4. Orleans. 5. Elvas. 6. Denyer's Victoria. 7. I >iamond. 



Caucasus. Godron remarks 73 that the cultivated varieties may be divided 

 into two main groups, which he supposes to be descended from two 

 aboriginal stocks ; namely, those with oblong fruit and stones pointed at 

 both ends, having narrow separate petals and upright branches; and 

 those with rounded fruit, with stones blunt at both ends, with rounded 

 petals and spreading branches. From what we know of the variability of 

 the flowers in the peach and of the diversified manner of growth in our 

 various fruit-trees, it is difficult to lay much weight on these latter 



7° ' Travels in the Himalayan Pro- 

 vinces,' vol. i. 1841, p. 295. 



7 1 See an excellent discussion on this 

 subject in Hewett C. Watson's ' Cybele 

 Britannica,' vol. iv. p. 80. 



' 2 ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1865, p. 

 27. 



73 ' De l'Espece,' torn. ii. p. 94. On 

 the parentage of our plums, see also 

 Alph. De Candolle, ' Geograpk. Bot./ 

 p. 878. Also Targioni-Tozzetti, ' Journal 

 Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix. p. 164. Also Babing- 

 ton, 'Manual of Brit. Botany,' 1851, 

 p. 87. 



