of brown specks. Flesh yellow, and separates from the stone. Juice peculiarly rich and abundant.

Ripe in October, about the same time with the Imperatrice.

This very fine Plum was brought to this country from New Jersey, about ten years ago, and first sold by Mr. Kirke, of Brompton, by advertisement, at a guinea per plant, in the autumn of 1825.

25. LA ROYALE. Hooker, Pom. Lond. t. 47. Royale. Duhamel, No. 24. t. 10. Hitt, p. 349. Branches downy, almost white. Fruit middle-sized, round, not deeply cleft, rather narrowed towards the stalk, about one inch and a half in diameter. Stalk three quarters of an inch long, inserted in a small round cavity. Skin bright purplish red, full of brown specks, and covered thickly with a pale blue bloom. Flesh firm, dull yellow or amber colour, quite melting, and separates from the stone. Juice plentiful, saccharine, and very highly flavoured. Stone roundish-ovate, pointed at

both ends.

Ripe the end of August and beginning of September, succeeding the Green Gage.

This is too tender to succeed in this country as an open standard: it requires an east or south-east wall. 26. MIMMS. Pom. Mag. t. 6.

Mimms Plum.
Branches smooth.

Hort. Trans. Vol. iv. p. 208.

Leaves with two small glands at the base of each. Fruit oblong, with an oblique apex, and broad shallow suture, of the largest size among Plums, about two inches and a half deep, and the same in diameter. Stalk three quarters of an inch long, slender, pubescent. Skin of a light clear purple colour, upon a greenish ground, marked with brownish specks, and covered copiously with bloom, which is easily rubbed off. Flesh pale, dull greenish yellow, tender, juicy, and very agreeably flavoured, like an Orleans in perfection,

and separating from the stone, which is very rugged, with a thin irregular edge.

Ripe the beginning and middle of September.

This is said to have been raised many years ago, from a stone of the Blue Pudrigon, in the garden of Henry Browne, Esq., at North Mimms, in Hertfordshire, and was exhited at the Horticultural Society in 1819. It is a distinct Plum from the Imperial Diadem.

27. MONSIEUR. Duhamel, No. 15. t. 7. Jard. Fruit. t. 57.

Branches downy, somewhat like those of the Orleans. Fruit middle-sized, about one inch and a half in diameter, of a flattish globular figure, having a slight suture extending the length of the fruit. Stalk scarcely half an inch long, inserted in a small cavity. Skin bluish purple. Flesh yellow, very melting when fully matured, and separates from the stone. Juice good, but not very highly flavoured.

Ripe the beginning and middle of August.

28. MONSIEUR HÂTIF. Duhamel, No. 16. t. 20. f. 1. Monsieur Hâtif. Jard. Fruit. t. 56.

Branches downy, somewhat like the Orleans. Fruit middle-sized, nearly globular, about one inch and a half in diameter, having a well marked suture extending from the base to the apex, where it is a little flattened. Stalk half an inch long, slender, inserted in a narrow and somewhat deep cavity. Skin deep purple, or violet colour, when fully exposed to the sun, and covered with a thick bloom; it is bitter, but readily peels off. Flesh greenish yellow, melting, and separates from the stone. Juice plentiful and excellent. Stone small, oblong, with an obtuse point, not very rugose. Ripe the beginning of August.

This is somewhat like the last sort, but of a deeper colour, and ripens a fortnight earlier.

28.

NECTARINE PLUM. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 114.

Syn. Pom. Mag. t. 148.

Howell's Large. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 128.

Prune Pêche. Ib., No. 119. Syn., according to the Pom. Mag.

Branches glabrous, brownish violet when exposed to the sun. Fruit very large, like a Nectarine in shape and size. Stalk smooth, about half an inch long, and of moderate thickness. Skin purple, covered with a fine azure bloom. Flesh dull greenish yellow, somewhat adhering to the stone, but less so than in the Goliath, compared with which it is much finer and richer, being decidedly the best Plum yet known of its size. Stone middle-sized, oval, compressed.

Ripe against a wall the end of July or the beginning of August, considerably earlier than the Goliath.

