placed in an oven, from which the bread has been just drawn. The door of the oven is closed, and the crevices are stopped round it with clay, or dry grass. An hour afterwards, the plums are taken out, and the oven is again shut, with a cup of water in it, for about two hours. When the water is so warm as just to be able to bear the finger in it, the prunes are again placed in the oven, and left there for twenty-four hours, when the operation is finished, and they are put loosely into small, long, and rather deep boxes, for sale. The common sorts are gathered by shaking the trees; but the finer kinds, for making French plums, must be gathered in the morning, before the rising of the sun, by taking hold of the stalk between the thumb and finger, without touching the fruit; and laid gently on a bed of vine leaves in a basket. When the baskets are filled, without the plums touching each other, they are removed to the fruit-room, where they are left for two or three days exposed to the sun and air; after which the same process is employed as for the others; and in this way the delicate bloom is retained on the fruit, even when quite dry. Zwetschen Wasser and Raki. Both these liquors closely resemble kirschwasser; and the former is prepared in the same manner. Raki is made in Hungary, by fermenting apples ground or crushed with bruised plums, and distilling the liquor. The spirit produced is said to be very agreeable to the taste, and, though not quite so strong, much more wholesome than brandy. In the south of France, an excellent spirit is obtained from the bruised pulp and kernels of plums, fermented with honey and flour, by distillation in the usual manner. Soil, Situation, Propagation, &c. The plum prefers a free loamy soil, somewhat calcareous, and a situation open and exposed to the sun. The ornamental and fruit-bearing kinds are almost invariably propagated by grafting or budding; and this is generally performed on stocks of the muscle, St. Julien, or any of the free-growing-plums; or on the Mirabelle plum, when the plants are intended to form dwarfs. The stocks may either be raised from seeds, treated as recommended for those of the sloe, or from layers. Plants are obtained, by the latter mode, in a very simple and expeditious manner. The shoots of the preceding year, which have risen from the stools, are pegged down to the ground quite flat, and covered to the depth of an inch with soil. The entire shoot being thus covered and kept moist, there is an equal stimulus applied to all the buds on it; each of which produces a vertical shoot, a foot or two in length, according to the soil and the season; and each of these shoots, when taken off in the November following, is found to have abundance of roots. The branches which were laid down to produce these shoots are then cut off close to the stool; and the shoots produced from the centre of the stool, during summer, are, during winter, or early in spring, laid down in their turn, as above described. This is the practice in the Goldworth and other nurseries, where stocks are raised in immense quantities to supply the general demand of the trade. 404 4. P. CA'NDICANS Balb. The whitish-leaved Plum Tree. Identification. Balb. Cat. Taur., 1813. p. 62.;? Willd. Enum. Suppl., p. 32. ; Engraving. Our figs. 404, 405. Spec. Char., &c. Branches pubescent. 405 troduced in 1820, and producing its white flowers in April. It is not known of what country it is a native. 5. P. CocoMILLA Tenore. The Cocomilla Plum Tree. Identification. Tenore Prod. Suppl., 2. p. 67.; Cat., 1819, p. 46.; Dec. Prod, 2. p. 533.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 498. Spec. Char., &c. Flowers upon short peduncles, in pairs. Leaves obovate, crenulate, glabrous on both surfaces; the crenatures glanded. Fruit ovateoblong, with a small point, yellow,? bitter or? acid. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 533.) A shrub, a native of Calabria, in hedges, where it grows to the height of 2 ft. or 3 ft., and produces its white flowers in April. It was introduced in 1824. The bark is febrifugal, and, in Calabria, is considered to be a specific for the cure of the pestilential fevers common in that country. 