PLUMS AND DAMSONS. 



151 



Master John Tradescante, who hath wonder- 

 fully laboured to obtain all the rarest fruits 

 he can hear of in any place of Christendome, 

 Turky, yea of the whole world ". 



John Gerarde wrote three centuries ago: 

 " To write of Plums particularly would require 

 a peculiar volume. . . . Every clymate hath 

 his owne fruite, far different from that of other 

 countries; my selfe have threescore sorts in 

 my garden, and all strange and rare; there be 

 in other places many more common, and yet 



yearely commeth to our hands others not before 

 knowne." 



As in the case of Apples and Pears, Plums 

 raised from seeds generally show considerable 

 variety, and as they have been favourite fruits 

 in European gardens for many centuries, their 

 characters have been greatly modified by culti- 

 vation and selection. Some varieties are said 

 to come tolerably true from seeds, especially 

 the Green Gage, Prune, Myrobalan, and Damson. 



In the United States of America several 



Fig. 947.— Prunus communis. 



native species of Prunus have been brought into 

 gardens, and by selection and crossing have 

 yielded improved useful fruits (fig. 948). "In 

 this way, about a hundred choice forms of the 

 native Plum of the North-west (Prunus Ameri- 

 cana) have been gathered and sorted and given 

 names; and they are so much more hardy and 

 reliable than the European type of Plum, that 

 they will probably form the chief foundation 

 from which the future orchard Plums of the 

 northern prairie states will spring. They are 

 already grown to an important commercial 

 extent" (Bailey). Other American species of 

 Prunus from which useful garden Plums have 

 been evolved are P. angustifolia (Chickasaw 

 Plums) and P. hortulana (Wild Goose, Miner, 

 Wayland, &c, Plums). A form of the last-named 

 has been successfully hybridized with a Peach. 



The European Plums are largely cultivated 

 in some parts of the United States, and some 

 of our most valuable varieties were raised there. 



Among them the Jefferson holds first rank; 

 Denniston's Superb, Huling's Superb, Smith's 

 Orleans, Autumn Gage, and several others were 

 rated first-rate by that most successful English 

 raiser of new Plums, the late Thomas Eivers. 



The production of dried Prunes is an impor- 

 tant industry in many parts of Europe and 

 in several of the United States, particularly Cali- 

 fornia. The principal varieties cultivated for 

 this purpose are: in France, the "Prunier 

 d'ente"; in Germany, the Quetschen; and in 

 California, the "Prune d'Agen " (fig. 949). 

 The fruits of these have thicker skins than the 

 ordinary garden Plums; the pulp is greenish 

 and rather austere unless fully ripe, and it 

 does not cling to the stone. The process of cur- 

 ing is a somewhat elaborate one. A full account 

 of it is given in the Kew Bulletin for 1890. 



Soil and Situation. — The Plum will grow freely 

 in any good loamy soil, neither too dry nor 

 having a wet subsoil. In strong soils the trees 



