Ak.lst 18, 1855.] 



THE GARDENERS 



CHRONICLE 



^dcrabJe variety, ana gooa specimens oi several of the 

 fcpd* roast admired with lis, but in general little of 

 novelty, and I cannot mention any as having appeared 

 goperior to our own. M. Andre Leroy's Magnolia gran- 

 dHbras, exhibited last month, deserve especial mention 

 fyt the enormous size of some of the varieties ; there 

 have also been Gladioli, Phloxes, Pinks and Carnations, 

 Jkc,aBdin the earlier days some very fine boxes of 

 doable Ranunculus and Anemones. 



In the same building there has also been kept up a 

 goccessi* >n of specimens of fruits in season, with occasion- 

 ally a f«ry few forced ones ; but the permanence of 

 the exhibition is a decided obstacle to the sending to it 

 any valuable fruits that might suffer from a week's ex- 

 posure. What we see here can, therefore, supply no 

 riterion of the state of fruit cultivation in the neigh- 

 bourhood. The show of forced fruits— Pine Apples, 

 Helon*, &c. — aud even of Strawberries and other 

 smaller fruits, has always been better in the shops of 

 of the great dealers, or in the windows of the 

 ^how-restaurateurs, than on the tables of the Pavilion 

 Chinois at the Exposition. In general the fruit market 

 in Paris appears to have undergone but little alteration 

 for many years past. There is still the same compara- 

 tively email demand for, and consequently supply of 

 forced fruits ; and although early vegetables appear to 

 be rather more prized than early fruits, still the 

 generality of Parisian bon-vivants have the good sense 

 to acknowledge that to have either in perfection they 

 mutt be such as are truly in season, and they seldom 

 commit the folly, so common with us, of giving enormous 

 prices for indifferent fruits, merely because they are 

 out of season and consequently rare. The cultivation 

 of tome pit fruits, especially Pine Apples, has, 

 however, so much increased of late years as to 

 he an important addition to their depots, and Straw- 

 berries have been finer and more abundant than 

 I ever recollect them. We have now had them con- 

 stantly Bince the commencement of June : the larger 

 varieties introduced from England within the last few 

 years were selling, during the whole of July, all over 

 the streets of Paris in immense quantities, at l^d. to 

 2Jrf. the pound ; and the small Alpines, which used to 

 be the only ones cultivated, and are still so highly 

 prized for their flavour, were in the markets when we 

 arrived two months ago, and will now go on for at least 

 two months more. Paspberries have been excellent 

 Md very plentiful. Cherries also plentiful, but moderate 

 m quality. Gooseberries few and little cared for. 

 Apricots very abundant ; the common ones very poor, 

 but excellent at the good restaurateurs. Green Almonds 

 were much eaten last month, 

 and good- 



plan) is a shed of considerable dimensions, "which are 

 displayed various implements, manufactured artiX 

 industna products or other objects more or lew con' 



woui e A^ th h0rt j cultu ^ »>»t which, strictly s£kin„ 

 would belong rather to the general Industrial Exhibition 

 Most of them are indeed repeated in the Great Palais 

 d Industrie, and in greater perfection. The chief articles 

 nere admitted are : 



Horticultural pottery, usual and ornamental, amongst 

 which the elegant forms of Follet's and of Legendre's 

 collections are conspicuous. 



b Stands, baskets, and other horticultural ornaments in 

 iron, in wire, in wicker-work, &c. 



Chairs, seats, and other garden furniture, none of 

 them superior to those of the Usines Tronchon now 

 in such general use in and about Paris. 



A considerable variety of small heating ■— 



and propagating frames, several of 



549 



! 





Fi 



Melons are now plentiful 

 all, as of old, the Red-fleshed Cantaloupe. 

 J : igs are just now coming in, and already very good ; and 

 the best restaurateurs begin to show some fine baskets of 

 t eachesand Nectarines, with a few of the earlier Grapes. 

 Bot to return to the Pavilion Chinois. Some very 

 w» Oranges and Citrons from Algeria were exhibited 

 mere in June and July, together with good looking 

 Apples and Pears from the same colony, and at our 

 nnt v] 8 its to the Exposition we saw several baskets of 

 J«J well .preserved Apples and Pears from some of 

 £L- 1S,8n fruherer 8- A large dish of Eriobotrya 



ffiTfc *1? 8ent Up from U y tTe * *>y M - Rantonnet, 

 a L ler soalhe m fruits from various sources. 



