222 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



on warm soils ; Prince of Wales, which belongs to the same family, 

 we have long discarded from its being so tender : in severe 

 winters both old and young trees are often killed. White 

 Magnum Bonum is a fine fruit, and in some localities a good 

 orchard plum, but with us it does not produce a crop oftener 

 than every third year upon an average. Johnny Roe, previously 

 mentioned, is a large, coarse, reddish-purple plum of poor 

 quality ; but, being a great cropper, is largely grown in Notting- 

 hamshire ; the fruit is sent off to the "Black Country," where 

 possibly they have nothing better. 



Our best dessert plums in the open are Jefferson, Early Trans- 

 parent, and Dove Bank. Jefferson is one of the best all-round 

 plums we possess, and many growers would name Dove Bank as 

 a suitable companion ; the Fruit Manual and other authorities 

 say that this variety is synonymous with Caledonian — as they say 

 Sharpe's Emperor is synonymous with Victoria — the reason of 

 this is that they have not seen the true variety, and even to- 

 day many cultivators supply Caledonian for Dove Bank. The 

 true variety was grown and distributed by Spencer, of Ilkeston, 

 the raiser of " Spencer's Favourite " apple, and is said to have 

 been found growing on the banks of the Derbyshire Dove ; it 

 differs from Caledonian in growth, and whereas the leaf-glands 

 of that variety are well developed and red in colour, Dove 

 Bank has small ill-developed glands of a pale colour ; with 

 regard to the fruit there is no comparison between the two. 

 Caledonian is a somewhat coarse cooking plum, Dove Bank is 

 a splendid cooking plum, and good enough for dessert. Sharpe's 

 Emperor, just referred to, is a second-rate plum, resembling 

 Victoria in appearance, but very inferior in point of cropping 

 and quality, a decided clingstone, often gumming at the stone, and 

 ripening a fortnight later than its supposed synonym, not worthy 

 of cultivation. Early Transparent is a most abundant cropper, and 

 does well in all forms. Green Gage succeeds best where some 

 chalk is present in the soil ; in most parts of the Midlands it 

 carries a good crop in the open once in six years. 



I see in a recent work upon fruits the name of Washington 

 plum amongst the culinary varieties, and the same thing occurs 

 in the report of the Plum Congress, Edinburgh, 1889. This must 

 surely be a mistake, for when this variety favours us with a 

 crop it is most delicious. I am quite unable to say how often 



