JANUAfxY. 9 



The first blooms were so good that our expectations were raised to a very 

 high pitch : hut it soon became thin and open in the centre. Never- 

 theless it must not be dismissed without a further trial. 



Brief comment must suffice for the fancy Dahlias of 1854. They 

 are not numerous. Admiration is a brilliant and constant variety. 

 Butterfly, something after the fashion of Flower of the Day, is a great 

 improvement thereon. Leader is a large flower, of good proportions, 

 with somewhat of a heavy appearance. We have, hitherto, seen nothing 

 so good, in its way, as Marvel. Pigeon appears to be of the right stamp 

 and quite new in colour. Topsy will take the place of Elegantissima, 

 which it resembles much in colour, and which it far surpasses in every 

 other particular. 



In conclusion, let me request the correction of a slight typographical 

 error, which has crept into my last paper. The quotation occupying the 

 tenth line of page 366 contains a redundant word, which completely 

 destroys the rhythm. The word all should be omitted. 



" They wou them well, and may they wear them long ! " 

 is the correct reading. The fault, in all probability, was my own : but 

 I am sensitive enough to be scrupulous in such matters. 



A. S. H. 



THE MANGOSTEEN— Garcinia mangostana. 



This celebrated tropical fruit, a native of the Molucca Islands, and 

 hitherto considered difficult to fruit, even in the tropics, beyond the 

 limits of the Eastern Archipelago, is now, we understand, producing its 

 fruit (for the first time in Europe), in the tropical house at Syon, under 

 the successful management of Mr. Ivison, gardener to his Grace the 

 Duke of Northumberland. As considerable interest attaches to this, 

 stated to be the most delicious fruit in the world, w^e append a short 

 description of it, and a woodcut of the fruit. 



" In its native state the Mangosteen forms an upright growing tree, 

 near 20 feet high, sending out many branches on every side, which are 

 placed opposite and stand oblique to each other, and not at right angles. 

 The leaves are entire, seven or eight inches long, and about half as 

 much in breadth in the middle, gradually diminishing to both ends, of a 

 lucid green on their upper side, and of an olive colour on their under, 

 having a prominent midrib through the middle, with several small veins 

 running from it to both sides of the leaf. The flower is like that of a 

 single Hose ; the fruit is round, about the size and shape of a Non- 

 pareil Apple, green at first but afterwards changing to dark brown, with 

 yellowish spots, as it approaches maturity. The inside of the fruit is 

 of a rose colour, divided into several parts by thin partitions, as in the 

 Orange, in which the seeds are lodged, surrounded by a soft juicy pulp 

 of a delicious flavour, partaking of the Strawberry and the Grape. It 

 is esteemed the most delicious of the East Indian fruits, and may be 

 eaten in large quantities without producing inconvenience to the system," 

 The above is an abridged abstract from " Miller's Gardeners' Dic- 

 tionary," (Martyn's edition.) 