Among the roots exhibited, the most interesting 



M P.- f f ew £ a P an ese Yams (Dioscorea Batatas) from 



e» «?• °! P , aris - T,lis esculent has not yet, how- 

 w got into the market, and horticulturists here are 



MMu.j'f 115 so sanguine as to its advantages as 

 J»X*ed acc °™ts would lead ns to believe. 



*Wce ,? X ,. and ° ther mode,s of fruits occu Py a g^ 

 TU. I , e P av 'Uion, and are generally beautiful. 



tilt. wL r ge collect >ons of miscellaneous European 



Parativ* - Ur dSffercn t Parisian exhibitors, the com- 



SZ ? mtS 0f which would re q uir e * strictly 

 haske^L m T tion 4 -° determine ; but M. Ledioi/s 

 food M u nt6 v by AL Che vet, struck me as peculiarly 

 *ery reml;^? ' d ° Mo,ard has 8ent specimens of a 

 *nowT.7l - ,e S f * of model8 of Mauritius fruits, well 

 J »rdin d « w g been offered t0 the Museum of the 



***>* then « •?"? year8 ag °> at a P rice which the 

 * might n«l * ons [ dered exorbitant ; but it is said that 



*»,andir be „ 0Dt ained for a much more reasonable 

 in «nv uJ. collect 'on »s certainly worthy of a place 

 Afferent!! ™ usenm - It gives an excellent idea of the 

 . species represented, although one is at first 



ailv tv, them on a rather too large scale, 



ick fn f ! P Iaced °° the central table illustrating 

 mornk 'i. ',* Cocoa-nut, and its germination, and 

 «««io«itvV » • i M < int roduced into the collection as a 

 ■^ *hole f i!' attract mn ch attention from the public. 

 **** naturp a . modeIa are, however, evidently done 

 *ere is cerf ' • , m some which are better known to us 



the latter very 

 scahT'""' nQU compact lor amateurs' cuttings on a small 



Mats screens, and blinds, of various descriptions. 



»! m r°L b J 1 ' nds made of 8,i 8 ht l»ths are very neat 

 ana Jight, and are much used in this neighbourhood 

 tor shading plant-houses. 



Garden tools and implements, and large assortments 

 of horticultural cutlery. 



Garden labels of a great variety of materials metal, 

 china, and glass ; but I observed nothing new of im- 

 portance, not even in those which are conspicuously 

 announced as " ne laissant rien a desirer." in point o"f 

 solidity of the label and permanence of the writing. 



Horticultural books, journals, drawings, plans, &c. 



bmall collections of Algerine agricultural products, 



textile plants, and other objects exhibited on a large 

 scae Jn the p &lai9 d ^ Industrie> for which W<J Ke b » t 



little reason for a repetition here. 



A few of the larger implements, blinds, ornamental 

 tubs for Orange trees, vehicles for moving them, &c, 

 are exhibited outside the industrial shed. There is also 

 a small specimen of the peculiarly elegant description 

 of fountain, of which a larger one in the centre of the 

 long Annexe of the Palais d'Industrie is so generally 

 admired. The middle of the basin is occupied by a 

 gigantic tuft of flowering aquatic plants, exceedingly 

 well imitated in painted copper, with numerous jets of 

 water issuing from the tips of the leaves, spikes, or buds. 



Lastly the aviary of the Usine Tronchon (No. 53 of 

 the plan) is a very elegant one, with flowering creepers 

 up its angles, surrounded by a bed of two or three 

 concentric rings of flowers, and inhabited by a variety 

 of little birds, cardinals, widow birds, &c, whose bii^ht 

 plumage glittering in the sun is well shown off by the 

 green foliage intermixed with flowers surrounding them, 

 and proves a point of great attraction to visitors. 



