April 11, 1872. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



311 



eruol a ban as the lli-hours system? From my own experi- 

 ence I most positively affirm it does not work well for either 

 party. The men after their work is eouoluded have neither 

 time nor opportunity for study or relaxation ; their energies 

 mental and physical are enervated ; and, smarthif,' under a 

 sense of injustice they have as yet been powerless to avert, 

 theii' employers' interests suffer for tliewant of the paiustakiiip; 

 and diligence they would otherwise freely bestow. That this 

 system is not a trade necessity is evident, as some firms of 

 the highest standing have never adopted it ; and in common 

 ■fl-ith many others, I hope those who have done so will give the 

 subject their most careful consideration, and arrive at the con- 

 olnsion that ten hours' honest labour is a fair requital for their 

 invested capital. — R. JI. G. 



BEUKBE DE BISEAU PEAR. 



This excellent winter Pear was exhibited at the last meeting 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society. It was received from II. 

 A. de Biseau d'Hauteville, of Binehe, in Belgium, along with 

 another, both being seedlings, and marked respectively No. 1 

 and No. 2. That which was marked No. 1 was of .such excel- 

 lence as a late winter dessert Pear, the Fruit Committee 



and beginning of March. The stalk adheres firmly, and is not 

 broken by the heaviest gusts of wind. The growth is of 

 pyramidal form, the branches being slightly incurved. It is 

 vigorous, and bears fruit very freely even upon the wood of 

 only one or two years of age.' The foliage is thick, of pretty 

 appeai'auce, and each leaf is situated on a rather long petiole, 

 The fruit was gathered from the loth to the 2.5th of October, 

 and kept on the floor of a room on the gi'ound storey until the 

 time of their dispatchment. Although the Pears were quite 

 frozen underneath their covering during December, not one 

 of them has turned rotten, wliilst many of different varieties 

 which lay near them at that time have gone decayed. 



Eeiinv de Biseau Pear. 



awai'ded it a first-class certificate, and named it Beurrc de 

 Biseau, after the raiser. No. 2 was too much decayed for a 

 judgment to be formed of it. The fruit is above the middle 

 size, oblong, unshapely, and undulating in its outUne. Skin 

 entirely covered with a thick coat of smooth dai'k cinnamon 

 brown russet. Eye open, dove-Uke, set in a rather deep de- 

 pression. Stalk IJ inch long, united to the fruit by a large 

 fleshy lump, and fleshy at the base. Flesh yellowish, tender, 

 buttery and sweet, with a rich flavour and excellent bouquet. 

 This is a first-rate winter dessert Pear, and one of the best at 

 so late a period of the season as April and Mny. 



The fruit was gathered from the parent tree, which is growing 

 in the open gi'ound, and is about 6 feet high. This seedling is 

 sixteen years old, and the past year is the second of its bear- 

 ing, when the fruit kept perfectly till the 15th of May, and 

 was then more juicy than those tasted in the end of February 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The following are the rales and regulations of the Snow op 

 DiN'NEB-TABi.E Decobatioxs, to 1)6 held at South Kensington, 

 May 1.5th and ICth. 



T.— The table for twenty persons will be IG feet long, !i feet 

 9 inches broad ; eight places to be laid on each side and two at 

 each end. 



II.— The table for twelve persons will be 10 feet long, 4 feet 

 G inches broad ; five places to be laid on each side and one at 

 each end. 



III.— The tables wiU be 3 feet 10 inches from the gi'ound, so 

 that visitors may view them at the same elevation as if they 

 were seated in chairs. 



rV.— Each dinner table will have a separate compartment ni 

 tents erected for the occasion, so that each exhibitor will have a 

 private room to himself, and a separate side table will be pro- 

 Tided for his accommodation. 



v.— Tablecloths and dinner napkins to be found by the ex- 

 hibitor; also all such requisites as sand, moss, clay, &c. The 

 Society will supply water. 



VT.— The table to be fm-nished with the following articles :— 

 Plates, knives, forks, spoons, wine-glasses, salt-cellars, &c., com- 

 plete.. The receptacles for the fruit and flowers may be of any 

 material and of any fomi. 



VII. — The following appliances are optional :—Caratres, ice- 

 dishes, statuary, plants and other ornaments not required for 

 fniit and flowers. 



Vin. — In class 2, economy of cost of the furniture of the 

 table, as well as of the fi-nit and flowers, will be considered one 

 of the primary tests in awarding the prizes. 



IX.— The Esiiibition will be judged as for a dinner by day, 

 light, no lamps or candelabras allowed on the table. 



X. — Taste in arrangement will take precedence of oostUnesa 

 in the objects. 



XI. — In order to provide for the safety of the objects exhibited, 

 an officer will be placed in charge of each separate compart- 

 ment, and the tables railed off at a distance of 3 feet, but the 

 Society will not be responsible for any loss or damage. 



Xn. — Entries must be sent in on or before the 9th May, in 

 order that proper accommodation may be provided. 



EXXON HALL. 



The SE.iT OF the Eael of Gainsboeough. 



ExTON P.iBK is skirted on one side by the old Great North 

 Road, but as the Stamford " flying coaches " have long since 

 passed away, the passenger from London must travel to Oak- 

 ham either riii Peterborough or via Leicester, the latter the 

 longer, but owing to the splendid express service of the Mid- 

 land Company, at certain times much the quicker way. Still 

 Oakham, though not a hundred miles from town, is not one of 

 the easiest places to reach ; it is not on a main line, and which- 

 ever way one goes, there is much loss of time on changing 

 trains. "Exton is five mUes from Oakham, and about eight 

 from Stamford, and its gardens, park, woods, and water cover 

 an area of something like 1700 acres. Mr. Loudon years ago 

 computed it at 1.510 acres, but since his time additions have 

 been made by taking in one or two farms. 



No residence known to us has such an unbroken history as 

 Exton Park. In Anglo-Saxon times, being then knovm as 

 Exentune, it was possessed by Waltheof, Earl of Northumber- 

 land, who, sustaining the cause of the Norman Conqueror, was 

 rewarded by him with the hand of his (the Conqueror's) niece 

 .ludith. With their daughter Exton passed to the Bruces, and 

 then in succession to the (ireens, Culpeppers, and Harringtons. 

 In the family last named it remained for nearly six centunes, 

 and was then sold by them to Sir Baptist Hicks, the leviathan 

 merchant and money-lender of the sixteenth century. The 

 trust was to pay the debts of the two last Lords Hamngtou. 

 It was then passed to the Chichesters, and a daughter of that 



