Fetouai-y 1, 1S72. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



99 



the plant so that the crown or rhizomes may be about half 

 au inch bolow the rim of the pot, fill iu round them, and giye 

 the pot two or three smart taps on the potting-boai'd or floor ; 

 afterwards press the soil firmly all over. Do not bury the 

 rhizomes, but rather let them be close on the top of the soil. 

 Let the sui-face be finished off rather smoothly, and the 

 potting is done. I generally allow a liberal shift, so that the 

 rhizomes may have room to run. The potting completed, 

 place the plant iu an any part of an intermediate house ; 

 do not allow the sun to shine upon it, but let it have as 

 much light as you can. Water it for the first three or four 

 times with a fine-rosed watering pot, so that the soil may settle 

 about the roots. AU is now complete, and with a little care in 

 its tre.itmeut you will soon have a beautiful plant. 



I may add that I do not think any of the Gleiohenias re- 

 quire half so much heat as many are accustomed to give them ; 

 in fact, some of them will thrive in a cool house, and be far 

 more satisfactory than in too much heat. — T. B. 



THE BENEDICTINE, EDGABLEY, AND 

 ESPEEINE PEARS. 

 I WAS very much surprised to see my name meutioued in a 

 footnote in your .Jom'nal, respecting the Glastonbury Pear. I 

 beg to say iSir. Sampson's statement with regard to my having 

 raised it is incorrect. I certainly gave him the grafts and some 

 of the fruit, at the same time telhug him I believed it came 

 from a wilding growing iu an orchard hedge at the back of my 

 garden. I should feel psirticularly obliged by your contradict- 

 ing his statement as to its being raised from a cross between 

 any particular Pears grown by me. — W. G. L. Lovell, Montague 

 Villa , Wvston-supcr-Mare. 



As to the Edgarley Pear being identical with the Esperiue I 

 have strong doubts, and may say that I am almost certain that 

 it is not — that is, if the trees sold to me by Mr. Sampson under 

 the name Benedictine came originaUy from the Edgarley. But 

 the parentage given by Mr. Sampson precludes this idea. Mi-. 

 Sampson gives the Princess of Wales as one parent and Van 

 Mons as the other, a parentage of which I have grave doubts. 

 Again, as totheEdgarley andEsperine being thesamel have the 

 same doubts, although Mr. Rivers says that Mr. Porch saw a 

 Pear which he considered to be the same as the Edgarley 

 ai Mr. Young's nursery at Taunton, " and that, therefore, the 

 Edgarley Pear is French, and the true Esperine." Perhaps Mr. 

 Young obtained grafts from Edgarley before Mr. Porch know 

 the tree. Mr. Rivers's remarks would make us suppose that 

 Mr. Porch obtained the tree at Taunton, but Mr. Porch's re- 

 marks go to prove the contrary. Again, the Esperine first 

 fruited with Van Mons in 1824, or thereabouts, and could not 

 well be planted at either Taunton or Edgarley until 1830, and 

 then as a very young tree ; it would now be about forty-two years 

 old, and the oldest inhabitant must have a short memory if he 

 cannot recollect so far back as forty years ago. In fact, I 

 agree with the Editors that we are in a sort of fog about these 

 Pears, and that the two cannot well be the same. I think Mr. 

 Lovell, Mr. Sampson, and Mr. Porch, should combine to clear 

 away the mist. — J. Scott. 



P.S. — Is Mr. LoveU's tree a seedling, or was it grafted from 

 the Edgarley one ? 



STORING CELERY. 

 I HEAR the question frequently asked, How to protect Celery 

 irom damping and rotting off ? The system I have adopted 

 •this season has been most successful. At the end of November 

 I took up two rows of Incomparable White, and stowed it 

 away iu a moderately damp cellar in sand. The last stick was 

 used yesterday {.January 2(jth), and was as fresh as the day on 

 which it was taken up. At the end of December I took up two 

 rows of Manchester Rod, and treated it in a similar manner, 

 the first stick of which was used to-day. It was equally good 

 and crisp. I shah take up two more rows as soon as we have 

 a couple of dry days in succession, and I have no doubt the 

 'Celery will be fresh and crisp in April, or later. I send you 

 this information, behoving that so simple a mode of preserving 

 ■so useful au esculent is not generally known. — Hesby Smith. 