In the flower exhibition, the chief changes which have 



uguow c«is, generates gravelly masses v ._ _ _„ 

 enough to justify the denomination of atones. lVrhaps 

 no single variety is absolutely destitute of these bodies, 

 which exist often beneath the cuticle and in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the tissue which immediately surroundathe 

 carpels, but sometimes are scattered through the whole 

 oft.e sarcocarp. The subject was circumstantial! v de- 



wTrS. i n r* ? hU " Aoaton, . v of Plant*" •"<! after- 

 , p by Duhamel; an elaborate memoir was read before 



SfciT Ti^T y by Turpin ' in ,838 ' but not P«b- 



till 1840, containing much interesting matter, and 



pamed by copious illustrations, but unfortunately 

 holding forth many very erroneous views. He regarded 

 the mdurated cells, for instance, a. crystal, marked 

 w.th many rad.ating wrinkls. and a central scar, a 



variance with truth. Card* also exanii 



ct, 



to 



the 



and other earlier flowering plants. Verbenas are 

 beginning to appear, and M. Dufoix has already a 

 numerous collection of good varieties. Hydrangeas 

 continue to make a great show and are less uniform in 

 colour. One large bed, including many bine ones, is 

 well shown off by a double ring of dark coloured Cocks- 

 combs surrounding it. Foras's collection of Fuchsias 

 under the Pavilion Chinois is in full beauty, small low 

 specimens, but compact and well flowered, with many 

 very good varieties ; I especially admired some with the 

 petals and calyx both pink, but of different shades. 

 In one of the annual beds the red Linum grandiflorum 

 has been making a great show, although not of so rich 

 a colour as I have seen it in southern gardens. Vilmorin's 

 bed has a remarkably pretty row of very dwarf China 

 Asters covered with flower, and his Portulacas and 

 Brachycomes are very showy. 



In the houses the only new thing I have noticed is a 

 very pretty hybrid Achimenes spotted with a brownish 

 colour in a very unusual manner. It is exhibited by 

 Verschaffelt, of Ghent, who appears to have given it his 

 own name. 



The Exhibition continues to be well attended, espe- 

 cially on the Sunday, when the admission is reduced to 

 half-price (50 centimes), and certainly nothing can be 

 more agreeable than an hour's lounge there in the cool 

 green shade ; the verdure does not, indeed, appear 

 to have suffered as yet, either from the dust raised by 

 the great traffic of the neighbourhood, nor from the 

 blight which has already turned brown and almost 

 stripped so many of the Lime trees in the Tuileries, the 

 Luxembourg, and the Jardin des Plantes. Paris, Aug. 6. 



V ^euhl£ inly D0t much exaggeration. 



*4 



Ofth l u *rruw iruic-tree oeos ^i>os. J/ 



,e i and hu •' ^ a '^ d° wn on the soil under the 

 July ^^^bedded in Moss as they were in June 



*°** fooks ^ fP* up tne *r freshness and consequent 



*fp**% to h bctter ' than the y do now when Moss 



leQi *JDR 'r£ Ve l bccome scarce and the sun more 

 p? P^»*lly th ; e e ener »Hy been fine of their kind, 

 A Sxg u rtlchob from Niort » aild Vilmorin- 

 "? ^loniS ■" u Tomatoes and Aubergines (Sola- 

 ^^»sout»i W , lon 8 P«rple fruits), remind one 

 7^1 have iJLT 1 c, | mate 5 on tlie other hand the Cab- 

 ^L*«or cotu SUC , ** Would scarcely be looked at in 



-VEGETABLE PATHOLOGY.— No. LXXXIV. 