This is a very excellent Plum, and a good bearer either on a wall or as a standard.

The Nectarine Plum has been satisfactorily ascertained, in the Horticultural Garden at Chiswick, to be wholly distinct from the Goliath, and its synonyms settled in the Pom. Mag. above referred to.

29. ORLEANS.

Miller, No. 5.

Langley, Pom. t. 20. f. 4.

Red Damask. Branches downy. bular, swelling a little

Fruit middle-sized, nearly glomore on one side of the suture than on the other. Skin dark red, and when fully exposed to the sun, of a purplish colour, covered with a thin blue bloom. Flesh yellow, and separates clean from the stone, like an Apricot. Juice a little sugary, with a portion of astringency.

No. 28. is inserted twice in consequence of the Nectarine Plum, having been published in the Pom. Mag. after the numerical arrangement had been completed.

Ripe the middle and end of August.

The Orleans is one of our most common Plums, and known in every market throughout England. It is a most hardy tree, a constant bearer, and an extremely useful fruit. It does not appear to have been known to either Parkinson or Ray.

30. PRUNE SUISSE. Duhamel, No. 19. t. 20. f. 7. Prune d'Altesse, Ib. Monsieur Tardif.

Bon Jard. 1827. p. 290. Simiana. Hort. Soc. Cat. No. 252.

Branches smooth. Fruit nearly spherical, about four inches and a half in circumference, rather more protruded in the middle than at either extremity. Stalk an inch long, slender, curved. Skin amber coloured on the shaded side, very full of small red specks, but where fully exposed to the sun it is of a beautiful red. Flesh gold colour, and closely adheres to the stone. Juice somewhat sharp, but when well matured it has an excellent flavour.

Ripe the end of September, and will keep for some weeks upon the tree.

This requires an east or south-east wall, in order to have it in perfection; on colder aspects it cannot be expected to be equally good. The same precaution should be observed with regard to the Imperatrice, Saint Catharine, and Coe's Plum; and indeed with all other late-ripening Plums; for to suppose they will succeed equally well in less favourable situations, is contrary both to reason and practice.

31. PURPLE GAGE. Pom. Mag. t. 129.

Reine Claude Violette. According to the Pom. Mag. Nois. Man. Comp. p. 496.

Reine Claude Violette. Bon Jard. 1827. p. 291. Die Violette Königin Claudie. Sickler, Teutsch. Obst. Gart. Vol. xxi. p. 64. t. 6.

Branches smooth, almost like the Green Gage.

Fruit, except in colour, very like the Green Gage, middle-sized, roundish oval, somewhat flattened at the ends. Suture moderately depressed. Stalk about an inch long, rather thick. Skin violet, powdered with a light blue bloom, beneath which it is engrained with pale yellow dots. Flesh greenish amber, rich, sugary, and strikingly high flavoured. Stone oval, inclining to ovate, compressed.

Ripe the end of August and beginning of September. The origin of this variety is unknown; it must, however, be recent, as it is not mentioned by Duhamel, nor by any of the older French writers, and is even omitted by Noisette in his Jardin Fruitier. It is of very high quality, fully equal to the Green Gage in all respects, and having this superiority, that while the latter is apt to crack in wet summers, and will never keep after having been gathered, this, on the contrary, will endure, if the climate be dry, through August and September, even till October, and is scarcely at all disposed to crack.

A good bearer as a standard. It is also well adapted to an east or west wall, where its flavour becomes improved.

32. QUEEN MOTHER. Ray, No. 19. Langley, p. 94. t. 24. fig. 3. Hitt, p. 353.

Branches smooth. Fruit of a smallish size, nearly globular, about three inches and a half in circumference. Stalk short. Skin dark red next the sun, on the other side pale yellow, full of reddish spots. Flesh yellow, and separates from the stone. Juice saccharine and rich. Stone very small in proportion to the fruit. Ripe the beginning and middle of September. It ripened at Twickenham in 1727, on a south wall, August 12. O. S., or August 23. N. S.-Langley.

A very good, neat, little Plum; it will succeed on either an east or west wall, but not as an open standard.