THE ACHIMENES PICTA. 



325 



pressed. The flesh is in consistency and 

 taste between that of the Brown Beurre and 

 White Doyenne, buttery, melting, juicy, 

 with a brisk, rich, slightly sub-acid and ex- 

 cellent flavor. Core small. Seeds few. 

 It ripens at the same time as the White 

 Doyenn^, and keeps well. From its early 

 and abundant bearing, and its gradual ma- 

 turity, it is admirably calculated for a mar- 

 ket fruit. 



We are chiefly indebted for our know- 

 ledge of. this excellent new pear, to our 

 friend, Mr. Allen of Oswego, who has 

 furnished us with specimens, and has also 

 given us a personal account of its charac- 

 ter. 



The Brown Beurre and the White Doy- 

 enne, (Virgalieu,) were for a long time al- 

 ^most the only sorts grown at Oswego, where 

 they still grow in admirable perfection. 

 From the marks which the fruit of this pear 

 bears, externally and internally, there can 

 scarcely be a doubt, that it is the product of 

 a natural cross between these two fine old 



sorts, formerly growing near each other in 

 Mr. Reed's garden. 



The original tree of the Oswego Beurre 

 is now growing on the premises, formerly 

 Mr. Reed's, one mile east of Oswego vil- 

 lage. Its habit of growth is much like that 

 of its parent. But it is one of the most re- 

 markable bearers on record among pears. 

 Mr. Allen informs us that it began to pro- 

 duce fruit when only eight or nine years 

 old ; that he has known it lately to bear 

 fourteen bushels of fruit in one season, and 

 that it always yields an abundant crop. It 

 has never failed to give a crop for the whole 

 fifteen years it has been in bearing — the 

 best proof of its great hardiness. 



Mr. Allen has proposed to us to call this 

 fine new fruit, not hitherto described, the 

 Oswego Beurre. He will, no doubt, be able 

 to furnish such amateurs with grafts as may 

 desire to give it a trial. We can vouch for 

 its being truly a most desirable new variety, 

 superior to four-fifths of those received of 

 late years from France and Belgium. 



THE ACHIMENES PICTA— THE PAINTED ACHIMENES. 



FROM THE LONDON HORTICULTURAL MAGAZINE. 



One hardly knows whether most to admire 

 the leaves or the flowers of this plant: at 

 any rate, if it is chiefly ornamental when 

 in bloom, it is no mean ornament when de- 

 void of blossoms, for its leaves are most 

 beautifullypainted with zebra-like markings. 

 Like the other species of Achimenes, this 

 is furnished with scaly tubers, which afford 

 one means of propagating the plant to an 

 almost unlimited extent ; for, under suita- 

 ble management, every one of the minute 

 scales .of which these tubers are composed, 

 is capable of producing a plant. Above 

 ground, the plant assumes a succulent her- 



baceous character ; the stems growing erect, 

 to a varying height, from one to two feet, 

 according to the management to which the 

 plants are subjected. The leaves and stems, 

 and indeed every part of the plant, is thick- 

 ly studded with rather longish hairs. Op- 

 posite each other, at intervals, along the 

 stem, the rich, deep, velvety black-green 

 leaves are produced : they are of a cordate- 

 ovate figure, and are mottled and reticula- 

 ted with pale whitish blue, in distinct, broad 

 bands, branching outwards from the centre, 

 and giving them the richest imaginable ap- 

 pearance. From the axils of these leaves. 



