210 
NECTARINE AND LUCOMBE’s NONSUCH PLUMS. 
grows, and may be considered a great acquisition to our varieties of 
plums; the stone adheres firmly to the flesh, which is juicy and of 
the same colour and consistence as the Green Gage, but the flavour is 
inferior. 
The Damsons was introduced into Europe from Damascus, about 
one hundred and fourteen years before the Christian era; the Reine 
Claude, or Green Gage, was brought into France by Queen Claude, 
wife of Francis I. of that country; and in the reign of Henry VII. 
Lord Cromwell brought several sorts to our country from Italy, and 
among them the perdrigon, which, when dried, forms the prunes of 
our shops. 
In general, plums are moistening, laxative, and emollient, except 
the Bullaces and Sloes, which are astringent. They are cooling, 
quench thirst, and create an appetite, and therefore agree best with 
hot constitutions. The common w ild plum was used in Medicines 
by the ancients, and the bark of the tree was thought to be equal to 
the Peruvian bark for intermitting fevers. Damsons produce a very 
pleasant wine, and a kind of jelly called Damson Cheese. Dried 
Perdrigon plums are principally imported from Portugal, and the 
neighbourhood of Marseilles, in France, and sell in our shops under 
the name of Prunes; they are used a good deal in Medicine, and 
although when dried, they lose much of their laxative power, they 
nevertheless, contain a portion of acid, and are very useful in costive 
habits. The pulp of this fruit, forms the principal part of lenitive 
electuary. Plums may be preserved sound for a long time, by ga¬ 
thering them carefully in dry weather, and laying them one by one 
in glass vessels, or small wooden casks made air and water tight, then 
cover the vessels with wet bladder, and bury them in the ground 
deep enough to secure them from being injured by frost. 
We shall shortly turn our attention to plums again, when we in¬ 
tend to treat on their management, the different modes of training 
them practised, the soils and situations most suitable for fruitfulness, 
and other circumstances connected with their successful culture. 
