368 THE GARDENER. [Aug. 



advice regarding the culture of Peaches and Nectarines out-doors or under 

 glass. 



It was asserted some time ago that the introduction of St Michael's Pine- 

 Apples would not affect the sale of home-grown fruit except during the winter 

 aud spring months. This hope, however, seems likely to be dispelled. Mr 

 A. Garcia, of Covent Garden, writing to the 'Gardeners' Chronicle' in July, 

 says, " I have just received from the Island of Madeira a consignment of fifty 

 Pines, which are larger and much superior in quality to any that we have 

 received from St Michael's. They average in weight from 6 lb. to 9 lb., and 

 rank amongst the fiuest examples that we have had in this market. They 

 have come in very conveniently, too, just after the St Michael's are done." 

 If their fruit are superior to the general run of St Michael's, which are, many of 

 them, quite equal in size and quality to the best Euglish-grown samples, they 

 must be very superior indeed. Madeira being considerably nearer our shores, 

 it may, however, be expected that the Pines will be imported from there in a 

 riper state than those from the Azores; and it is probably in this respect that 

 they are superior. 



A correspondent (a learned one) of a contemporary has made a rather 

 extraordinary discovery relating to the Apricot disease. The branches, he 

 tells us, die through " a temporary paralysis of proper action between root and 

 branch." No doubt ! When death occurs in any aspect there is generally 

 something amiss with the "proper action." The juryman who ventured the 

 opinion that the deceased " died for want of breath," was equally shrewd in 

 his surmise. It is also observable that the branches are killed through a 

 temporary fit of paralysis, which is another extraordinary circumstance. 

 Doctors of human patients distinguish between "fatal" and "temporary" 

 attacks, but according to this discursive correspondent of your contemporary, 

 Apricots die of a disease that is not fatal. Understandest thou what thou 

 writest ? is a question which might be often and with advantage put to some 

 writers. 



Mr Wills is " neither to haud nor to bin'." The Committee of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society had decided that it was inexpedient to hold an Inter- 

 national Exhibition in 1880, owing to the depressed state of trade and other 

 reasons ; but Mr Wills decided otherwise, and tried to drive the Committee 

 into his way of thinking and acting also. In this, as might have been foreseen, 

 he failed, and he is wrathful, while the public laugh provokingly. Mr Wills 

 had a motive for getting up a great international exhibition in which himself, 

 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the Lord Mayor, and a number 

 of other dignitaries might probably have shone as principal luminaries, and 

 his motive was patriotism — a burning devotion to his country and to horticul- 

 ture. Seriously, people do not as a rule believe in patriotism that expends 

 itself in fits and bursts, more especially when a distinct element of self- 

 interest appears to be involved, or which quarrels and sulks when it is 

 thwarted. In horticulture, as an industry worthy of fostering in its lowest 

 and highest spheres, there are plenty of opportunities for enthusiasts who are 

 anxious to do something in its behalf besides fitting up a great exhibition, the 

 influence of which would at the best be doubtful except in so far as it be a 

 means for tradesmen to advertise their goods. Reader. 



