I'm buses i, 1888.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



Gil 



partial to Chestnut wood, but will equally attack 

 young shoots of Oak, unbarked Osiers used in basket- 

 making, Whitethorn twigs, the dead brandies of the 

 Spindle tree, Hose shoots, the wood of barrels, and 

 even Briers, and when the period of its transformation 

 to the pupa state approaches, it buries itself more 

 deeply in the wood. la its ravages it is often 

 accompanied by the larva: of another longicom 

 beetle — Phjmatodes thoracicus, especially in its 

 attacks of the wood of barrels. The pupa is to be 

 met with in April ; it is quite smooth, without 

 roughness or hairs of any kind, and the perfect insect 

 appears about the middle of May. /. 0. W. 



Home Correspondence. 



$gff Correspondents will greatly oblige by sending early 

 intelligence of local events likely to be of interest to 

 our readers, or of any matters which it is desirable to 

 bring under the notice of horticulturists. 



Photographs or drawings of gardens, or of remarkabh 

 plants, trees, 4'C ace also solicit id. 



PRIMULA NIVEA.— Since the publication of the 

 synonym list, and on becoming a little better 

 acquainted with the numerous species and hybrids 

 of this genus, I now consider the proper place 

 of P. nivea of gardens to be under P. pubes- 

 cens. Whether the plant we grow at the present 

 day is the original nivea I am unable to decide, but 

 that the plant we grow has nothing whatever to do 

 either with P. viscosa or P. villosa, anybody taking 

 the trouble to examine them will see for himself. I am 

 perfectly aware that P. viscosa, a common plant in 

 gardens (under various names), is very variable, and 

 it has been one of the parents of many beautiful 

 hybrids ; but the true plant as found wild in Switzer- 

 land, a plant of which was brought to Kew by Mrs. 

 T. Thistelton Dyer, is as distinct from P. nivea as 

 pubescens is from Auricula. The type viscosa is 

 entirely covered with viscous hairs, quite sticky to 

 the touch, and, what I take to be a strong charac- 

 teristic, it is totally devoid of meal ; indeed, with 

 meal it would not be viscosa at all. On the other 

 hand, P. pubescens, which is a hybrid itself (hirsuta 

 and Auricula) is a much stronger plant than viscosa, 

 with the large teeth of hirsuta, and the meal of the 

 Auricula. P. nivea answers in every detail to the 

 latter description, and as experiment has proved 

 with seed from typical pubescens, one-third of which 

 produced white flowers, answering in every way to the 

 plant grown in gardens. As Mr. Douglas says, it 

 never ripens seed in quantity, and the produce is 

 never to be depended upon. A few capsules of seed 

 saved by Colonel Beddome, and sown the same year, 

 resulted in a full crop of purple P. pubescens, a 

 plant of which was compared with our type, and 

 answered admirably in every detail. The plant 

 figured in the Botanical Magazine as P. villosa is 

 viscosa, the true villosa being quite distinct, and an 

 acknowledged species on the Continent. D. Dcicar. 



PEARS. — Mr. II. Markham states that he does not 

 see clearly how it is possible to keep up a constant 

 supply of fruit during the whole of the Pear season, 

 year after year, with only twelve or fiteen varieties 

 as selected and remarked on by me, but I can easily 

 enlighten him on that head, and now assure him that 

 it can be done, unless his provisos come in. These 

 are that we cannot depend on the whole of those I 

 mention cropping annually, which is very true, but 

 when these fail, what about the others ? And as I take 

 it, that all are equal as regards free-bearing, and a 

 spring that is adverse or fatal to one would be so to 

 the rest, unless they happen to be exceptionally 

 favoured with shelter. The sorts in my list are those 

 that not only contains the best quality, as Mr. H. 

 Markham admits, but they will, excepting the Wil- 

 liams, remain long in use, and by looking carefully over 

 them and picking out for daily consumption the most 

 forward, the one kind will more than carry on the 

 supply till others come in. J. Sheppard. 