6. P. MARITIMA Wangenheim. The sea-side-inhabiting Plum Tree. Identification. Wangenh. Amer., 103, according to Willd. Enum., p. 519.; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 1. p. 332.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 533.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 499. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves lanceolate-ovate, serrate. Flowers in pairs. Fruit small, round, sweet, dark blue. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 533.) A shrub, a native of North America, in sandy soils, on the sea coast, from New Jersey to Carolina, where it grows to the height of 6 ft. or 8 ft. Introduced in 1818, and producing its white flowers in April and May. In its native country, these are succeeded by fruit, of the size of a pigeon's egg, dark purple, and, according to Pursh, very good to eat. There are plants in some of the principal European nurseries; but we are not aware of any of them having yet ripened fruit. P. acuminata Michx. (Fl. Bor. Amer., p. 284.) is thought by Pursh to be identical with this species. 7. P. PUBE'SCENS Poir. The pubescent-leaved Plum Tree. Identification. Poir. Suppl., 4. p. 584., not of Pursh; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 533.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 499. Spec. Char., &c. Leaves with short pubescent petioles, and disks that are slightly pubescent, ovate, thickish, rounded, or shortly acuminate and unequally toothed. Flowers mostly solitary and nearly sessile. Fruit oval. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 533.) A shrub, growing to the height of 2 ft. or 3 ft., and producing its white flowers in May. It has been in cultivation in Britain since 1818; but its native country is unknown. 8.? P. DIVARICA TA Led. The divaricate (? -branched) Plum Tree. Identification. Ledeb. Ind. Hort. Dorp., Suppl. 1824, p. 6.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 534. ; Don's Mill., 2. p. 504. Spec. Char., &c. Branches spineless. Leaves with glandless petioles, and disks oblong-elliptical, tapered to both ends, concave above, serrate, glabrous, with the midrib bearded beneath. Flowers solitary, very numerous. Calyx reflexed. Fruit elliptical, yellow. (Dec. Prod., ii. p. 534.) A shrub, growing to the height of 8 ft. or 10 ft. on Caucasus, and producing its numerous white flowers in April. It has been in cultivation in Britain since 1820; but it is not common in collections. App. i. Other Species of Prunus. P. microcarpa Meyer (Virg. Pfl., p. 166.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 504.) is described as an unarmed shrub, with leaves glabrous, conduplicate, ovate-elliptic, sharply serrated, and with flowers in umbels; the drupe and the nut oblong. It is a native of Caucasus, on Mount Bechvarmak; but has not yet been introduced into Britain. P. tomentosa Thunb. (Fl. Jap., 303., and Don's Mill., 2. p. 498.) has the branches unarmed, and the peduncles solitary. The leaves are ovate and serrated, villous above, and, as well as the petioles, to mentose beneath. The flowers are white, and the drupe the size of a pea. A shrub, from 6 ft. to 8 ft. in height, a native of Japan, not yet introduced. P. chinensis Blum. (Bigel., p. 1104.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 504.) Leaves oblong, acuminated, furnished with two glands at the base, and unequally serrulated. Flowers in umbellate fascicles. Fruit round, and of a yellowish red. A tree, a native of China, not yet introduced. Other Species. The genus Prùnus L. formerly included one or two species now united with Armeniaca Tourn., and a number which have been separated from it, and formed into the genus Cérasus Juss. In consequence of this, there appears to us considerable confusion among the species of these three genera; and we think it likely, that, when the fruit of all the sorts has been seen, some of them will be restored to Prùnus. Among these, we think, will be Cerasus nigra Lois, which, in the flowers, leaves, colour of the wood, and general habit of the plant, as shown in the plants bearing this name in the Hammersmith Nursery, has every appearance of being a variety of the common plum; or of that form of it known as Prùnus maritima, which, with some others enumerated above, we cannot bring ourselves