706 



THE GABDENE17S' CilZO'NlCLE. 



I Df.CEMBER IS 



garden is 237 feet above sea-level; our rainfall 

 averages 24 inches, and our soil is modified lias clay. 

 Jargonelle was fairly good in quality, and less 

 affected than many others, and this applies to both 

 wall and standard trees. Williams' Bon Chretien 

 (wall). — This fruit was small, very unequal in 

 quality, many more softened, but shrivelled. Fertility 

 (wall) was good, but the tree too small to produce a 

 fair sample, but it is a promising fruit. Dunmore 

 (standard) was juicy, and of good quality. Berga- 

 motte d'Automne (east wall) failed to develope 

 ordinary good qualities, and did not keep. Beurre 

 d'Amanlis (wall) was inferior in quality, and did not 

 properly ripen. Beurre superfin (south wall), though 

 not so large as usual, was good in quality, melting, 

 and the skin clear and bright yellow; undoubtedly 

 one of our best Pears. Marie Louise (wall), although 

 small, and irregular in ripening, still maintained 

 its character as a high-class Pear. Some failed to 

 soften, but even then were good. British Queen 

 (west) is a seedling from the foregoing, and showing 

 very much the character and qualities of its parent. 

 Huyshe's Victoria (west)— an English Pear — was 

 uicy, piquant, and fairly good. It is growing in favour 

 with me. Marecbal de la Cour bore abundantly ; 

 was melting, juicy, but had less flavour than in good 

 seasons. Beurre Supreme (east). — A rather small 

 Pear, but one that never fails in quality or produc- 

 tiveness. In spite of the bad season, and an eastern 

 exposure, it is one of the best November 

 Pears this year. It seems little known. Pit- 

 maston Duchess (west), although large and handsome, 

 is of only second-rate quality in this latitude. It 

 proved a melting Pear this season. La France (west). 

 ■ — A rather promising Pear, sent me by my old friend, 

 Ferdinand Jamin, of Bourg la Peine. It proved 

 juicy and agreeable. BeurriS Diel is not usually a 

 melting Pear, but this season it has proved so. 

 Beurre Duboisson. — Small this year, but true to its 

 character, a constant cropper. It is sweet and 

 melting, but less high in flavour than usual. Beurre 

 Hardy. — This useful Pear lacks its usual juicy 

 sweetness this season, but it is still passable. The 

 above represents the early and late autumn Pears. 

 The result of the season on the winter Pears has 

 yet to he noticed. William Ingram, Belvoir, Nov. 27. 



Home Correspondence. 



aF" 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 remarkable 

 s, trees, $c„ are also solicited. 



ANEMONES. — In "November in the Garden," 

 Gardeners' Chronicle for December 8, " L. A. L." has 

 given us a very interesting account of the plants still 

 blooming in his garden, but the frost of the early 

 part of October was much less destructive with 

 him than with us, for not only did it leave all 

 the Dahlias a mass of rottenness, but every 

 flower and bud on the Japanese Anemones was 

 destroyed, showing them to be much less hardy 

 than the varieties of A. coronaria which are 

 still in full bloom with us. I would like to draw 

 the attention of your readers to a great success we 

 have this year achieved with the last-named flower 

 as an autumn blooming plant. Early in August, 

 1887, 1 obtained apacket of new seed, which was sown 

 at once in boxes ; the seed grew readily and stood in 

 the open air until late in the autumn, and during the 

 winter had only the protection afforded by an 

 unheated orchard-house. Early in the following 

 spring they were planted out, part on a sunny 

 border, and the remainder between fruit trees, 

 where they would obtain partial shade. As 

 they had grown so well all the winter, being at 

 the time of planting 3 or 4 inches high, I expected 

 they would have gone on with renewed vigour when 

 transferred to the open ground ; but in this I was 

 disappointed, as they made very little progress above 

 the surface all the summer ; but I am inclined to the 

 idea that they were not dormant beneath the surface, 

 for by the end of September they began to grow 



with amazing vigour, sending up stout leaf-stalks, 

 that bore no resemblance to those made before they 

 were planted out, and which they still retained ; 

 these leaves were soon followed by flowers, so that 

 they made a good show by the end of October, and 

 all through November we have been gathering three 

 or four dozen blooms a week. I need not say how 

 very useful we have found them for the decoration of 

 the rooms, being so very distinct from other flowers 

 blooming at this season of the year. 67. B. [It will 

 make matters clearer to our correspondent when we 

 tell him that " L. A. L." writes from Ireland, whose 

 climate is milder than ours. Ed.] 



