THE GENESEE FARMER. 



27 



eivable circumstances can England produce such White 

 JaMUe apples or Uvedale's St. Germain pears as ap- 

 ,eared in Mr. Lewis Solomon'* collection. They were 

 he amazement of most visitors, and the admiration of 

 ,11 In conclusion, we may observe that nothing could 

 )r ove more unmistakably the mighty progress that gar- 

 lenincr is making here, than such an exhibition as that 

 ,f Wednesday and Thursday last ; and we trust that when 

 aeople from all the regions of the earth shall next year 

 Sock to the grand exhibitions at Kensington, they may 

 find our English power still more worthily represented. 



A new white chrysanthemum, Lady H. St. Clair, is 

 highly praised. The flowers were 4 inches in diameter 

 and 3£ inches in depth, the center being very high and 

 full, and well incurved. 



Another novelty among the chrysanthemums was a 

 canvas-striped sport called Striped Queen. The flowers 

 were flaked with purple on a blush white ground. 



A FRENCHMAN ON ENGLISH HORTICULTURE. 



The Journal of the Societe Imperials et Centrale d'Eor- 

 ticulture of Paris, contains a report of the Spring Exhi- 

 bition ot the Roval Horticultural Society of England from 

 the pen of M. Morel, which speaks in the highest terms 

 of the skill of Euglish gardeners. 



The stove and greenhouse plants he found more than a 

 vard (metre) in diameter, and high in proportion. The 

 effect was grand and charming. The brilliant exhibition 

 of orchids was above all praise. It was impossible to 

 weary in examining the beautiful Chinese azaleas. They 

 were'all brought to a pyramidal form about a yard through 

 at the base, and nearly two yards high. 



Of the roses in pots, M. Morel remarks, " I thought 



THE WHITE AND GRAY DOYENNE PEAR IN 

 FRANCE-ARE THEY THE SAME VARIETY! 



The failure of the Doyenne to sustain its long estab- 

 lished reputation is quite pathetically lamented in an ar- 

 ticle by M. Langoulet in the Revue Horticole. He says 

 that old pear fanciers, like himself, remember that for- 

 merly it was " only necessary to buy at a very low price 

 a Doyenne pear, transplant it badly, and abandon it to the 

 generosity of the climate, in order to gather annually a 

 harvest of fruit, so perfect in tint, so melting, so juicy, 

 so delicately perfumed, that our best modern' varieties 

 leave to the old 'pear tasters' (degustateurs) something to 

 regret." 



" Fruit," he says, " does not degenerate. Science has 

 decided this, but owing to some alteration, either in cul- 

 ture or in some of the various conditions which affect 

 the well being of the tree, an alteration has occurred in the 

 fruit, and now, in place of the old Doyenne, we eat a few 

 small, rough, stunted, cracked, worm-eaten, and coarse, 

 grained, with the consoling conviction that it is the tree 

 which has degenerated, and not the fruit. The principle 

 is saved, but the reality is sad." 



M. Langoulet evidently retains a sincere affection for 

 the Doyenne, and after this introduction discusses at 

 some length the question whether the White and Gray- 

 Doyenne are the same pear, or distinct varieties. Several 

 instances are given where both pears are found upon the 

 same branch. In one or two cases a tree of each variety 

 stood verv near each other, but it is not possible that this 

 could have made any difference, if they are really distinct 

 in their origin. . In one case a White Doyenne (Virgalieu) 

 tree bore on one branch at the base a Gray Doyenne, and 

 at the extremity two White Doyennes, one of the latter 

 bein- perfectly uniform in tint. Several authorities are 

 quoted upon the same subject. Are there any instances 



tint France was the land of the Roses, and I little ex quolea U[)uu luc »m »-~j — - 



nested to find in London rose trees whose cultivation and where this has occurred in this country ? The Gray i)oy- 



exquisite forms surpassed all that I have ever imagined. enne ig the hardier pear of the two, and is not as subject 



Nevertheless what I saw there, exhibited in pots about IS to disease as the white Doyenne in some local 



inches in diameter, were at least a yard through at the 

 base and were from a yard and a half to two yards 

 hi<rh These plants were clothed with flowers evenly dis- 

 tributed all over. I could not but admire the skill of 

 English gardeners; their productions were beyond all 



praise. 



The show of pelargoniums quite dazzled M. Morel. 

 They formed one mass (boquet) of flowers, among which 

 leaves could scarcely be perceived. 



Fruit was very brilliant, especially peaches. Straw- 

 berries, particularly the British Queen, were magnificent, 

 Grapes admirable. "Upon the whole," Ire says, "the 

 fruit show proved beyond question the superiority of Eng- 

 lish forcing gardeners, who have no such assistance as 

 our climate gives us." 



"Do Rats Eat Grapes?"— The Gardeners' Chronicle re- 

 cently asked this question, and answers were immediately 

 received from several correspondents, all agreeing that 

 they did. They have been repeatedly caught in the very 

 act. It appears that they climb up the vines and eat the 

 berries. We have known instances where mice have 

 prored very troublesome to grapes in the greenhouse. 

 Both rats and mice are also very fond of strawberries. 



Langoulet also mentions that he had seen a Duchesse 

 d'Angouleme tree which bore pears uniformly russet, and 

 that it was cultivated as a new variety ! 



Double Glazing in Greenhouses.-A correspondent of 

 the London Gardeners' Chronicle thinks there would be 

 great advantage in double glazing greenhouses; that is, 

 placing glass-beneath glass, so as to have motionless air 

 between them. The idea strikes us favorably. It is well 

 known that confined air is one of the very best non-con- 

 ductors of heat. Double windows keep a room warm 

 with much less fuel. The extra expense is the only draw- 

 back, but in our cold climate, and where coal is high, the 

 saving of fuel would soon more than pay for it. We 

 should, too.it is thought, avoid "drip" from the con- 

 densed moisture on the glass^ ^ 



Propagation of Plant LiCE.-Those who were troubled 

 as much as we were last year with aphides on cauli- 

 flowers and other vegetables, as well as on trees and 

 grain, will not be surprised at the statement of Mr. Cur- 

 tis, a well known English entomologist, that the offspring 

 from a single egg in the course of seven generations 

 | amounts to 729,000,000 1 