to consider as distinct species. Numerous as are the cultivated fruit-bearing varieties of the common plum, it is clear that they might be increased ad infinitum; and it is also highly probable, that numerous varieties, with fruits totally different from those of the original species, might be procured by cultivating the North American species, P. marítima and P. pubescens; if, indeed, these are anything more than varieties of P. doméstica. There are two forms, which every description of tree seems capable of sporting into, which are yet wanting in the genus Prunus, as at present limited; the one is with branches pendent, and the other with branches erect and fastigiate. There can be no doubt but that an endless number of hybrids, varying in their leaves, blossoms, and fruit, might be produced by fecundating the blossoms of the plum with the pollen of the almond, the peach, the apricot, and the cherry; and, though some may be disposed to assign little value to these kinds of productions, yet it must not be forgotten that almost all the cultivated plants of most value to man have been produced by some kind of artificial process. Experiments of this kind, therefore, ought never to be discouraged. What culture has done we know; but what it may yet accomplish is concealed in the womb of time. GENUS V. C'E'RASUS Juss. THE CHERRY. Lin. Syst. Icosándria Monogýnia. Identification. Juss. Gen., $40.; Dec. Fl. Fr., 4. p. 479.; Prod., 2. p. 535.; Don's Mill., 2. p. 504. Synonymes. Cerasus and Laurocérasus Tourn. Prùnus sp. Lin.; Cerisier, Fr.; Kirsche, Ger. Derivation. From Cerasus, the ancient name of a town of Pontus in Asia, whence the cultivated cherry was first brought to Rome, by Lucullus, a Roman General, 68 B. C. Description, &c. Trees and shrubs, almost all deciduous, with smooth serrated leaves, and white flowers; and, generally, with light-coloured bark; natives of Europe, Asia, and North America. Some of them are cultivated for their fruit, and the others as ornamental. In British nurseries, they are generally propagated by grafting or budding on the Cérasus sylvéstris: they will grow in any common soil that is tolerably dry; and the price in European and American nurseries is, with a few exceptions, the same as that of common fruit trees. There is much confusion in all the species, more particularly as regards those which are natives of North America; and which, as Dr. Hooker judiciously observes, can only be " removed by carefully studying the plants in a living state, both during the season of the blossom and that of the fruit." (Fl. Bor. Amer., i. p. 167.) Si. Cerasóphora Dec. The Cherry-bearing Kinds. Sect. Char. Flowers produced from buds upon shoots not of the same year; and, in many instances, disposed umbellately. Leaves deciduous. A. Species cultivated for their Fruit. The Cherries cultivated in Gardens, according to Linnæus (L. Pat. in Sp. Pl., and L. Fil. in Mant.) and almost all botanists to the time of De Candolle, have been referred to Prùnus àvium L. and Prùnus Cérasus L. (both, in our opinion, only varied forms of one species); the former being the mérisier of the French, and corresponding with the small wild black bitter cherry of the English (the C. sylvéstris of Ray); and the latter the cerisier of the French, and corresponding with the common red sour cherry of the English (the C. vulgàris of Miller). To these two species De Candolle, in the Flore Française, has added two others: Cérasus Juliàna, which he considers as including the guigniers; and Cérasus durácina, under which he includes the bigarreaus, or hard cherries. Under each of these four species, Seringe, in De Candolle's Prodromus, has arranged a number of varieties, with definitions to each group; but, as neither the species nor the groups appear to us distinct, we have adopted the arrangement of the author of the article on Cérasus in the Nouveau Du Hamel, as much more simple and satisfactory; and have referred all the cultivated varieties to the same species as Linnæus; substituting for Prùnus àvium L., Cérasus sylvestris, the synon. of Ray; and for Prùnus Cérasus L., C'érasus vulgaris, already used to designate the same species in Mill. Dict., and by Loiseleur in the Nouveau Du Hamel. We shall slightly notice the groups included in the Nouveau Du Hamel, under each species; we shall afterwards give a list kindly furnished to us by Mr. Thompson of the London Horticultural Society's Garden, of the kinds of both species which he thinks most deserving of culture as ornamental trees; and our description, history, &c., will comprehend both species, and the races and varieties belonging to them. The arrangement of the varieties, and general culture of the cherry in the kitchen-garden and orchard, will be found at length in our Encyclopædia of Gardening; and, in a more condensed form, in our Suburban Gardener. 