700 MONTHLY SUilllART. 



Several dishes of unusually late fruit attracted considerable 

 attention. It is a matter of as much importance to prolong the 

 duration of a valued fruit as to anticipate it. That most excel- 

 lent and much loved old Scotch lord^the \^e Lord Murray 

 Jiked Strawberries, and rather prided himself on having them on 

 liis table from the time he 'went to the country, on the rising of 

 the Court of Session, in the middle of July, until he returned to 

 town, on its resuming its sittings at the beginning of November; 

 and by good gardening and a carefully-selected succession of 

 early and late kinds he generally managed to have his wish. 

 The latter and later part of this feat was well accomplished at 

 this Show, not only in Sti'a wherries, but also in Kaspberrles, 



Currants, and stone fruit. 



It is §trange how seldom any addition is made to the list of 



fruits or vegetables cultivated in this country. We do not see 

 very well why the Sour Sop, the Custard Apple, and numerous 

 other tropical fruits should not be grown in our houses; but 

 almost the only thing of this kind which w^as shown was the fruit 

 of the Eugenia Ugnij a small, fragrant, and pleasant-tasted berry ; 

 the ArracacliaKscuJenta, from the colder regions of Columbia, ex- 

 hibited by M. Linden, of Brussels, and a dish of the Physalis 

 Edulis, exhibited by Mr. F, J. Graham, of Cranford, raised 

 from seeds found by his son in a deserted garden at Taranaki. 



Next in attractiveness to the Fruits were the collections of 

 Gourds. The best of these was that from the Society's Garden 

 at Cbiswick, about 150 different kinds having been there grown. 

 It is but fair, however, to acknowledge that a considerable portion 

 of the merit attachable to this collection is due to M. Naudin, 

 the eminent French cucurbitacist, who most kindly exerted 

 himself to procure for the Society as complete a collection as pos- 

 sible of the seeds of all the kinds of gourds in cultivation. It is 

 from these that the Chiswick collection was raised. Messrs. 

 Veitch and Son obtained the prize for the heaviest single Gourd. 

 A fine collection was sent from Nice by Mr. Edwin Stuart, which 

 gained a prize. A smaller collection by M. Limelette, of St. 

 Servais, near Namur, consisting of about 50 different kinds, was 

 rendered interesting by the information communicated by him 

 and engrossed on the labels, recording the different qualities and 

 excellencies of the various kinds. 



The show of Boots and Vegetables was instructive. The 

 dimensions of the Cabbages, Turnips, Mangolds, and Beet-roots 

 almost exceeded belief. Potatoes, Artichokes, Cardoons, Mush- 



