160 



THE GAEDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



Golden Esperen, Guthrie's Late Green, Green Gage, 

 Ickworth Imperatrice, Jefferson, July Green Gage, 

 Kirke's, Lawson's Golden Gage, Late Orange, Late 

 Transparent, Oullin's Golden Gage, Reine Claude de 

 Bavay, Reine Claude Violette, Transparent, Washington. 



List of Twenty -four first-rate Culinary Plums. 



Archduke, Autumn Compote, Belgian Purple, Belle de 

 Louvain, Belle de Septembre, Coe's Late Red, Czar, 

 Diamond, Early Prolific, Goliath, Grand Duke, Large 

 Black Imperial, Late Rivers, Mitchelson's, Monarch, 

 Orleans, Pond's Seedling, Prince Englebert, Primate, Red 

 Magnum Bonum, Sultan, Victoria, White Magnum 

 Bonum, Wyedale. 



Damsons. 



Bradley s King. — Late September-October. A very 

 fine-flavoured variety, a great bearer, succeeds well on a 

 shallow soil. Much grown in Kent for market. 



Common or Round. — September. Fruit small, roundish- 

 oval, blue-black, with azure bloom; flesh firm, yellowish- 

 green, parting from the stone, acid and astringent. Much 

 used for pies and for preserving. A great bearer. 



Crittendens. — Mid - September. Fruit roundish - oval, 

 small, black; flesh greenish -yellow, sweet when thoroughly 

 ripe. A most prolific cropper, and may be grown as a 

 bush. 



Herefordshire Prune. — Late September. Fruit large, 

 obovate; flesh firm, yellowish-green, juicy, and quite the 



Fig. 959— Damsons. 



sweetest flavoured of all the Damsons. Is a much j 

 heavier cropper than the Shropshire Prune, and the fruit 

 is larger, but the growth is less robust. The branches 

 droop as the tree attains age. 



Prune or Shropshire. — Fruit large, obovate, black, 

 with dense blue bloom; flesh greenish - yellow, firm, juicy, 

 sweeter than the common Damson, sometimes slightly 

 bitter, excellent for preserving. Much prized in Shrop- 

 shire and Cheshire, where it is extensively grown. Is not 

 such a heavy cropper as Crittendens. 



BULLACES. 



The chief distinction between the Bullace 

 and Damson is in the shape of the fruit, which 

 is round instead of oval, and in the colour, which 

 is white. 



The three best varieties are White (fig. 960), 

 New Large Bullace, and Shepherd's White. 



Forced Plums. 



The Plum, like the Cherry, requires but a 

 slight amount of forcing to bring the fruit to 

 perfection. The house in which the trees are 

 grown may be either lean-to or span -roofed; 

 it should also be roomy, airy, and light, with 

 sufficient hot-water pipes to exclude frost. 



The trees may be either planted out, or grown 

 in pots or tubs; the latter method, perhaps, 

 being preferable, as it admits of their being 

 removed to the outer air after the fruits are 

 gathered to ripen and rest. 



If planted out, the border should be 3 feet in 

 depth, and if at all damp, or if water rises in 

 the spring, the bottom should be concreted and 