1. C. SYLVESTRIS Bauh. and Ray. The wild black-fruited Cherry Tree. Identification. Bauh. Hist., 1. 1. 2. p. 220.; Ray Hist., 1539.; Pers. Syn. 2. p. 35. Synonymes and Garden Names. C. àvium Manch Meth., 672., Dec. Fl. Fr., No. 3786., Dec. Prod., 2. p. 535., Lois. in N. Du Ham., 5. p. 10., Don's Mill., 2. p. 505.; C. nigra Mill. Dict., No. 2., not of Ait, Ger. Em., 1505.; Prùnus avium Lin. Sp., 680.; P. àvium var. a and 3, Willd. Baum., ed. 2. p. 308.; P. nigricans, and P. vària Ehr. Beitr., 7. p. 126,127.; Gean, Bigarreau, Corone, Coroon, Small Black, Black Hertfordshire, Black Heart, Black Mazzard, the Merry Tree of the Cheshire peasants, the Merries in Suffolk; Mérisier, Merise grosse noire, Guignier, Bigarreautier, Heaumier, Fr. ; Süsse Kirsche, Ger. Derivation. This cherry is called Corone, or Coroon, in some parts of England, from corone, a crow, in reference to its blackness. Merry Tree and Merries are evidently corruptions of the word Mérisier; and Merisier is said to be derived from the words amère, bitter, and cerise, cherry. Bigarreau is derived from bigarrée party-coloured, because the cherries known by this name are generally of two colours, yellow and red; and Heaumier is from the French word heaume, a helmet, from the shape of the fruit. Spec. Char., &c. Branches vigorous and divaricate; the buds from which the fruits are produced, oblong-acute. Flowers in umbel-like groups, sessile, not numerous. Leaves oval-lanceolate, pointed, serrated, somewhat pendent, slightly pubescent on the under side, and furnished with two glands at the base. (Dec. Prod., and Nouveau Du Hamel.) The colour of the fruit is a very deep dark red, or black; the flesh is of the same colour, small in quantity, austere and bitter before it comes to maturity, and insipid when the fruit is perfectly ripe. The nut is oval or ovate, like the fruit, firmly adhering to the flesh, and very large in proportion to the size of the fruit. The juice is mostly coloured; and the skin does not separate from the flesh. A tree, a native of Europe, found in woods and hedges; very dwarf in unfavourable soils and climates, but growing to the height of 40 ft. or 50 ft., or upwards, in dry fertile soils. The flowers are produced in April, and the fruit ripens in June or July. Under this species are included, in the Nouveau Du Hamel, the following races or groups: 1. Merisiers, or Merries, with black or yellow fruit. 2. Guigniers, or Geans (C. Juliàna Dec.), with red or black fruit, early or late, and including the tobacco-leaved guignier, or gean, of 4 to the pound (the C. decumana of Delauny). 3. Heaumiers, the Helmet-shaped Cherries, (C. Juliàna var. heaumiana Dec.) somewhat resembling the bigarreau, but with less firm flesh. Variety of this race used for ornamental purposes. * C. s. durácina 2 flore pleno Hort., the double-flowered wild black Cherry; Mérisier à Fleurs doubles, or Mérisier Renunculier, Fr.; is a very beautiful variety, known, in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, as the double French white. The tree there, in 1835, was upwards of 20 ft. high, after having been 10 years planted. 4. Bigarreautiers, the Bigarreau, or hard-fleshed Cherries, (C. durácina Dec.) with white, flesh-coloured, and black fruit, generally heart-shaped. 