CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PLUM. 



The domesticated or cultivated plum is supposed 

 to derive its origin from a species indigenous to 

 Britain, the Prunus domesticus L. It is also a 

 native of Asia Minor; in both cases found grow- 

 ing naturally in hedges and the sides of woods. 

 At what period the plum became known and 

 appreciated by man, in a state of improvement 

 beyond that of its wilding state, is uncertain. 

 Some have set it down as originating in Asia 

 Minor, and, if we are to credit Pliny, it was 

 brought from Syria into Greece, and thence into 

 Italy; from thence improved varieties crept into 

 Fi*ance, and from thence are received many of 

 our most esteemed varieties. The plums of 

 merit that have originated in this country are 

 few in number, yet some of them rank along 

 with those of the highest order of excellence : 

 of these, Coe's golden drop, Coe's late red, 

 Downton imperatrice, Standard of England, 

 Chapman's Prince of Wales, Angelina Burdett, 

 Woolston's black gage, Knight's large green 

 drying, Lucombe's nonsuch, Goliath, Isabella, 

 Ickworth imperatrice, Nectarine, Rivers' early, 

 Sharp's Empereur, claim an English origin; 

 while the Tay Bank, Late green, Menette, New 

 apricot plum, Topaz, and Russet, seedlings of 

 great merit, raised by Charles Guthrie, Esq., 

 Dundee, and Lawson's Golden gage, raised by 

 that indefatigable horticulturist, Mr Arch. Gorrie, 

 include the best of those of Scottish origin. 

 France and Germany have produced their share; 

 and, strange enough to say, America, with only 

 three species of the genus Prunus, P. maritima 

 and pubescem, from neither of which a cultivated 

 plum has been reared, has nevertheless produced 

 more excellent plums than any other country 

 whatever. The original parent of all cultivated 

 plums, Prunus domesticus, is not indigenous to 

 that country, but has been introduced. The 

 late Mr Downing, in speaking of the excellence 

 and number of plums raised from seed in 

 America, says, " That the soil and climate of 

 the middle States are admirably suited to this 

 fruit is sufficiently proved by the almost spon- 

 taneous production of such varieties as the 

 Washington, Jefferson, Laurence's Favourite, 

 &c, sorts which equal or surpass, in beauty and 

 flavour, the most celebrated plums of France 

 and England." Yet, notwithstanding the great 

 success attending American culture, one of their 

 highest pomological authorities admits that, even 



with the important additions made to this 

 family in America, "the Green gage, an old 

 French variety, still stands at the head of the 

 list for high flavour, though several sorts are 

 nearly equal, or quite equal to it." England 

 has, at last, done even more than this ; for we 

 have now, on the high authority of Mr Thomp- 

 son, this declaration: "The Woolston black 

 gage retains all the properties of that plum 

 (the Green gage) with more sugary sweetness. 

 I have," he adds, " no fear of my judgment 

 being called in question." Seeing, therefore, 

 the progress making in improved varieties of 

 the plum, none need be alarmed at our re- 

 commeudation to set about purging their 

 gardens of old and valueless sorts, and to re- 

 place them with those that are so far superior. 

 The same space, labour, and expense that are 

 next to thrown away on the one produce the 

 other. 



The earliest data we have in our possession 

 of the number of cultivated plums is that of 

 Tusser, who enumerates ten varieties, Parkin- 

 son sixty, Miller thirty-two, Gordon of Foun- 

 tainbridge twenty-five sorts as useful, exclu- 

 sive of eight used as stocks or for ornament, 

 concluding by adding, " There are many more 

 kinds of plums imposed upon the public, but 

 those here mentioned are the principal." 

 Peter Lawson and Son, whose fruit catalogue 

 is at once the most comprehensive and use- 

 ful of all its predecessors, describe with great 

 minuteness no less than seventy-six different 

 sorts, Rivers eighty-eight, Rogers thirty-five. In 

 the 3d edition of the " Catalogue of Fruits in 

 the Horticultural Society of London Gardens," 

 one hundred and twenty-seven sorts are de- 

 scribed; and to that number about twenty new 

 sorts, exclusive of American ones of recent date, 

 may be safely added. 



The uses to which the plurn is applied are too 

 well known to require any especial remark here, 

 further than that much more might be made of 

 it even as a hedgerow tree, producing little 

 shade and yielding abundant crops. The hardier 

 sorts, planted under such circumstances, would 

 pay better than the miserable, maltreated timber- 

 trees we see used for that purpose, as the wood is 

 of great value in the finest kinds of cabinet-work 

 and in making musical instruments. In many 

 parts of the Continent the tree is so cultivated 



