68 General Notices. 



certain, is quite an acquisition; the white is very pure and the petal good; 

 the centre is the point in which it fails. Dodd's Prince of Wales is de- 

 cidedly one of the best yellows, although the color is not very pure, and 

 the centre apt to be sunk ; but the latter fault does not interfere with the 

 globular form and general outline, and therefore does not detract much 

 from its value. Mrs. Shelley was much exhibited last season, and was, 

 with me, the finest flower in the garden ; every bloom came perfect, save 

 a little disposition to quill in the centre, which, increasing towards the 

 end of the season, made the back of the petals too visible Standard of 

 Perfection is a new dahlia ; it is hazardous, therefore, to offer a very de- 

 cided opinion upon it ; it may, however, safely be stated that it possesses 

 style and character of first-rate order, and although not a large floM'erwas 

 the most successful seedling exhibited in the present year, and was the 

 only dahlia of 1842 that was placed in the first class by the Floricultural 

 Society.— (Gorrf. Chron., 1843,/). 877.) 



Zinz Labels to ivrUe on icith a common pencil. — Slightly rub with pum- 

 ice stone the part of the label upon which you wish to write, then write 

 upon it with a common lead pencil, and when the letters have been ex- 

 posed to tlie air for two or three days they are indelible. If you wish to 

 efface the writing, you must rub the label with the pumice stone, and if 

 the labels become covered over with earth or oxide, rub your finger, 

 slightly wetted, over them, and they will re-appear. Old zinc is pref- 

 erable to new for this purpose. M. Paul Manoury, gardener in the Gar- 

 den of Plants, of Caen, made this discovery several years ago. — [Rev. Hart. 

 translated in Gard. Chron., 1843, p. 911.) 



Pear Training. — Going over the pear quarter at the Royal Gardens at 

 Versailles, I found from the head gardener, that he considered the tying 

 down the branches a sufficient check to over growth, without the assist- 

 ance of root pruning, except as regards any very free growing varieties. 

 Nothing could, to my mind, exceed the neatness and good bearing of the 

 pear trees ; they were of a conical shape, and all the branches tied down 

 so as to present the appearance of a conical chandelier, and of course 

 much more bearing wood obtained than in the trees which were stunted by 

 root pruning. — ( Gard. Chron. 1843,- p. 841.) 



Art. II. Foreign JVotices. 

 FRANCE. 



Cercle Generate de Horticulture de Pai-is. — In our volume for 1843, (IX. 

 p. 66,) we gave an account of \hejirst exhibition of this Society, recently 

 established, and we now offer the report of the second, knowing from the 

 hiffh character of the exliibition, it will interest all amateurs of flowers 

 and fruits. 



The second exhibition of this Society was given from the 19th to 25th 

 September, at the Orangerie of the Louvre. As this was the only autum- 

 nal show in or within 30 miles of Paris, a good sprinkling of fruit, plants, 



