32 THE FLORAL WOKLD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



jour notice. It is ripe about the a^me time as Marie Louise, and Louise Bonne, of 

 Jersey, and after careful comparison with those pears, the " Sold at liaboureur" is 

 pronounced by all my party for the last two years to be sweeter and better flavoured 

 than either of the others. I got mine from Louis Van Houtte, of Ghent. — Dunton. 



Lawx Weeds. — Wc have a large lawn, which used to be beautifully fine and 

 free from weeds, but now it is much disfigured by large and increasing patches of 

 the weed comnionly cnllcd "self-heal," Prunella vulgaris. Will you, or any of 

 your correspondents,' tell me of any way of getting rid of it ? It is an old lawn ; 

 would sowing fresh gra?s-secd be of any use .^ — M. F. [The more- we study lawns, 

 the less we seem to know about them. In almost every batch of letters we receive 

 we find one or two that contain queries on the preservation of grass turf in gardens. 

 The experimental garden at Stoke Newington would at this moment furnish a 

 subject for a query, for t!ic experimental grass-plot about which we have written 

 so much during the past twelve years has been left alone for three years past, and 

 is now almost wholly a mass of daisies. Now, wh)^ is this .^ We have the glimmer 

 of an idea to this effect, that the fine grasses and clovers that are required in a good 

 lawn need a soil rich in phosphates and alkalies, and that when the soil is exhausted 

 of these aliment.'', the grasses perish, and daisies and prunellas take their place. If 

 this be the true theory, the remedy must be found in manuring, and we intend to 

 cover our daisies witli half an inch thickness of guano in April next, and recom- 

 mend M. F. to do the same.] 



Fancy PiOSe-growing is making head, but many amateurs entertain varied 

 notions aboiit management. Advice from you woiild be welcome to your readers 

 on a few points, namely, the proper time for pruning, how low the branches should 

 be cut ; in budding, how many buds to a briar ; and any other hint you can give. A 

 short notice of these points would oblige many as well as — One of your Old Sub- 

 scribers. [Is " Old Subscriber" aware, that in the past hundred numbers of the 

 Flokal World there have appeared about two hundred articles on Fancy Rose- 

 Growing; scarcely a number has been published without one. Wo i*ecommend 

 " Old Subscriber" to become a young reader. But roses will have more attention 

 yet, for the subject is not worn out.] 



Crat-^egus pyracaxtha. — £. B. — This plant is scarce, we know not why, 

 since it may be as easily propagated as any plant known. The berries may be 

 sown in the open ground, and will always grow, and if cuttings of the plant are put 

 into a bed or a frame in August, and kept rather close, every one will root. 



AsPLENiuM LAXCEOLATrM. — F. C. G'.— This elegant fern will not bear exposure 

 on ordinary rock- work, and is not well adapted for pot culture. It is essentially a 

 Wardian case fern, and is at homo in a snug part of a cool fernery, or in a damp, 

 shady, sheltered spot in a greenhouse. Wherever Adiantum capillus veneris 

 thrives, this Aspleniuia will do w^ell, and with just the same treatment as that 

 elegant fern delights in. The best soil for it is one compounded of equal parts 

 good peat of a fibrous nature, silver sand, and stone broken small ; in the absence 

 of freestone, which is the best, what is known as '•' hearthstone" will do very well, 

 it being of a soft nature, retaining moisture, and favouring the ramification of the 

 tender roots of these ferns. * 



