COUNTRY LIFE
"BLACKTHORN winter" is a phrase that remains popular in village speech ; and for good reason. It seldom happens that a frost or two and a biting north-easterly wind do not coincide with the flowering of this wild plum, whose flower is further in front of its leaf than most other plums'. A true plum it is, for I see that an historically minded botanist avers that all our plums, however sweet, derive from "a mixture of blackthorn and cherry-plum," or a selection of one or the other. There is often, at least among village children, a confusion between the sloe and the mirobolan (so-called). Both are regarded as sloes, and surprise is expressed when the plums of one are found to be edible, almost sweet. What is the true history of this sweeter plum ? Is it truly wild in England ? It prevails as a rule near houses, and suckers with exceptional freedom. I have watched it spread some twenty yards at the edge of a common. It has often been used in garden hedges, but is discouraged as fostering the " silver leaf" malady. Such text-books as Bentham and Hooker give po clear guide on the subject.
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