118 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( Angnst 6, 187S. 



the near distance ia very rich and varied, and its lofty and 

 slender spire well relieves the rounded ontlines of the trees 

 around it. Many are the monuments within the church I 

 would wilHngly dwell upon , especially that graceful group by 

 Chantry, of the dying wife and her kneeling husband, grief- 

 subdued and with face judiciously hidden, leaving to the ima- 

 gination the sorrow of its expression. More than one poet 

 has celebrated the beauties of this place, but space can be 

 spared for only two verses, which I select because unexag- 

 gerated : — 



" Ah 1 what enchantment Nature's hand snppUeB 

 "What witching acenery decks this blest retreat 

 What headlands green, and pmrnontories rise, 

 Of old patrician Oaks the fav'rite eeat I 



Go, climb the heights, when clad in twilight grey. 

 The soft still moon pnlls off the veil of night; 



Thence, all these valley-dimpled plains enrvey. 

 These beaked hills with waving fohage dight. 



Yon beauteous spire, the heath-impurpled moor, 

 And ocean slumb'rijig on the distant Bhore." 



— G. 



market fruit, where early Pears for stewing are always ia 

 demand. — Ed. American G. M.] 



SHIFTING GBEENHOUSE PLANTS WITHOUT 

 INCBEASING THE SIZE OF THE POTS. 



Peobaely others of your readers besides the writer have 

 found it desirable, and perfectly practical, to shift many of 

 their greenhouse and stove plants annually, or every two or 

 three years, without giving them more pot room— though I 

 believe it is the usual practice to shift on, until both plants and 

 roots are of unwieldy size. This practice is so far necessary 

 in growing large specimens ; but it is followed in not a few 

 cases, I imagine, through timidity to reduce the roots of the 

 plants sufficiently: and so such things as Azaleas, Heaths, 

 Genistas, Acacias, &c., soon get too large for general use, and 

 in the end have to be thrown away to make room for younger 

 stock. 



Here, the most of our plants of this kind are employed in 

 house-fnrniehing, and having large numbers of small single 

 vases in corners to fill with pot-plants ; and not wanting to 

 turn the plants out of the pots any time they are used, we try 

 to keep them all in suitable-sized pots, that will just fit; and 

 wishing to keep the old plants ou as long as possible without 

 increasing the stock, we have to deal with them in a summary 

 manner in potting. Some of our Genistas, for instance, have 

 been in the same 7-inch pots for six or seven years, and look 

 as if they would keep their health and vigour under the same 

 conditions for twenty years or longer. They are about 3 feet 

 high when in flower, and 2 feet fully through at the base. 

 The health of the plants is all we could desire, and they 

 always flower most profusely. 



The plants have just been chpped-down with a pair of 

 hedge-shears to the diameter of the pot, and shifted — that is, 

 they have been turned out, and had about 2 inches cut clean 

 off the bottom of the ball, not including the drainage, and 

 1 inch sliced off aU round, and put back into the same size 

 of pot again. Had it suited our purpose, no doubt we could 

 have had the plants twice their present size or more without 

 increasing the size of the pot. Some dozens of Azaleas in 

 5 and C-ineh pots have been treated the same way, also 

 Acacias and other plants. Plants so treated experience no 

 greater check, I think, than if the balls had only been slightly 

 loosened round the sides in the usual way. The knife makes 

 a clean cut, and the solid piece of baU left in the centre 

 seems to be quite sufficient to sustain the plant in a healthy 

 state till it makes fresh roots. We have not operated so ex- 

 tensively ou Heaths in this way, but have sliced pot-bound 

 plants of Hyemalis and others without apparent injury, as the 

 plants made their usual growths. — S. W. (in The Gardener). 



Eablt Seedling Pear. — A correspondent from Mount Airey 

 near Philadelphia, under date of July 17th, sends us the follow- 

 ing, says the " Gardener's Monthly:" — "I send you herewith 

 a branch of a Pear tree with ripe fruit, a seedling from the 

 Seckel, the seed having been planted, and the tree grown on 

 my place. The quality of the fruit is only fair, but coming 

 in a few days earlier than any other variety, X think it has 

 some value. You will notice that the foliage, and the growth 

 of the fruit in clusters, resemble somewhat the Seckel." 



