558 



THE PLUM. 



may wander about and help themselves from the trees and bushes. 

 (G. M. iii. p. 397.) 

 Forcing the cherry. See p. 480 



ScBSECT. VII The Phim. 



1196. The plum (Prunus insititia, L. ; and P. dom§stica, L. ; Prnnier, 

 Fr.; Pflaumeubaum, Ger. ; 'PvMmboom, Dutch. ; Prugno, Ital. ; and 

 Ciruelo, Span. : E. B. 1783, Arh. Brit. vol. ii. p. 687, and Encyc. of Trees 

 and Shrubs, p. 272 and 273) is a low irregular deciduous tree, a native 

 of most parts of Europe, and also of part of Asia and Africa, and it is either 

 indigenous or naturalised in North America. Its culture in gardens is as 

 universal as that of the cherry, and dates from the time of the Romans. 



1197. Use. — The plum is a delicious dessert fruit, and it is also excel- 

 lent in pies, tarts, conserves, sweetmeats, and in a dried state. A wine 

 is made from the pulp, and a powerful spirit from the pulp and kernel fer- 

 mented. Raki is made in Hungary by fermenting apples ground or crushed 

 with bruised plums, and distilling the liquor. The spirit produced is said 

 to be very agreeable to the taste, and, though not quite so strong, much 

 more wholesome than brandy. In the south of France, an excellent spirit 

 is obtained from the bruised pulp and kernels of plums, fermented with 

 honey and flour, by distillation m the usual manner. Medicinally, plums 

 are cooUng and laxative, especially the dried fruit called brignoles, or 

 French plums. The mode of preparing these plums is detailed at length in 

 the Arboretum Britannicuni, vol. ii. p. 689. The wood of the plum is used 

 in turnery, cabinet-work, and in making musical instruments, and the tree 

 LS valued in ornamental landscape from its being one of the earliest which 

 come into blossom. 



1198. Varieties. — The Romans had a multiplicity of sorts of plums, and 

 the varieties have long been very numerous in France and Italy. The 

 following selections are, as usual, by Mr. Thompson. 



1199. Dessert plums arranged in the order of their ripening. 



Royale Hdtive. 3Iiddle size, roundish, purple, flesh parting from the 

 stone, amber-coloured, very rich, August ; shoots very downy. 



Drap d'Or^ syn. MirabeUe grosse. Small, round, yellowish, flesh separating 

 from the stone, rich and excellent, middle of August ; a good bearer, 

 young shoots downy. A very excellent sort, which precedes the green 

 gage in ripening, and resembles it in richness of flavour. 



Green gage, syn. Reine Claude. Middle size, round, yellowish green, 

 flesh separating from the stone, richest of plums ; middle to the end of 

 August ; a good bearer, extensively known and cultivated, and most deser- 

 vedly so. Yoimg wood smooth. 



Kirlces. Large, roundish, purple, flesh separating from the stone, very 

 rich, beginning to the middle of September ; a good bearer, the young shoots 

 smooth. The fruit bears some resemblance to that of the Reine Claude 

 violette. 



Washington, syn. Bolmer's Washmgton. Large, roundish, yellow, flesh 

 separating, excellent, September ; downy shoots and tree very vigorous ; 

 a good bearer, succeeds well as a standard. 



Reine Claude violette, sxtl. Purple gage. Middle size, roundish, purple, 

 flesh separatmg, rich and sugar}-; September; a good bearer, the shoots 

 smooth. The richest purple plum in cultivation. 



