Notes and Gleanings. 55 



MoNSTERA DELiciosA. — The fruit of this plant has been suggested as a 

 choice occasional addition to the dessert ; but the presence in the pulp of minute 

 prickly crystals, or raphides, has been held to detract very much from its merits 

 as an edible fruit. If, however, the fruit is thoroughly ripened on the plant, the 

 delicious juice may be sucked from the pulp with little, if any, of the unpleasant 

 pricking sensation caused by eating the substance of the fruit itself in the 

 earlier stages of ripeness ; and the flavor is much richer when the fruit is thus 

 thoroughly matured. The supply of an occasional fruit of Monstera is no chi- 

 mera. "We have ourselves," writes the editor of "The Gardener's Chronicle,"' 

 " from a plant only some three or four years old, and confined in a half-bushel 

 pot, gathered half a dozen fruits during the present season ; and the same plant 

 has now five other spadices just passing through the flowering stage." To 

 secure this thorough ripening on the plant, it is necessary to support the fruits 

 with a tie to the adjoining leaf-stalk ; their weight being sufficient, if they are not 

 thus supported, to break them over at a much earlier stage, just at the top of 

 the stalk. They take about a year, more or less, to swell and ripen. 



This plant is a native of Mexico, and is of easy culture in a stove. 



The more common species is M. Adansunii, formerly called Dracontiiun 

 pertusum, remarkable for its singular leaves, which appear as if holes had been 

 cut through them. 



The fruit of J/, deliciosa has a luscious pine-apple flavor. 



The Flemish Beauty Pear. — Few pears have so pleased some, and dis- 

 appointed others, as this. In some seasons, and in some soils, it flourishes 

 well, producing large and handsome specimens of fruit that is of the first quality ; 

 while in other seasons or soils the very reverse is true, the fruit being small 

 and tasteless, even if it does not crack so as to be worthless. We know that 

 there were bushels of this fruit during the past season that were not regarded 

 as worth gathering. In many cases, trees bearing this variety have been 

 grafted over to some more reliable sort. In some instances, in the same soil, 

 it has done much better on the quince than on the pear. It can no longer be 

 recommended for general cultivation, on account of its variable character. 



Propagating Viola corxuta. — This plant strikes very freely from the 

 side-shoots, or runners, slipped ofl", either with or without roots, and potted in 

 small pots filled with light soil, and placed in a cold frame. They should then 

 be kept close and shaded for ten days or a fortnight ; the soil being maintained 

 in a moist condition, and water being applied overhead in the morning through 

 a fine-rosed watering-pot. When the young plants are growing freely, harden 

 them off, and plant out where they are to remain. It is easily increased by 

 division and seeds. 



Gladioli Adolphe Brongniart and Newton. — The former is supposed 

 to be the finest gladiolus which has yet been raised. The color is deep rosy 

 cherry, with white lines. 



The latter is deep pink dashed with cherry, and white throat 



