220 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. { September 19, 1878. 
3, Henderson’s Dark Red Beet; foliage bright, glossy. and | always died off. The same with cuttings taken at this time of 
brilliant ; higher. 4, Tall pink Geraniums ; handsome foliage, | year and grown into strong plants before the beginning of 
and reaching upwards to meet the perennials and shrubs already | winter. Ihave tried them in the warm Cucumber house, in 
indicated, the whole forming a border that may be wellimitated, | cold frames, on the front shelf of a greenhouse, and on the 
but can hardly be surpassed.—W. J. M., Clonmel. back shelf of a half-span, always with the same result—viz.. 
Se ee eee that in April I have not one left, and have to buy in a fresh lot 
at = for bedding.—H. R. C. 
; PEAR AUGU STE JURIE. [H. R. C.’s” difficulty is not an uncommon one, and the 
A PEAR ripening at the same time as Beurré Giffard, and | reason is not far to seek. Nearly all are guilty, nurserymen 
far superior to it in size and in flavour, is a great acquisition | included, of starving Verbenas through the winter, keeping a 
to the number of August Pears. Our figures were taken from | dozen, or even a score, store plants in a pit where there only 
specimens grown in the garden of the Royal Horticultural | ought to be one. They become as hard as sticks under that 
Society at Chiswick, where they were produced on an open | treatment, and are more likely to drag their existence through 
pyramid, and where the fruit ripened to perfection this season | the subsequent barbarous treatment generally thought good 
from the 10th to the 12th of August. enough for them—viz., being perched on a top shelf in a dry 
The fruit is about medium size, roundish ovate, even and and draughty house where the fluctuations of temperature 
regular in its outline. Skin green, becoming yellowish green | and other conditions are nearly as greatas it is possible to have 
them in winter. It is true that those which 
do survive this treatment grow and produce 
cuttings when put under liberal treatment in 
spring ; but can any rational man suppose 
their progeny can have as good a constitution 
as if the stock plants had been treated liber- 
ally throughout? No; if you want Ver- 
benas to grow and produce such a display in 
summer and autumn as Verbenas should do, 
you must have cuttings from a healthy stock 
—rather a rarity I admit, but still existent— 
and treat them like growing plants all through 
the winter, say like herbaceous Calceolarias or 
Primulas, excepting that they must not be 
shaded at all after they are struck. 
My cuttings are just rooted, and they will 
now be transferred to boxes where each plant 
will have at least 4 inches of room each way 
and as much in depth of soil. They will be 
kept just slowly moving all winter ; you can- 
not keep such plants dormant without in- 
juring them. I know of an instance this 
season where a gardener who wintered his 
plants on the ordinary starving system, being 
short of stock, begged a few cuttings from a 
neighbour who had kept his plants in the way 
I recommend, and the difference in the beds 
is very marked, so much so that the progeny 
of the liberally treated plants, although they 
are the same varieties as the starvelings, are 
taken to be distinct from them. 
It is rather late now, but cuttings may 
still be taken from a healthy source. They 
should be inserted quite 2 inches apart in 
the pots or boxes, and allowed to remain in 
them till February. A little decayed manure 
should be mixed with the soil in the lower 
Fig. 35—Auguste Jurie Pear. part of the pots, placing lighter sandy soil 
{ on the top, which will encourage them to 
as it ripens, with a thin speckled coat of russet on the side | root quickly, and the richer soil will afterwards support them 
next the sun, and otherwise marked with russet patches. Eye} better. A gentle dungbed would be best to strike them in at 
closed with tooth-like segments and set even with the surface. | this late season, gradually hardening them off afterwards as 
Stalk from 1 to 14 inch long, inserted without depression. | soon as rooted. They do not like much fire heat. 
Flesh crisp, rather granular, sweet and briskly flavoured with As “H.R. C.” can manage all other ordinary bedding plants 
a fine Melon perfume. I trust these hints will be sufficient. There is nothing better 
This is a valuable early dessert Pear, ripe in the second week | than sulphur for curing mildew if the sulphur can be obtained 
of August. good. The best for the purpose has a bright glowing look and 
This was raised from Beurré Giffard at the Ecole d’Horti- | feels harsh to the touch ; that which feels soft and smooth is 
culture, Ecully, near Lyons, which is under the able direction | useless, you should be able to feel and hear it crunch. The 
of our friend M. Willermoz, and was named in honour of | sun ought to shine on it after it is applied, and the destruction 
M. Auguste Jurie, President of the Horticultural Society of the | of the mildew will be speedy.—Wm. TAYLOR. | 
Rhone. It first ripened fruit on the 11th of August, 1851, and LED AED AT 
was described by Abbé D. Dupuy of Auch in “ L’Abeille Pomo- = 
logique”’ for 1863. As Berriied by Abbé Dupuy it is bright SEDUM SPECTABILE. 
red on the side next the sun, which is, no doubt, attributable OF all the flowers which I grow in my garden I have found 
to the climate of the south of France, for here we have found | none so alluring to diurnal insects as this beautiful autumn- 
no trace of red upon it, though we have seen it with a slight | flowering Sedum. I havea considerable quantity of it planted 
orange tinge on the exposed side. in clumps of threes ; they form thus a large head of bloom, and 
eee Ne ee I have counted on one of these clumps upwards of a score of 
a i humble bees of different species ; the hive bee, too, seems fond 
WINTERING VERBENAS. of it, but not so fond as of the Mignonette near at hand. But 
I cAN manage all ordinary decorative plants, but Verbenas | besides I have seen on it at one time the following diurnal 
always beat me. 1 haye tried taking up the old plants, but | Lepidoptera:—Red Admiral (Vanessa Atalanta), Small Tor- 
they have always been covered with mildew, and in spite of | toiseshell (Vanessa Urtica), Painted Lady (Cynthia Cardui), 
keeping them dry and dressing them with sulphur they have | Peacock (Vanessa Io), Brimstone (Gonepteryx Rhamni), Com- 
