I do not think that the good qualities of this fruit are as yet half appreciated. It is in season from July to November; it is excellent for preserves and for compotes. And then how delicious are many of its varieties as dessert fruit I For the orchard house it is also well adapted; the early varieties ripen very early; the late kinds may be kept in muslin bags all through November; they shrivel in the dry climate, and are perfectly delicious, I have had some of Coe's Golden Drop in muslin bags oh the trees, partaking of the flavor of those called "French plums," but richer and more agreeable.

Plums for potting may be grafted on the sloe (Prnnus spinosa), but they are equally prolific when grafted on the plum stock: if they have been removed the year previously to potting, they will be full of bloom-buds, and will bear a good crop the first season; if they can be procured already established in pots, the crop will be better and the fruit larger. The same compost and the same treatment recommended for apricots will do for plums; the same potting, pinching, and pruning, so as to make the trees nicely shaped, compact, and dwarf, is all that is necessary.

In selecting varieties some care is required, so as to have plums all through the summer and autumn. The very early and very late plums here in the South of England seem to ripen in the orchard house without any loss of flavor; but the mid-season plums, such as the Mamelonnee, Green Gage, De Montfort, and, I may add, the Jefferson, are, I think, improved in flavor by being ripened in the open air. For this purpose the trees should be lifted, so as to break off their young roots, a week previously, and then removed to some warm and sheltered situation. Their flavor is, I think, improved by this treatment; and their removal will give more room to the peaches and nectarines. In wet and moist climates, where the Green Gage ripens with difficulty, they must remain under glass all the summer.

And now to our selection. For the first, take the Early Favorite and Early Prolific, - two most excellent sorts, which ripen about the middle of July, nearly as soon as the Jaune Hative, a very early, but very inferior, plum; next in succession comes the Saint Etienne; then the De Montfort; the Denniston's Superb, and the Mamelonnee - early green-gage-like plums; the Green Gage; the Jefferson, - rich and delicious it is; Purple Gage; Reine Claude de Bavay; Coe's Golden Drop; Ickworth Imperatrice; St. Martin's Quetsche; Coe's Late Red, and the Late Black Orleans; - all these are excellent, and ripen nearly in succession as I have placed thern. A very nice way of keeping the autumn plums, or, indeed, those that ripen in summer, from wasps and flies, is to form the trees into compact bushes, which may be enclosed, when bearing fruit, in a muslin bag, - any common cheap muslin will do, - tying it tightly round the stem of the tree, so as to exclude the ants, which are great pests in dry and pleasant places. I have only to remark that the plum in orchard houses will to a certainty always give abundant crops, and as certainly ripen its fruit: in short, its culture will be sure to give satisfaction to those who love gardening.

After some years of experience, I have found the plum so easily grown in pots, that I feel a new era in their cultivation has arrived. I propose that, for those who wish to grow a regular and certain crop of plums without incurring a heavy expense, rough-built lean-to orchard houses should be erected in some out-of-the-way corner of the premises, consisting of larch poles, rough half-inch boards, with two or three sliding shutters for ventilation, - in fact, merely a glass-roofed shed on purpose for protecting plum-trees in pots while in blossom and setting their fruit. It is surprising with what vigor and beauty plum-trees blossom even in the rudest glass structure, and as the trees need not remain in the house longer than the end of the first week in June, - for then all danger of severe spring frosts is over, - -they may be placed so close together, that a house twenty feet by twelve, with a path in its centre, will hold ninety-six trees, forty-eight on each border. The trees may be planted in 13 or 15-inch pots, and treated exactly as other orchard-house trees; with this difference, - all the the trees having young fruit should be removed from the house in June, and placed in rows or otherwise in the garden, to ripen their fruit in the open air.* The pots may be plunged in the soil one-third of their depth, but not more; for if the roots are too cold, the fruit will suffer in flavor, and if the soil be wet and cold, it should be drained or made porous, so that the water passes from the pots rapidly, and the top-dressing of manure must be most abundant.

As a matter of course, the very late plums must be ripened under glass; but all those varieties that ripen in the open air before the end of September may be there grown to great perfection, and regular annual crops insured, if care is taken to thin the fruit properly. If too large a crop is extorted, the tree will have a year's rest. It is quite astonishing how prolific these bushes become in a few years; and by merely pinching off the ends of exuberant shoots-r-which should be done about the end of June - to within three or four inches of their bases, they soon form themselves into compact round-headed trees, quite as ornamental as orange-trees in pots and tubs, and far more gratifying as regards utility.

The best varieties for this extended mode of plum cultivation in pots, are the Early Prolific; De Montfort; Denniston's Superb; Green Gage; Angelina Burdett; Woolston Black Gage; Kirke's; Guthrie's Late Green; Reine Claude de Bavay; Purple Gage; and, above all, the Jefferson, one of the most beautiful and delicious of plums. These are for the dessert; but as in some climatos it may be necessary to grow plums in the same way for culinary purposes, I may as well give the names of a few good kitchen plums: such are the Victoria and Autumn Compote, both large and excellent, ripening in succession; the Diamond; the Early Orleans; White Magnum Bonum; and Prince Englebcst. The trees must all be removed to the orchard house the last week in October, top-dressed and watered, and then kept dry all winter. As the earth of these out-of-doors orchard house trees becomes very firm by the heavy rains of summer, an iron pick, to take out the mould in spring, will be found very useful. I gave a sketch in p. 265 of one which I have had made by the village smith. As plums are coarse feeders, I take the surface earth out to the depth of six inches at the side of the pot, sloping upwards to the stem, so as to be able to give them a large quantity of fresh compost.

To those who wish to grow plums under glass in large quantities, I beg to point out a very simple mode of culture, - viz., planting a house with bushes or pyramids, and removing them biennially to check their growth: one of our most skilful gardeners, Mr. Monroe, grows them in this manner, and finds that, after two or three years, owing to the trees being every season loaded with fruit, they do not require removal, as they grow very slowly.

* There might be danger in this practice in America, from the curculio, without the muslin bag. - Ed. Horticultural