157. The COMMON or DOMESTIC PLUM, in all its varieties, has been derived from a wild species of plum-tree (Prunus domestica), which grows in hedge-rows and thickets in several parts of England; and is distinguished by its branches being without thorns, and its fruit-stalks being single.
Were it not a well-established fact, few persons would suppose that the magnum bonum, or egg plum, the green gage, and several others, which are now common in our gardens, are indebted, for their parent stock, to the wild plum above-mentioned. These are all used at table; and, when sufficiently ripe, and eaten in moderate quantity, are pleasant and wholesome fruits, but, in an immature state, they are very unwholesome.
Prunes and French plums are the dried fruit of different kinds of plum-trees. They are usually packed in boxes, and are imported from the Continent, but particularly from the neighbourhood of Marseilles.—Brignolles, a town of Provence, about thirty miles from Marseilles, is one of the most famous places in France for dried prunes. Prunes or St. Catherine's plums, constitute a lucrative branch of traffic, which is almost exclusively carried on in Tours and Chatelherault. Prunes are sometimes employed in medicine, but French plums are chiefly used at table.
The wood of the plum-tree is of little value; but the bark is in occasional request as affording a yellow dye.
158. The BULLACE PLUM is a small violet-coloured fruit of globular shape, produced by a shrub (Prunus insititia) which grows wild in our hedges, and is known by its branches being thorny, and its fruit-stalks in pairs.
The plum has a rough, but not unpleasantly acid taste, especially after it has been mellowed by the frost. A conserve, called bullace cheese, is sometimes prepared by mixture of the pulp of the bullace with about thrice its weight of sugar. In several parts of Germany this fruit is preserved in vinegar and spice; and is occasionally used, in the manner of cherries, for the flavouring of brandy. An infusion of the flowers, sweetened with sugar, is sometimes used medicinally for children. The wood is pleasingly veined, and is much valued by turners.
159. The SLOE is a small, round, and nearly black kind of plum (Prunus spinosa), of extremely austere taste, which is common in thickets and hedges throughout nearly every part of England.
The shrub that produces it has thorny branches, and the fruit-stalks are single.
The harshness and austerity of the sloe are proverbial. Its juice, if mixed with British made wines, communicates to them a red colour, and an astringent flavour, somewhat resembling that of port wine; a fact too well known to some of the dealers in that favourite liquor. The juice of unripe sloes, dried over a gentle fire, so nearly resembles the Egyptian acacia ([273]), that it has in many instances been substituted for that substance; it is, however, harder, heavier, of darker colour, and somewhat sharper taste than the genuine kind. A conserve of this fruit, made with three times its weight of double-refined sugar, has been used with success as a gargle for sore throats.
An infusion of the flowers in water, or the flowers boiled in milk, are sometimes employed medicinally; and the bark, reduced to powder, has been efficaciously administered in agues. If boiled in ley, the bark yields a red dye. The young and tender leaves of the sloe afford a substitute for tea, but some persons consider them unwholesome. The juice of the fruit, mixed with green vitriol, becomes an indelible black fluid, either for dyeing linen, or as writing-ink. The wood, being extremely tough, is converted into walking-sticks, and made into the teeth of rakes; it is also sometimes used by turners. Dr. Withering has remarked, that, from certain effects which he observed to follow the prick of the thorns of the sloe, he was inclined to consider they had some poisonous quality, especially in autumn.