Sidney Seed- sower. — A larger and improved form has now 

 ft)eeii prepared by Mr. Cox, the inventor. The improvement is 

 that the seed-sower now delivers freely, and without chokiug, 



wrinkled or square-sided Peas. There are other advantages 

 also : the larger size is more useful in large gardens for all 

 sized seeds, also for market gardeners and for farmers for 

 fiUing-in blank places in fields. 



NEW (ENOTHEEA. 



As is then- custom at the opening of the new year, our con- 

 temporaries of the horticultural j)ress have in recent issues 

 placed before their readers elaborate notices of our gains in the 

 way of new plants, fruit, and vegetables dm-iug the past year — 

 all very exhaustive, no doubt; but yet we looked in vain among 

 theu' notes for any aUusion to a charming novelty whose ac- 

 quaintance we made last year, and which, we submit, has 

 strong claims to be regarded as Al among the cream of hardy 

 flowering plants. We allude to a new dwarf Qiuothera, from 

 Utah, which we saw m flower at Glasnevin last year, and for 

 the introduction of which, as of so many other choice plants, 

 we are indebted to Dr. Moore. Calling at the gardens one 

 evening last summer, while walking round with Dr. Moore, he 

 asked. Had we seen the new CEnothera? Being answered in the 

 negative, he led the way to the lock-up garden or sanctum, 

 where one is sure at all times to meet somethuig new, very 

 rare, or of much botanical interest. On this occasion, how- 

 ever, all else was forgotten in admiration of the lovely little 

 transatlantic gem to which Dr. Moore iutrod .eel us. Looked 

 at m the quiet stillness and shadows of a summer evening's 

 close, with its cu'clet of large pure white flowers, raised 

 verticaUy above the foliage, on long, slender tubes, and ex- 

 panding their broad fau' bosom to the cooling moonbeams, 

 this lovely plant presented an appearance altogether unique 

 and striking. 



This plant is altogether unique amongst its congeners as 

 regards habit and appearance. The best of the latter, as, 

 for instance, CE. missourensis, ffi. Lamarckiana, Ac, though 

 showy as regards flowers, are of a gawky, stragghng habit, 

 which detracts much from theh value. The plant to which we 

 now direct attention is just the ojiposite, bemg single-stemmed, 

 compact, and dwarf, flowering when not more than 6 inches 

 high, and at the end of the season rarely doubUng that height. 

 But to come to particulars. The stem is short, stout, some 

 8 or 10 inches high ; the leaves runcinate, having long foot- 

 stalks, which, together with the midrib, iu the lower leaves are 

 white, iu the upper red or pinkish. Commencing at the base, 

 the flowers issue in long succession from the axils of the leaves , 

 and are elevated vertically over remarkably slender tubes, fully 

 a span in length, in a way to produce a beautifid effect. The 

 flowers, as compared with the plant, are of great size, pure 

 white, the Hmb of the coroUa consisting of four very large 

 obcordate petals, at the base of which the anthers are placed, 

 round the mouth of the tube, which here expands considerably, 

 and is of a greenish yellow colour. The stigma is cruciform 

 and considerably exserted. The above description, we are 

 quite aware, is very imperfect, and conveys a still more imper- 

 fect idea of this fine flower. As yet, as far as we are aware, 

 this CEnothera is without a specific name. It comes from the 

 state of Utah, North America, and was communicated to Dr. 

 Moore by his friend M. Roezl, of Zurich. When we saw the 

 plant at Glasnevin it promised to seed freely, and we hope ere 

 long to see it widely distributed, and taking a prominent posi- 

 t.on in the choice herbaceous border, or cutting a figure iu 

 ■some phase of subtropical gardening, for which its dwarf habit 

 and exotic appearance seem to render it eminently suitable. — 

 (Irish Farmers' Gazette.) 



COOL ORCHID CULTURE. 



Foe some time I have had the opportunity of seeing the 

 good results attending the cool treatment of Orchids, and I 

 purpose offering a few remarks respecting it, which, doubtless, 

 will at least interest some of our amateur cultivators. I need 

 scarcely say that the yearly demand for cool-house Orchids is 

 great and increasing, nor is this to be wondered at, for they 

 are a lovely class of jilants, and can be grown at a much less 

 expense than the East Indian Orchids, besides being productive 

 of more enjoyment to the cultivator and visitor. 



The first matter to be taken into consideration is a house 

 suitable to their requirements. This should be so constructed 

 as to allow the plants to be as near the glass as possible, iu 

 order that they may have the full benefit of the Kght, the 

 direct rays of the sun, of course, being at all times avoided by 



