Propagating Cacti. 147 



some twenty or twenty-five years ago. This is also an accidental seedling that 

 sprang up in the neighborhood of two old pear-trees, — one a St. Michael or 

 White Doyenne, and the other a St. Germain. The tree is a good grower, 

 quite symmetrical, with new shoots of a cl6ar dark yellow, and rather slender, 

 with a light-colored, pointed, and rather small leaf. It seems to prefer a 

 light, warm, loamy soil. The fruit is of medium size, a little irregular, with 

 one side often larger than the other ; form obovate ; color pale lemon when 

 ripe, with patches of gi-eenish-brown, and sometimes russet ; stem about an 

 inch in length, curved slightly, stout, being thick where it joins the tree, 

 and rather deeply sunk in a large cavit)^ ; calyx large, nearly closed, in a ' 

 large, deep, plaited, irregular basin ; flesh nearly white, juicy, and melting, 

 but rather gritty at the core, sweet and rich. Time of ripening is from 

 November to February. The facility with which this variety may be 

 ripened (it requiring no more care than a barrel of apples), with its other 

 good qualities, all help to place it high in the estimation of the public. It 

 is especially sought for by all who admire a sweet pear. It may be con- 

 sidered nearly or quite first-rate, though it lacks the rich aroma of the 

 Hovey. It does not succeed well on the quince. If the reader has a pear- 

 orchard, and it lacks either of the six varieties named, it should receive an 

 addition, as soon as the weather will allow, of one or more of the kinds 

 specified. . James F. C. Hyde. 



Propagating Cacti. — These are readily increased by cuttings ; the shoots 

 being cut below a joint or eye, and from four to six inches of the points 

 taken off. These, laid on a shelf for a few days until the cut is dried or 

 healed, may be inserted to one-third their depth in sharp sand, the base of 

 the cutting resting on the sand ; the pot, which should be well drained, 

 being filled to within two inches of the rim with equal parts of turfy loam 

 and pieces of brick, or crocks broken small. With the soil kept no more 

 than just moist, they strike root well on the shelf of a greenhouse in the full 

 sun. When the growth has attained its full size, and become plump, water 

 should be gradually withheld, and the plants put to rest ; never allowing the 

 soil to become so dry as to cause the shoots to shrivel. 



" Cottage Gardener?* 



