September 18. COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 409 
WEEKLY CALENDAR. 
D 
M 
1 
$ , SEPTEMBER 18—24, 1855. 
| 
| Weather near London in 
1853. 
Day ot 
Year. 
j Barometer. 
Thermo. 
Wind. 
Rain in 
Inches. 
Rises. 
Sets. 
R. & S. 
Age. 
t/ 10c a 
bf. Sun. 
18 
Tu Sprawler Moth. 
I 30.022—30.015 
69—59 
S.W. 
05 
40 a 5 
8 a 6 
8 46 
7 
5 46 
261 
19 
W Ember Week. 
29.990-29.9l6 
72—58 
s.w. 
02 
42 
6 
9 35 
3 
6 7 
262 
20 
Th Sun’s declination, 1° 13' N. 
30.006—29.890 
71—41 
N. 
04 
44 
3 
1 10 43 
9 
6 '28 
263 
21 
F St. Matthew. 
30.193 — 30.144 
72—34 
w. 
— 
45 
1 
morn. 
10 
6 49 
2fi4 
22 
S Twin-spot Wainscot Moth. 
30.314—30.255 
63 — 44 
N.W. 
03 
47 
V 
0 7 
1 1 
7 10 
265 
23 
Son 16 Sunday after Trinity. 
30.218—30.197 
63—55 
w. 
— 
49 
56 
1 39 
12 
7 31 
2G6 
24 
M Large Ranunculus Moth. 
1 30.093—30.058 
70—36 
w. 
— 
50 
54 
3 14 
13 
7 52 
267 
Meteorology of the Week. —At Cliiswick, from observations during the last twenty-eight years, the average highest and lowest tem- 
peratures of these days are 66.2°, and 4 5.6°, respectively. The greatest heat, 83°, occurred on the lQth, 
on the 22nd, in IS46. During the period 105 days were fine, and on 91 rain fell. 
in 1844; 
and the lowest cold, 26 °, 
THE FRUITS AND FRUIT-TREES OF GREAT 
BRITAIN. 
NO. V. 
THE GREEN GAGE PLUM. 
Identification. —Switz. Er. Gard. 100, Aber. Fr. Gard. 
242. Fors. Treat. 20. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 57. Lind. 
Guide, 445. Down. Fr. Amer. 276. 
Synonymes. —Green Gauge, Hilt. '[’rent. 250. Great Green 
Damask, Mill. Diet. ed. 1. Verdoch, Park. Par. 576. 
Queen Claudia, Mill. Diet. ed. 1. Brugnon Green 
Gage, Hort. Soc. Cat. ed. 1. n. 28. Bruyn Gage, Acc. 
Down. Fr. Amer. Bradford Gage, Ibid. Isleworth 
Green Gage, Acc. Hort. Soc. Cat. 'Wilmott’s Green 
Gage, Ibid. ed. 1. 275. Wilmott’s New Green Gage, 
Ibid. Wilmott’s Late Green Gage, Ibid. Danphine, 
Duh. Arb. Fruit, ii. 89. Abrieot vert, Acc. Duhamel. 
Verte Bonne, Ibid. Reine Claude, Knoop Fruit. 62. 
Mirabelle Vert double, Ibid. 58. Grosse Reine Claude, 
Bret. Ecole. ii. 499. Grosse Reine, Hort. Soc. Cat. 
ed. i. 121. Damas Vert, Inst. Arb. Fruit. 145. Suerin 
Vert, Acc. Hort. Soc. Cat. Vert et Bonne, Dubr. Cours. 
Gross Damas verd, Merlct Abrcge. Trompe Valet, Acc. 
Muriel. Trompe Gary on, Ibid. Verdochyo, Markh. 
Eng. Hush. 129. Dauphincss, or Great Queen Claude 
Plum, West. Dot. iv. 202. Claudia vera, Walire Claudie, 
Dock. Pjl. 147. Aeclite grosse Renklode, Prunus 
Claudiana, Lieg. Pjl. ii. 193. Italienische Pflaume, 
Bechst. Forstb. 407. Dophinien Pflaume, Christ. Vollst. 
375. Grosse Konigin Claudie. Teutsch. Obstgart. ii. 288. 
Figures. —Hook. Pom. Lond. t. 38. Dub. Arb. Fruit, ii. 
pi. xi. Kraft Pom. Aust. ii. t. 193. Mayer Pom. 
Franc, t. vii. f. 10. 
This universally known and highly-esteemed fruit has 
been longer in this country than is generally supposed. 
It is said to have been introduced at the beginning of 
the last century by Lord Gage, who procured it from 
the nursery of the Chartreux at Paris; but having 
received it without a name, it was called by his 
gardener the Green Gage. In France, although it has 
many names, that by which it is best known is Grosse 
Reine Claude, to distinguish it from a smaller and much 
inferior Plum called Reine Claude petite. The Green 
Gage is supposed to be a native of Greece, and to have 
been introduced at an early period into Italy, where it is 
called Verdoehia. From Italy it passed into France, 
during the reign of Francis I., and was named in 
honour of his consort Queen Claude; but it does not 
appear to have been much known or extensively culti¬ 
vated for a considerable period subsequent to this; for 
neither Champier, Olivier de Sevres, Vautier, nor any of 
the early French writers on Husbandry and Gardening, 
seem to have been acquainted with it. Probably, about 
the same time that it was introduced into France, or 
shortly afterwards, it found its way into England, 
where it became more rapidly known, and the name 
under which it was received was not the new appel¬ 
lation which it obtaiued in France, but its original 
Italian name of Verdoehia, from which we may infer 
that it was brought direct from Italy. It is mentioned 
by Parkinson, in 1629, under the name of Verdoch, 
and, from the way he speaks of it, seems to have 
been not at all rare, nor even new. It is also enu¬ 
merated by Leonard Meager in the “ list of fruit which 
I had of my very loving friend, Captain Gurle, dwelling 
at the Great Nursery between Spitalfields and White- 
cliappel,” and is there called Verdocha. Even so late as 
the middle of the last century, after it had been re-in- 
troduced, and extensively grown under the name of 
Green Gage, it continued to bear its original title, and 
to be regarded as a distinct sort from the Green Gage. 
Hitt tries to describe the distinction; but as he tries 
also to show that the Reine Claude is also distinct from 
the Green Gage, his authority cannot be taken for more 
than it is worth ; a remark which may safely be applied 
to all the pomologists of the last century. Miller also 
laboured under the same hallucination as Hitt, for in 
his Dictionary he says, speaking of the Grosse Reine 
Claude, “ this plum is confounded by most people in 
England by the name of Green Gage.” 
We have seen, therefore, that the generally-received 
opinion that this valuable plum was first introduced to 
this country by the Gage family is incorrect, but that it 
must have existed for considerably upwards of a century, 
at least, before the period which is generally given as 
the date of its introduction. 
The fruit of the Green Gage, when well grown, is of 
medium size, an inch and a-half wide, and an inch 
and three-eighths long. The form is roundish, flattened 
No. CCCLX1V. Vol. XIV. 