THE REDUCTION OF THE VARIETIES OF PEARS. 

 — My idea anent this question was brought so 

 prominently before your readers a few weeks since 

 that I thought it unnecessary to take any part in 

 the discussion now going on until I read the notice 

 at p. 675 of last Saturday's issue. A single paragraph 

 in a note on that page, signed " N. H. P.," seems to 

 me to settle the whole matter. It reads thus : — " It 

 appears to me that the requirements of the family 

 for whom the gardener has to provide as to quantity 

 required, and the fertility of Pears in the neighbour- 

 hood must settle very largely the question of varie- 

 ties a gardener grows." With this opinion I entirely 

 coincide. The demand for the fruit here is not what 

 I consider excessive ; still, we are expected to have 

 a supply good in quality and tidy to look at from 

 August to March ; and I say advisedly, and after many 

 years' experience, that not twelve kinds, nor double 

 that number, in some years, will ensure a constant 

 supply of dessert fruit the season through. I note 

 that Mr. Sheppard, at p. 641, does not say plainly 

 that he has accomplished the feat with twelve varie- 

 ties, and also fails to say in what manner " greater 

 satisfaction" would be given to our employers if we 

 grew but twelve kinds. I can only surmise that he 

 means there are not more than twelve or fifteen varie- 

 ties of first-rate qualities. Icertainlycouldname halfa 

 hundred to which that designation would apply. Of 

 course, it does not follow that I would grow them 

 all, or advise others to do so ; I would rather say, 

 Lose no opportunity of learning, both by your own 

 experience and from the practice of others, as to 

 what varieties do best in your neighbourhood, and 

 having settled that point, then, if needs be, reduce the 

 number of kinds. No fruits differ so much as Pears do 

 in different soils, aspects, and climates, and it is a 

 part (and, to me, a very interesting part) of the 

 gardener's duty to make right selection of kinds from 

 practical observation. I will quote a case in point 

 from Mr. Sheppard's list of twelve varieties at p. 535 

 — Beurre Ranee — named in that list. No matter in 

 what form or position it is grown, it is here in no sea- 

 son fit for dessert, but is one of the best we have for 

 stewing; on the other hand, Doyenne Boussoch, 

 which is not good with Mr. Sheppard, is invari- 

 ably good here. It is these erratic freaks that Pears 

 alone, of all fruits, seem to have licence to take, 

 which make it desirable — not imperative, to grow a 

 goodly number of varieties, and only by doing so is 

 it possible to avoid a break in the regular supply of 

 good fruit. W, Wildsmith, 



I am very glad that Mr. Markham (p. 675) 



has put a black mark against Beurr6 de Eance — 

 not Beurre Ranee. Never in my life did I but once 

 taste this Pear good, and that was when there had 

 been a very hot, dry autumn, when it was really ex- 

 cellent, from a south wall. I do not say that it 

 might not be better from an orchard-house, but 

 certainly it cannot be recommended for planting 

 generally, and I am very sorry to say the same of 

 Easter Beurre. Once I saw and tasted some fruit of 

 this Pear from the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 Garden truly magnificent, and the flavour most 

 excellent, but very few places can grow this kind 

 well. Yet another Pear I must scratch, it is Easter 

 or March Bergamot. I have' never seen this fit for 

 anything but stewing. I should like to plead for 

 a good old Pear called Bezi Vact, discovered about 

 100 years ago at the Abbey of St. Waust. It requires 

 an east or west wall to grow on, and it is then 

 excellent at Christmas. I mention this kind because 

 I do not remember once seeing it at the Chiswick 

 Conference, and it would be a great pity to see it 

 go out of cultivation. J. Bust, Eridgc Castle. 



I think Mr. Rust entirely mistaken in stating 



the spurious variety of this Pear to be Althorpe 

 Crassane, as one glance at the coloured plate of it 

 in the Herefordshire Pomona is sufficient to convince 

 any one that it is not that variety. I grow several 

 trees of Althorpe Crassane here, and I find on com- 

 paring specimens of the fruit with the coloured plate 

 of this variety in the Pomona that I have the true 



one. There is a very wide difference between 

 Althorpe Crassane and the spurious of Knight's 

 Monarch, both in shape and the colour of the skin, 

 as well as in flavour. A. Ward. 



THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.— On 



Tuesday I paid a visit to the Drill Hall, St. James's, 

 to see the last of this season's Royal Society's 

 shows. The menu served was principally composed 

 of Turnips and Sprouts from Chiswick, a nice 

 lot of red-berried evergreens, two or three pots of 

 Primulas and Cyclamens, three Orchids, and a fi_w 

 miscellaneous things; a more miserable display 

 could not very well be conceived, and I deeply 

 regretted having been at the expense and trouble to 

 wend my way to such an exhibition. What I cannct 

 understand is the excessive modesty displayed by the 

 executive. The public know nothing whatever of 

 these shows. Short crisp paragraphs are never in- 

 serted in the London morningand evening papers (?). 

 They are not advertised, nor do they ever appear in 

 the free list devoted to announcing lectures, meetings, 

 exhibitions, &c, which are scanned daily by the 

 general public. Where lies the fault? Surely the 

 executive should know that the only way to make 

 our exhibitions a success, a good display is essentia', 

 and the power of the Press utilised in every possible 

 way. My sincere advice is, Advertise, advertise, 

 advertise ! A Fellow. [The meeting in question was 

 one of committees only. "A Fellow" clearly does 

 not read the papers very closely. Ed.] 



STACHY8 TUBERIFERA— It has had a place in tLe 

 menu here for some years as Stachys, and I think 

 this name more sensible than " Crosnes du Japon " 

 of the French, or " Choro Gi " of the Japanese, from 

 whom it was introduced by M. Paillieux. The cook 

 here obligingly gives one good recipe for second 

 course : — " Soak in cold water five minutes, rub 

 well with Lemon, throw into boiling water with a 

 pinch of salt for ten minutes. Strain and shake up 

 with cream, or maitre d'hotel butter — must be 

 served up at once." It is almost in daily demand 

 here, and in various ways. The housekeeper says, 

 from her experience, that it is an excellent ingre- 

 dient in mixed pickles, but not so good as a pickle, 

 by itself. Our yield this year is at the rate of about 

 5 tons per acre. I believe it capable of doing much 

 more. P. M., Wynnstay Gardens, Buabon, 



CARNATIONS. — I find that several of my layered 

 plants are failing in the centre, the leader dying off. 

 The plants are quite healthy at the base, and 

 vigorous in growth, but they fail in this important 

 particular. I attribute it to the effects of frost — the 

 sharp frost which destroyed so many tender things 

 in October, affecting the plants when the growth was 

 soft and young. In nearly every case it has attacked 

 plants that I received somewhat late in the spring, 

 and which did not start into growth until beyond the 

 usual time. All that are affected in this way are 

 potted off, and placed in a close frame to induce 

 side-growths, and so secure another leader. On 

 the whole, the young plants — except any such as are 

 affected as I have just mentioned — look remarkably 

 well, and appear as if they will be well forward when 

 the time comes round for the spring potting, li. J), 

 [This looks like the effect of Nematoid worms. Ed.] 



INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS.— There has been 

 a lull this season in the excitement connected with 

 international horticultural exhibitions, which, how- 

 ever, may soon pass away, as we frequently hear that 

 it has been mooted by some enterprising horticul- 

 turists that an international exhibition may take 

 place with a class of exhibits such as have 

 not been represented in an international sense ; 

 but leaving that matter for the present, we are very 

 desirous to learn when the first international 

 horticultural exhibition was held in Britain or 

 Ireland ? Most of these grand shows have been for 

 exhibiting the productions of fruit gardens, and only 

 one which we visited fairly represented foreign 

 horticulture. It was the first we had the pleasure of 

 witnessing, and was held during October, 1862, in 

 the Royal Horticultural Societies Garden at South 

 Kensington. Well do I remember the display of 

 Pears in the centre of the large conservatory — 

 most of them foreign — which represented the 

 strength of the fruit salesmen of Covent Garden ; 

 and to add more fully to the international character 

 of the exhibition, immense displays of Grapes from 

 the Continent were tabled. These fruits were care- 

 fully labelled, and this aspect afforded much instruc- 

 tion, and created a deal of interest. There was a 

 good display of home-grown produce, and the Grapes 

 of Mr, Drummond (Black Hamburghs and Muscats) 



