314 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



The best of the new Dahlias exhibited at the meeeting of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society were — From Mr. Charles Turner : Kate 

 Haslam, bright rose pink, large, full, and fine ; Souvenir d'Herbert 

 Turner, sulphur, changing to French white ; John Standish, deep 

 bright crimson ; Mrs. Maunders, yellow tipped with white ; Mrs. 

 Waite, delicate rose. From Mr. G. Parker: Lady Herschal, creamy 

 white, heavily tipped with bright carmine. From Mr. G. Rawlings, 

 Old Church, Romford.: Maid of Essex, white tipped with rosy purple. 

 From Mr. Lidgard, Hammersmith : Model, a bedding variety, with 

 very large flowers of a deep crimson hue. From Mr. J. Keynes, 

 Salisbury: Dolly Varden, creamy pink, lightly flaked with purple; 

 William Keynes, bright scarlet; Marchioness of Lome, light yellow 

 tipped with rose ; William Laird, light rose. 



New Verbenas were contributed by Mr. C. J. Perry and Mr. 

 Eckford. The most promising from Mr. Perry were Sunbeam, deep 

 crimson scarlet; Distinction, large, blush-white, purplish-rose centre ; 

 Evening Star, white, carmine eye ; Sprite, white, large pink centre ; 

 Coronation, blush, heavily striped with crimson ; Pink Queen, deep 

 carmine, lemon eye; Nelly Mole, white, rose centre; Gem, light 

 blush, deep rose-carmine centre ; and Emma Weaver, blush-rose, 

 carmine centre. The best from Mr. Eckford were Purple Gem, deep 

 bluish purple, likely to be a grand bedder ; The Ron. Frank, deep 

 pink self; IsaBrunton, purple maroon, large white eye, fine; Sandy, 

 orange-red self; Acme, pink self; Captain, orange-scarlet; Crown 

 Jewel, white ; Lady Gertrude, lavender, purple ring round the eye ; 

 Kingcraft, deep crimson, white eye ; and Pluto and Lady Edith, 

 described above. 



Mr. Pearson, Chilwell, exhibited several new grapes, the best of 

 whicli was Dr. Royg, a white variety in the way *>1 Foster's Seedling, 

 but better in every way. The vine ha3 a stronger constitution, and 

 the flavour is much richer.; altogether it is a very valuable addition 

 to the list of white grapes. G. G. 



Colossal Asparagus. — Mr. Peter Henderson, an American citizen of New 

 Jersey, claims in the Press to having at last found a distinct variety of Asparagus. 

 Previously he had repeatedly contended that all the so-called varieties were merely 

 differences produced by culture, soil, and climate. The new variety was grown with 

 the ordinary kind, both having beun planted in the spring of 1868, each being then 

 one year from the seed, and both grown to a large extent in a market garden in 

 Long Island. The soil was examined, and found to be as nearly the same as it 

 could well be, yet the two beds of Asparagus showed a difference that left no longer 

 a shadow of a doubt of their being entirely distinct varieties. Jn the old variety he 

 found no shoot thicker than one inch in diameter, and averaging 20 shoots to a hill, 

 while in the colossal many shoots were found 1^ inch in diameter, and averaging 35 

 shoots to a hill — an enormous growth when it is remembered that the plant was 

 only three years from the seed. The .mode of cultivation is very like the French 

 one — the rows being six. feet apart, and the plants four feet apart in the row. 'Ihe 

 average clear profit annually on the old sort is estimated to be over £56 per acre, 

 and over £87 per acre on the new ; but some growers in the same region estimate 

 their profits on Asparagus at nearly double these rates ; and it is expected that it 

 will soon prove a very valuable crop to be raised in the Southern States for the early 

 supply of the Northern markets. 



