42 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



pubescens flore-pleno is the Downy Calystegia from 

 China, and is a very pretty free-flowering species, 

 producing large double rose-coloured flowers ; it is 

 one of the prettiest of our hardy climbers, wall grow 

 in any soil, and continues in flower all the summer. 

 We prefer to give this species a light soil and a. 

 warm aspect ; and, like the preceding, it dies in 

 autumn, coming up again in spring. We have 

 seen it used with great effect in London for forming 

 small bowers, &c., in balconies, and there it is grown 

 in pots. C. oculata has large creamy-white flowers, 

 coloured in the centre with chocolate, and it is a 

 very effective climber. They are all increased by 

 division of the roots, which run very much in the 

 soil. 



Cardamine {Cuckoo-Flower). — Every lover of 

 the country knows this pretty subject, so familiar 

 an ornament in most woods and fields, and it is 

 abundant almost everywhere. This is Cardamine 

 pratense. The colour of the flowers varies to every 

 shade between white and full lilac. The generic 

 name is a diminutive of Kardamon, the Water- Cress, 

 which some of the species resemble in flavour. Fra- 

 tensis, " of a meadow," alludes to its usual place of 

 growth. It is called the Cuckoo's flower because it 

 flowers in April and May, when, states Gerarde, 

 " the cuckoo doth begin to sing her pleasant 

 notes without stammering." It is also called the 

 Lady' 's- Smock, and this popular name was, as some 

 say, probably applied by the monks in days when 

 each flower was dedicated by them to some saint 

 about the time of whose anniversary it began to 

 bloom. The more generally received notion is that 

 it was so named from the resemblance of its white 

 flowers to little smocks hung out to dry, as they 

 used to be once a year, at that season especially. 

 Shakespeare alludes to it in these lines : — 



" When Daisies pied and Violets blue, 



And Lady-smocks all silver-white, 

 And Cuckoo buds of yellow hue, 



Do paint the meadows with delight, 

 "When shepherds pipe on oaten straws, 



And maidens bleach their summer smocks." 



The Cuckoo buds alluded to by Shakespeare are 

 probably some species of Ranunculus, and, as Mr. 

 Eolkard states, as the Cardamine pratensis is rather 

 a pale blue than a silver- white flower, the allusion 

 in these lines perhaps applied to C. amara, whose 

 brilliantly white blossoms might well be taken for 

 linen laid out to bleach. The Cardamine is also 

 known as the Meadow-Cress. 



A double variety of C. pratensis, a natural sport, 

 makes an admirable border plant. It does well on 

 rockwork, or any place that is moist, and in a good 



sandy loam. It is also a charming subject for cul- 

 tivation in pots. It is easily increased by root 

 division. C. asarifolia is a free-growing white- 

 flowered species which makes good border plants ; 

 so does C. latifolia, which bears large heads of rosy- 

 purple flowers. This is a native of the Pyrenees 

 and South of France, on the banks of streams, and 

 must, therefore, be grown in moist places. C. trifoha 

 is the Three-leaved Cardamine ; it is a dwarf plant, 

 with dark green foliage, bearing heads of snow- 

 white blossoms in spring ; but it must have a shady, 

 moist position. It is found on the shady parts of 

 mountains in Central Europe. 



THE HAEDY FKUIT GAKDEK 



By D. T. Fish, assisted by William Carmichael. 



THE PEAR. 



WITHOUT doubt the Pear is the best of all our 

 hardy dessert fruits. Its size, its flavour, its 

 colour, the length of time it remains in season, 

 girdling the year round with its luscious aroma, all 

 raise it to the first rank as an important factor in the 

 dessert. 



Not a few popular errors prevail in reference to the 

 tenderness of Pears, the difficulties of cultivating 

 them, and the time needed to bring them into fruitful 

 condition. "He that plants Pears, plants for his 

 heirs," has limited Pear-planting to a most disas- 

 trous extent. Not only is there less truth in this old 

 saying than in most, but, in view of modern methods 

 of culture, it may be said to be totally destitute of 

 truth. Pears may now be forced into fertile ways 

 almost as rapidly as Apples, as we shall see, that 

 is, on the very heels of growth. Scarcely is wood 

 made and matured till fruit follows. The so-called 

 tenderness of Pears is a misleading mixture of myth 

 and reality. 



The Pear is a stubborn old native British plant, 

 and is found wild in Scotland and other parts of the 

 kingdom. As if this were not proof positive enough 

 of its hardiness, it is also found wild in Russia, 

 Sweden, Denmark, and other northern and southern 

 countries. It has almost the widest geographical 

 range of any of our cultivated fruit, and if not exactly 

 found from China to Peru, is, at least, distributed 

 pretty freely from Scotland to China. Doubtless, 

 in pursuit of size and quality, we have, in the 

 case of not a few of our finer varieties, lost some- 

 what of the hardiness and power of endurance that 

 characterised the original Pear, and not a few of its 

 old English offshoots. 



The Pear is, perhaps, the most malleable — the word 

 seems more emphatic than improvable — of all our 



