Page images
PDF
EPUB

Coe's Imperial. Ib.

Bury Seedling. Ib.

New Golden Drop. Ib.

Fair's Golden Drop. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 103. according to the Pom. Mag.

Branches smooth. Leaves with two globular glands at the base. Fruit oval, of the largest size among Plums, about two inches and a half long, and two inches in diameter, deeply marked by the suture, pitted at the point, abruptly tapering and hollowed out at the base for the reception of the stalk. Stalk three quarters of an inch long, slender. Skin greenish yellow, with numerous rich spots of bright violet red next the sun. Flesh greenish yellow, adhering firmly to the stone. Juice very sweet and delicious. Stone sharp-pointed.

Ripe the end of September, and will hang some time upon the tree after it is matured.

This will keep for a considerable length of time, after it is gathered, either by suspending it by the stalk upon a string, withinside a window facing the sun, or by wrapping it in soft paper, and keeping it in a dry room. By this latter method, I have eaten it exceedingly good in October, twelve months after it had been gathered.

It was raised by the late Jervaise Coe, a market gardener at Bury St. Edmund's, in Suffolk, more than thirty years ago. He informed me it was from the stone of a Green Gage, the blossom of which, he supposed, had been fertilised by the White Magnum Bonum, the two trees of which grew nearly in contact with each other in his garden. It requires an east or a west wall; on the former the fruit attains its greatest perfection. 46. DOWNTON IMPERATRICE. Hort. Trans. Vol. v.

p. 383.

Branches long, smooth. Fruit shaped almost like the Blue Imperatrice, but larger, and not so much

lengthened at the stalk end. Skin dull yellow, very thin. Flesh yellow, soft, juicy, with a high flavoured acidity.

Ripe in October, and will keep a month.

Raised by Mr. Knight, of Downton Castle, from a seed of the White Magnum Bonum, the blossom of which had been impregnated by the pollen of the Blue Imperatrice. Its fruit was exhibited at the Horticultural Society, December 1. 1823.

The young wood has much the appearance of the White Magnum Bonum, but grows much stronger, more so indeed than any Plum I have ever seen, frequently, on vigorous stocks, shooting from buds eight feet the first year.

47. DRAP D'OR. Langley, p. 94. t. 24. f.5. Miller, No. 20.

[blocks in formation]

Mirabelle double. Duhamel, No. 30.

Branches smooth, but downy at the ends. Fruit rather small, of a roundish figure, somewhat like the Little Queen Claude, with but very little suture, and a small dimple at each end: about an inch deep, and rather more in diameter. Stalk half an inch long, Skin bright yellow, spotted or marbled with red on the sunny side. Flesh yellow, melting, and

slender.

Skin bright

separates clean from the stone. Juice

cellent.

Ripe the middle of August.

Juice sugary and ex

It ripened at Twickenham in 1727, on a west wall, July 20th O. S. or July 31st N. S. July 31st N. S. Langley.

48. EARLY AMBER. Nurs. Catalogues.

Fruit small, somewhat oblong, and broadest at the apex. Stalk three quarters of an inch long. Skin pale greenish yellow, with a few small crimson specks on the sunny side, and covered with a thin whitish bloom. Flesh greenish yellow, and adheres to the

53. WASHINGTON.

Pom. Mag. t. 16.

New Washington. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 270.
Franklin. Ib., according to the Pom. Mag.

Branches downy. Fruit regularly oval, with a very obscure suture just at the stalk, where it is rather deep, about one inch and three quarters long, and one inch and five eighths in diameter. Stalk three quarters of an inch long, slightly pubescent. Skin dull yellow, broken a little with green, assuming an orange cast on the sunny side, with a purplish bloom, and more or less mottled with crimson dots. Flesh yellow, firm, very sweet and luscious, separating freely from the stone. Stone oval, acute at each end, wrinkled all over, and nearly even at the edges.

Ripe in September.