2. C. VULGARIS Mill. The common Cherry Tree. Identification. Mill. Dict., No. 1.; N. Du Ham., 5. p. 18. Synonymes and Garden Names. Prùnus Cérasus Lin. Sp., 679.; C. hortensis Pers. Syn. 2. p. 34; C. caproniana Dec. Fl. Fr., 4. p. 482., Dec. Prod., 2. p. 536., Don's Mill., 2. p. 507.; P. austera and P. ácida Ehrh. Beitr., 7. p. 129. and 130.; Cherry, Kentish or Flemish Cherry, Morello, May Duke; Cerise de Montmorency, Cerise de Paris, Cerise à Fruits ronds, Cerisier du Nord, Cerisier, and Griottier in some provinces, Fr. ; saure Kirsche, Ger. Derivation. Caproniana is said to be derived from capron, the hautbois strawberry, probably from this cherry possessing so much more flavour than C. sylvestris. Morello is either from morel (Morchella esculenta), the flesh being of the same consistency as the flesh of that fungus; or, perhaps, from the French word morelle, a female negro. May Duke is a corruption of Médoc, the province of France where the variety is supposed to have been originated. Griottier is said to be derived from aigreur, sourness, or sharpness, and applied to this cherry from the acidity of its fruit. Spec. Char., &c. Tree small, branches spreading. Flowers in subsessile umbels, not numerous. Leaves oval-lanceolate, toothed, glabrous. The flowers are smaller than those of C. sylvéstris. The fruit is round, melting, full of a watery sap, more or less flavoured, and almost always sensibly acid. The skin of the fruit is commonly red, but, in the numerous varieties in cultivation, passing into all the shades between that colour and dark purple or black. The skin of all the varieties of C. vulgàris separates easily from the flesh, and the flesh parts readily from the stone; while, in all the varieties of C. sylvéstris, the skin is more or less adhering to the flesh, and the flesh to the stone. (Nouveau Du Hamel, v. p. 18.) This species forms a tree of less magnitude than that of C. sylvestris: it is never found in a truly wild state in Europe, and the aboriginal form is unknown. There are numerous cultivated varieties, which are classed by Loiseleur, in the Nouveau Du Hamel, in three groups, including in the first of these the four following varieties, which we particularise on account of their being purely ornamental. Varieties. C. v. 2 flore semipleno Hort. The semidouble common Cherry. C. v. 3 flore pleno Hort. The double-flowered common Cherry.—All the stamens of this variety are changed into petals; and the pistillum into small green leaves, which occupy the centre of the flower. The flower is smaller and less beautiful than that of the double mérisier; but, as the tree does not grow so high, and as it can be grown as a shrub, it is suitable for planting in situations where the other cannot be introduced. It is commonly grafted on the Prùnus Mahaleb. The flower is interesting in a physiological point of view, on account of its central green leaves illustrating Goethe's doctrine of vegetable metamorphoses. (See Lindl. Introd. to Bot., p. 143.) C. v. 4 persiciflora Hort. The Peach-blossomed common Cherry.-The flowers are double, and rose-coloured. This variety was known to Bauhin and to Tournefort, but is at present rare in gardens. We have not seen it. C. v. 5 foliis variegatis Hort. The variegated-leaved common Cherry. The fruit-bearing varieties are arranged in the Nouveau Du Hamel, under the following heads: 1. Flesh whitish, and more or less acid; including the Montmorency cherry. 2. Flesh whitish, and only very slightly acid; including the English duke cherries. 3. Flesh red, including the griottiers, or morellos. The following selection has been made by Mr. Thompson, with a view of exemplifying the different forms which the varieties of the cultivated cherries assume, as standard trees : The Bigarreau is a tree of vigorous growth, with large pale green leaves, and stout divergent branches. Buttner's Yellow is a vigorous-growing tree, like the preceding, but with golden-coloured fruit. The Kentish Cherry is a round-headed tree, with slender shoots, somewhat pendulous. The May Duke is a middle-sized or low tree, with an erect fastigiate head. The Morello is a low tree, with a spreading head, somewhat pendulous; most prolific in flowers and fruit; the latter ripening very late, and, from not being so greedily eaten by the birds as most other sorts, hanging on the trees a long time. D'Ostheim is a dwarf weeping tree, a great bearer. General Description. The cherry trees in cultivation, whether in woods or gardens, may, in point of general appearance, be included in three forms: large trees with stout branches, and shoots proceeding from the main stem |