" P. M." remarks that it would be scarcely 



fafe for a gardener to limit his varieties of Pears to 

 twelve or fifteen, but I feel sure that those who do 

 so will give greater satisfaction to their employers 

 or consumers of the fruit than they will by growing 

 a greater number of kinds, as who, I would ask, 

 would be satisfied with the flavour and quality of a 

 Beurre^ Diel, Marie Louise d'Uccle, and Hacon's 

 ^comparable after tasting a real Marie Louise or 



Doyenne' du Cornice ? — and as all ripen at the same 

 time why grow such as are inferior? Beurre d'Arem- 

 berg is very good, but then it is not equal to Glou 

 Morceau, which is in season with it ; and here again 

 the question conies, Why cultivate an inferior kind? 

 As to Beurre de Capiaumont, and most of the others 

 mentioned by " F. M." as desirable, the sooner they 

 make way for sorts of higher quality the better; and 

 my advice to those who have them is to use them for 

 stocks if not too old, and put grafts on them in 

 March, taking the scions from Williams' Bon 

 Chretien, Fondante d'Automne, Beurre Superfin, 

 Marie Louise, Doyenne du Cornice, Glou Morceau, 

 .losephine de Malines, Bergamot Esperens, Beurre 

 Ranee, or Easter Beurre for latest supply, but the 

 three last are not certain, as so much with them 

 depends on the soil, situation, and aspect, which 

 should be warm and sunny to have either of them 

 up to the mark. J. Sheppard. 



I have been much interested in reading 



the discussion on the above subject in your columns, 

 and heartily endorse all that " F. M." and Mr. 

 Markham have said as to the limiting of the number 

 of Pears grown, in any one place or garden, to 

 fifteen, as recommended by Mr. Sheppard ; but my 

 object in writing is to draw attention to the merits 

 of that most excellent Pear, Durondean, or De 

 Tongre, which I find is not mentioned by either of 

 your correspondents. This is, I consider, a first-class 



Fia. 93.— -L-ILLIMIM ('.KAL'II.lAi PYOS 



Pear, the tree being hardy in constitution, and when 

 worked on the Quince stock it bears abundantly, 

 and, in my opinion, is far away ahead of either 

 Beurre Clarigeau or Beurre Bosc. The fruits grow 

 to a large size, and are very highly coloured, the 

 flesh being tender, very juicy, and of excellent 

 flavour. It succeeds well grown as a pyramid in 

 warm localities, but in colder parts of the country it 

 requires a wall with a south-western or western 

 aspect. There are two other varieties of Pear I 

 would likewise mention — the Seckel and Dana's 

 Hovey. The fruits of both kinds, I will acknow- 

 ledge, are small in size, but what other varie- 

 ties can surpass them for their honeyed sweetness? 

 I am glad to see the Knight's Monarch mentioned 

 both by "F. M." and Mr. Rust, as it is a capital 

 Pear, and of good quality. Perhaps it is not gener- 

 ally known that there are two varieties of this Pear ; 

 but such is the case, and I grow them both here. 

 The one comes into use about the end of the 

 present month, and the other (which is the true 

 variety) the middle or end of December. An excel- 

 lent representation is given of both in the Hereford- 

 shire Pomona — the spurious variety on plate 4, and 

 the true variety on plate 51 ; and I think I cannot 

 do better than quote part of Dr. Bull's explanation 

 contained therein, as to the way in which the 

 spurious variety became distributed : — " The error 

 arose from Mr. Knight's gardener accidentally send- 

 ing wrong grafts under the name of Monarch to the 

 London Horticultural Society ; they were distributed 

 over the country, and propagated by the nurserymen 



for some years before the error was discovered, and 

 thus was created a confusion which has lasted half 

 a century." Monarch was raised by the late Thomas 

 Andrew Knight, of Downton Castle, near Ludlow. 