[This is before the Doyennf d'Ktu, Dearborn's Seedling, or 

 any early Pear we know. The flavour is but second-class, but 

 on account of its early ripening it would be valuable as a 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Ladt Ashbueton's Stove and Geeenhouse Plants, re- 

 moved from Melchet Court, near Bomsey, were sold on the 

 28th ult. by Mr. Stevens at his rooms in King Street. There 

 were 263 lots. The following were some of the prices realised : — 

 Lffilia anoeps, £11 11». ; Oncidium concolor, £15; Lalia 

 elegans Tumeri, £48 Cs. ; Phalsenopsis Sohilleriana, £38 12s. ; 

 Cypripedium caudatum, £1G ICs. ; Anthurium Scherzerianum, 

 £32 lis. These were all very superior specimens. 



The annual meeting of the PELAEooNitiii Sooiett was 



held on the 22nd of July, on which occasion the members 

 present dined together at the " Criterion." The Treasurer, 

 Dr. Denny, was able to report a healthy state of the finances, 

 a balance of £20 8s. id. remaining after paying the prizes 

 awarded at the exhibition on the previous day, and all the 

 working expenses. The sum paid out in prizes was £40. A 

 hope was expressed that the Society, now that it had become 

 better known, might draw around it more abundant support, 

 so that encouragement might be extended to other classes of 

 Pelargoniums besides the Zonals, which was the class speci- 

 ally in view when the Society was originally founded. It was 

 also thought that the inducements offered by the Society 

 might set hybridisers to work, and so be the means of obtain- 

 ing new types of this useful decorative family. The Chairman, 

 Treasurer, Hon. Secretary, and Committee were re-elected, 

 the latter body being strengthened by the addition of the 

 names of Mr. Andrew Henderson, Mr. G. T. RoUisson, Mr. 

 B. S. Wilhams, and Mr. J. F. West. A very pleasant evening 

 was spent, in the course of which a most interesting discussion 

 took place as to the influence of the pollen in cross-breeding 

 and on other matters connected with the history and improve- 

 ment of the Pelargonium. Mr. Pearson suggested that the 

 Society should endeavour to find and to fix satisfactory and 

 intelligible names for the different groups of Pelargoniums, 

 instead of the inapplicable ones — Show, Fancy, Tricolor, 

 Zonal, &e. — now in common use. In reference to the origin of 

 the Fancy Pelargonium Mr. Cooling stated his belief that the 

 first variety of this type, which must have been raised forty 

 years ago, was one called WiUoughbyanum, and that it had 

 been bred from the ordinary varieties of that period crossed 

 with such sorts as Moore's Victory, Fair Helen, etc., WiUough- 

 byanum being one of the seedUngs thus produced. Mr. 

 Williams urged that the objects of the Society were too re- 

 stricted, and that other flowers should be included ; but this 

 objection was met by the argument that to extend the scope 

 of the operations would require more funds, and would create 

 a divided interest, whereas it was better for the Society to 

 concentrate its present efforts on the flower which had been 

 selected, and that other elements would be found in the Show 

 with which that of this Society would always be associated — 

 that of the Royal Horticultural Society for example, as was the 

 case this year. 



Undee date of August 2nd Mr. Mowbray, gardener to 



Viscount Kirkaldy, Fnlmer, Slough, writes, " The Potato 

 DISEASE is spreading very much around here. I find this day 

 three pecks out of four bad, and I fear the damage wUl be 

 extensive. The disease appears to be very virulent indeed in 

 its nature." 



Messes. Hoopeb & Co. write to say that the proba- 

 bility of a prevalence of the Potato disease this autumn, and 

 of the early decay of the haulm, leads them to believe that it 

 wUl be in the interest of competitors to awaed the teizes at an 

 earliee date than has been fixed — viz., November 10th. This 

 change, however, must be contingent upon the consent of aU 

 the competitors, and they therefore request the favour of their 

 stating whether it wUl be agreeable and convenient that the 

 adjudication shall take place some time in the month of Sep- 

 tember or thereabouts, instead of November. 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBUEBAN GABDENING. 



The Chinese PBuruLA. — This being such a useful decorative 

 plant I may be excused for once more calling attention to it, 

 especiaUy as the most simply-contrived place can afford a home 

 for this excellent plant. I shall presume— and no doubt shall 

 be nearly right — that most of those who intend to grow it have 

 already their plants up and pricked-off into pots or pans ; and if 

 that should be so, and they have made Ave or six smaU leaves 