The parent tree of the Washington Plum, it appears, was purchased in the market of New York, towards the end of the last century. It remained barren several years, till during a violent thunder-storm, the whole trunk was struck to the earth and destroyed. The root afterwards threw up a number of vigorous shoots, all of which were allowed to remain, and finally produced fruit. It is therefore to be presumed, that the stock of the barren kind was the parent of this. Trees were sent to Robert Barclay, Esq., of Bury Hill, in 1819; and in 1821, several others were presented to the Horticultural Society by Dr. Hosack, of New York. It fruits equally well on an east and west wall; but on a south it is found to be too hot, the fruit becoming smaller, with many black specks. There is no doubt

it will bear abundantly as a standard.

54. WENTWORTH. Miller, No. 26. Langley, Pom. t. 25. f. 4.

Dame Aubert. Duhamel, No. 41. t. 20. f. 10.
Grosse Luisante. Ib.

Fruit of the largest size, of an oval figure, having a deep suture extending from the base to the apex, about two inches and a quarter long, and one inch and three quarters in diameter. Stalk three quarters of an inch long, inserted in a rather deep cavity. Skin thick and leathery, of a yellow colour, tinged with green on the shaded side, and covered with a white bloom. Flesh yellow, rather coarse, and separates from the stone. Juice subacid, somewhat austere.

Ripe in September.

It ripened at Twickenham, in 1727, on a south-east wall, Aug. 20. O. S., or Aug. 31. N. S. Langley.

This has a good deal the appearance of the White Magnum Bonum, but is not so much pointed, of a deeper colour, and, like that, fit only for preserving; but for this it is excellent.

The Wentworth Plum is said, by Langley, to have been so called from its having been first planted in the gardens of the Right Honourable Thomas Wentworth Earl of Strafford, at Twickenham. MILLER has strangely confounded this with the Monsieur of DUHAMEL, in which he has been followed by MARTYN and FORSYTH; but no two plums can be more distinct. 55. WHITE BULLACE. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 4.

Branches slender, twiggy, downy. Fruit small, round, mostly growing by pairs. Skin yellowish white, and when fully ripe, a little mottled with red on the sunny side. Flesh greenish white, firm, and closely adheres to the stone. Juice acid, but so tempered by sweetness and roughness as not to be unpleasant, especially after it is mellowed by frost.

Ripe in October.

Large quantities of the White Bullace are brought into the market in Norwich, and elsewhere in the county of Norfolk, where they are highly esteemed

for tarts: they are by some preserved by boiling them in sugar, and in this state they will keep twelve

months.

56. WHITE DAMASK. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 71. Petit Damas Blanc. Duhamel, No. 6. t. 3. Fruit small, nearly globular, about an inch in diameter. Stalk half an inch long, very slender. Skin greenish yellow, rather thick, covered with a thin white bloom. Flesh yellow, melting, and separates from the stone. Juice sugary, of an agreeable flavour.

Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 88.
Nursery Catalogues.

Ripe the beginning and middle of September. 57. WHITE DAMSON. White Prune Damson: Branches long, smooth. three inches and a half in its half an inch long, slender. with a thin white bloom.

Fruit small, oval, about long circumference. Stalk Skin pale yellow, covered Flesh yellow, adhering to

the stone. Juice plentiful, a little sugary, mixed with a small portion of acid.

Ripe the middle and end of September.

58. WHITE IMPERATRICE. Pom. Mag. t. 38. Imperatrice Blanche. Duhamel, 40. t. 18. f. 2. Die Weisse Kaiserpflaume. Pom. Aust. 2. 33. t. 181. f. 2., according to the Pom. Mag.

Fruit middle-sized, oval, with an indistinct suture, very blunt at each end; about one inch and three quarters long, and one inch and a half in diameter. Stalk half an inch long, inserted in a narrow cavity. Skin bright yellowish ochre colour, with a slight evanescent bloom. Flesh firm, juicy, sweet, and rather more transparent than that of most plums, separating freely from the stone.

It ripens on a west wall about the beginning of September. It will scarcely succeed as an open standard, except in warm situations.

« PreviousContinue »