18 THE GARDENER. [Jan. 



According to the ' Gardener's Monthly' (America), the Rhododendron occi- 

 dental is one of the graudest flowers ever seen. It is a native of California 

 (and consequently hardy in this country), where it grows along the streams 

 of crystal water in thickly wooded districts throughout the state. The finest 

 examples are found in the Sierra Nevada around the silver creeks, where they 

 are covered with snow for four months in the year. Rhododendron occiden- 

 tal is a shrub growing 3 to 6 feet high, with large and handsome shining 

 green foliage that makes a most charming setting for the large and conspicuous 

 flowers, which are from 21 3 to 3 inches long. The corolla is usually snow- 

 white, with the upper lobe yellow inside, but varieties are sometimes found 

 with rosy-tinted flowers. The flowers are borne in large clusters of from 10 to 

 20 each, and the writer in your American contemporary thinks it will be found 

 the best flower which California has yet supplied, as well as one of the hardiest, 

 as it grows where the snow lies on the ground four or five months in the year, 

 and yet where the sun in summer will send the thermometer over 130°. 



One would hardly expect to find the largest and most prolific Pear-tree in 

 Great Britain in the Highlands of Scotland, but, according to the ' Journal of 

 Forestry,' it is so. A correspondent writing from Forres says there is to be 

 seen in the prosperous little village of Garmouth a Pear-tree of enormous 

 size, belonging to Mr James Spence, merchant there. It is known to be over 

 a hundred years old, and is of the following dimensions : height, about 40 

 feet ; circumference of trunk, 5 feet ; diameter of space underneath the 

 branches no less than 14 yards, which gives the enormous circumference of 

 126 feet. The huge branches are supported by means of planks running along 

 the top of eleven immense wooden pillars. The Pears are not large, but are 

 very sweet, and are known by the name of Golden Knot, or Golden Ball. I 

 counted a single cluster, which numbered no less than 300. The happy owner 

 of this, perhaps the largest and most prolific tree of its kind in Great Britain, 

 informed me that three years ago he had the curiosity to count the Pears it 

 yielded. When gathered they then reached the enormous number of 28,600. 

 At that time a large portion of the tree did not yield fruit, and since then 

 very little has grown on it. None of the Pears are as yet taken off this 

 season ; they hang in clusters like Grapes : a prettier sight one could not 

 imagine, and it is confidently expected that this season they will number con- 

 siderably over 50,000 ! No doubt this is the variety described by Hogg as 

 the Golden Knap, and as being "a prodigious and constant bearer, but other- 

 wise of no great merit." It is said also to be grown extensively in the Carse 

 of Gowrie. 



According to a contemporary, Mr Macagno, in a paper ' ' devoted to the con- 

 sideration of the physiological functions of the leaves of the Vine," declares, 

 as the result of his experiments, that the principle juices of the Grape berry — 

 viz. , grape-sugar and cream-of-tartar — are first elaborated in the tissues of the 

 leaves, and appear at a later period in the berries. These two elements, we 

 are informed, are found in greatest proportion in the young leaves, above the 

 bunches, and in less proportion in the leaves which do not bear bunches, and 

 in the leaves below the bunches. Hence Mr Macagno assumes, though it is not 

 very clear why, that the removal of the leaves above the bunches must inter- 

 fere with the proper nutrition of the latter. This, it need hardly be men- 

 tioned, has also long been the common opinion of gardeners, and has been gen- 

 erally acted upon in practice ; but it has of late years been proved conclusively 

 enough that the removal of the leaves beyond the bunch does not interfere 

 with the proper nutrition of the fruit, so long as healthy foliage is on the Vine 