 J. Ward, Stoke Edith Park. 



MINA LOBATA. — This beautiful climber, men- 

 tioned at pp. 542 and 547, has not proved itself hardy 

 here ; seeds were sown about the middle of March, the 

 plants, which were transplanted in June, grew away 

 vigorously, and were literally covered with trusses 

 of beautiful flowers, being the admiration of every- 

 one who saw them growing. An abundance of seed- 

 pods were formed, but the early frosts cut it to the 

 ground, and on examining the roots to-day (Nov. 10) 

 I find them to be quite destroyed, so I think it may be 

 fairly termed a half hardy climber. John Scouse, 

 Foliejon Park, Windsor, 



FUCHSIA COUNTESS OF ABERDEEN.— Notwith- 

 standing the many fine varieties of Fuchsias which 

 have been introduced in recent years, this fine 

 novelty stands at present quite unique — both sepals 

 and petals being almost pure white, there being but 

 the faintest tinge of pink in them, but when viewed 

 at a short distance they appear to be white. The 

 flowers are not so large, nor have they so much sub- 

 stance as could be desired, yet as this is but the 

 first of a new race of Fuchsias, it may not be long 

 before larger flowers and other self coloured varieties 

 will be produced. Judging from what we recently 

 saw of the plant in the gardens at Castle Newe, 

 Strathdon, the plant has a neat and floriferous 

 habit, and, as Mr. Pine told us, it grew quite as 

 freely as any of the others, of which he has a large 

 collection. Indeed, there is little doubt but what 

 the plant will soon be found in all good collections 

 of Fuchsias. F. lioss. 



WALNUTS.— Mr. J. J. Willis' remarks in youi 

 issue of November 10 concerning the Walnut crop of 

 this year I can fully bear out. My trees bore a 

 good crop, but the shells never hardened ; the 

 outer green shell withered up, and we have been 

 unable to find one good nut. The kernels which 

 formed were soft and insipid. R. C. Williams, Aberyst- 

 wifh, [The nuts spoken of by our correspondent and 

 others were simply ill ripened owing to the wet 

 summer. Ed.] 



JUDGING TABLE PLANTS.— As I have won many 

 1st prizes for table plants at the best shows, I will 

 write a line in reply to " Hortus." It is not easy, 

 without seeing the plants, to decide between the 

 collections, but had I been judging, it is more than 

 probable I should have hesitated before giving the 

 1st prize to either ol the collections in question. 

 There should be eight species in a collection of 

 eight. Three Crotons and two Dracaenas are far too 

 monotonous. I seldom had even two of a kind — 

 three, never. During the latter part of my exhibit- 

 ing career, I think I may say I was rarely beaten in 

 this class. Judges differ greatly, unfortunately, in 

 their ideas as to the size desirable in table plants, 

 and I have been disappointed to hear that though 

 my plants were very beautiful, they were either too 

 small or too large. The schedule should limit the maxi- 

 mum height— condition, quality, colour, variety, are 

 the principal points with judges, but there are minor 

 ones, such as the style of setting the plants up, neat 

 and legible labels, clean pots, clean plants ! Light- 

 leaved, feathery, graceful plants should alone be 

 exhibited. I have sat at table, where I could hardly 

 see my opposite neighbours, owing to the size and 

 density of the plants decorating (?) the table. They 

 are, however, going, if not gone out of fashion, and I 

 am glad of it, for flowers are so much more delightful. 

 To decorate a dinner table properly, which I in- 

 variably did with my own hands, requires taste, ex- 

 perience, and a knowledge of colour and arrangement, 

 not, I am afraid, too common with those who under- 

 take it. In my experience, ladies are the best judges 

 in these matters. May I relate a good story against 

 myself! Nobody enjoyed his own discomfiture at the 

 time more than I did ? It happened at Manchester. 

 I had staged my six stove and greenhouse plants, 

 and on looking round the various lots, some half- 

 dozen in number, I satisfied myself that I was a good 

 1st. So I was. I found a certain friend's collection 

 however, badly staged, and I asked him if I might 

 re-stage them for him. " Oh ! certainly," said he. 

 I did it in a few minutes assisted by one of my men 

 and friend " Smith," shall I say ? When I had done 

 it, 1 found I had quietly put him 1st and myself 2nd, 

 which turned out to be the case, and we enjoyed so 

 hearty a laugh at my jolly innocence. Well, if these 