353. Carpomania (Phytolithes, grittiness). — In the 

 Plum disease, described in the last number, the endo- 

 carp, which is in its normal condition hard and woody, 

 was reduced to a thin membrane, and detached from 

 the sarcocarp : in the present instance the malady is 

 confined to the sarcocarp, the cellular tissue of which 

 is affected more or less according to the urgency of the 

 case. The disease — if such it may be called, for 

 it is only an aggravation of a condition ™ 

 exists normally, and is intimately connected with the 

 peculiar structure of the cellular tissue — is common to 

 Pears, Quinces, Medlars, and similar fruit, but is not 

 found in Apples, though so nearly related. It consists in 

 an induration of certain parts of the cellular tissue, which 

 if confined to minute detached points produces the gritty 

 texture so common in Pears, and which is often be- 

 trayed, as in the Crassane, by the grating of the peel under 

 the knife when pared, but if extending to many con- 



hich 



■•en 



*r 



and published } li8 observations as I believe in 'the 

 ibkonomische Neuigkeiten," but unfortunately I have 

 not the portion of the work in which the memoir it 

 contained ; Meyen has described these bodies in hie 

 " Trtanzen- Physiologic," and illustrated the induratrd 

 cells at tab 1 fig. xi.; and finally Payen has figured their 

 structure, as well as that of the neighbouring and eon- 

 recting ceils, in his « Organ ographie et Phyiiolom 

 V I *£ published in the Kd volume of the Memoirs 

 of the French Academy. I< the figure of < ,rew 

 bo compared with those 'of Turpi., and Payen, 

 it will be found that it is very correct considering 

 the imperfection of the microscope at the end 

 of the seventeenth century, while Turpin failed rather 

 in a misinterpretation ofjwlmt he saw than in seeing 

 incorrectly. If the sarcocarp of an Appln be com- 

 pared with that of a Pear it will be found that the cellular 

 tissue of the former is uniform, except wher it is 

 threaded by vascular bundles, whi e in the latter there 

 are little scattered patches of sub-globose cells from which 

 proceed in every direction elongated, radiating, simple 

 or divided sacs which are necessarily much broader 

 above, where they come in contact with the neighbour- 

 ing cells which separate them from another similar system, 

 than below.* The walls of the sub-globose cells may re- 

 main thin as in the others, but there is a tendency in their 

 walls or protoplasm to deposit layer upon layer of lig- 

 neous matter lill the whole becomes a solid mass with 

 the exception of a minute cavity in the centre from 

 which proceed to the outer walls numerous canals by 

 means of which, as in so many vegetable tissues, com- 

 munication is kept up between the contents of cell and 

 cell (the scar and radiating wrinkles of Turpin), and it 

 is evident that in proportion to the number of cells 

 thus affected and their degree ol attachment to each 

 other, either a gritty sensation will Ik> produced on 

 eating the ripe fruit, or it will be found filled with stony 

 masses so as to be absolutely uneatable. In wild Pears 

 the presence of these masses renders the fruit worthless, 

 independently of any natural roughness or acidity, and 

 in many inferior varieties the same condition exists, 

 while even in some of the highest ^flavoured sorts, the 

 grittiness is so great as seriously to' impair their value* 

 The gritty or stony portions are of course destitute of 

 sweetness because the amylaceous or gummy contents 

 are converted into xylogen instead of sugar and pec- 

 tinous matter, but the neighbouring softer tissues are not 

 necessarily exhausted, as each individual cell in a certain 

 sense lives for itself. In great measure the condition is 

 constitutional, but it may be increased by any cause 

 which retards or checks the growth. Pears, there- 

 fore, if deformed or otherwise dwarfed are unusually 

 gritty, and the same may be said of the finest varieties 

 if subjected to unpropitious weather or dry meagre soil ; 

 and these conditions are true of Medlars and other fruit 

 subject to the same affection. I have observed that in 

 cases where the epidermis of a Pear has been devoured by 

 insects, when a new coat is generated, there is the same 

 layer of gritty cells beneath it, as under the original 

 cuticle. The acid portion of the Pear, called by Grew 

 the acetary, which surrounds the carpels and is fre- 

 quently isolated by a thick gritty stratum from the 

 rest of the sarcocarp, consists of a nearly uniform tissue 

 like that of the Apple, and is in general free from these 

 indurated cells. Treviranus has in consequence ima- 

 gined that they bear some relation to the quantity of 

 sugar existent in each particular fruit This, however, 

 does not seem to be supported by facts, any more than 

 his assertion that they are glandular bodies. The coats 

 of the cells are merely thickened, as in a thousand other 

 cases, and tbere is no necessity for regarding the cells 

 as possessed of any peculiar character. It has been 

 supposed further that the extreme grittiness of the 

 Quince in Italy, where the fruit is in general nearly 

 worthless, arises from the immense quantity of seeds 

 which are brought to perfection in that country. Re 

 reports, on the authority of the Abbe Molini, that two 

 kinds of Quinces occur* in Chili which are destitute of 

 these stony concretions, but except it were certain that 

 they belong to the same species or variety as that cul- 

 tivated in Italy, no argument can be deduced from the 

 fact M. J. B. 



PITCHER PLANTS. 

 Where thsle plants are required to be grown to 

 make fine specimens, they must have plenty of pot 

 room ; and the more vigorous the species, the larger the 



ie structure so regular as in Payen's figure, 

 ut Morceau. It is, however, essentially the 

 same in all cases, and the quality of the fruit in many instances 

 depends ultimately on the degree in which the intermediate 

 connecting tissue is developed. The indurated cells are dis- 

 tinctly angular, as is the case with all closely packed globular 

 tissue. 



