64 



THE FLORIST AND POJiOLOGIST. 



advantage over potting, for I find that my bulbs are now (16th March) growing 

 freely — some of them an inch long; whereas, if they are potted, and they 

 make good roots, they soon reach the sides of the pots, and are injured 

 in the turning-out, and by giving them a check in their growth. I never 

 give my beds water until July, and then only when they require it very 

 much. When they are showing their spikes I give a little weak liquid manure 

 water occasionally; and they are syringed on fine evenings, which I consider 

 does them a great deal of good when in bloom. They are protected from wind 

 and rain, and from strong sun. Your correspondent says he has cut them down 

 to 6 inches and taken them up as soon as they are done blooming. I disagree 

 with him in that respect, for I consider the longer they are kept growing so 

 much the better for the bulbs. I never take up mine as long as the frost keeps 

 off. They are then raised with as much of the soil as will adhere to the roots, 

 and placed in a dry, airy loft ; and when they are perfectly dry they are gone 

 over and all offsets taken off, and placed in paper bags until the time of 

 planting comes again. 



Dublin. D. 



SLUGS. 



A great deal of complaint is often made about this troublesome little pest, 

 not only by gardeners, but by farmers and amateurs of both. There are com- 

 plaints heard of seed-beds being cleared of seedlings of almost every kind of 

 plant in cultivation, both in-doors and out. Almost everything gets a nibble 

 from those pests where they abound. It is an easy matter to collect those 

 pests together in showery, misty, moist weather, in spring or summer, winter 

 or autumn, by a very little attention, by getting a few fresh-brewed grains, • 

 place about a table-spoonful in lumps about borders, quarters, or any corner 

 they abound in every evening. By eight or nine o'clock go round with lantern 

 and a bucket of fresh slaked lime, where they will be found collected by hun- 

 dreds ; dust a little lime on them, or collect them in a bucket or box, and apply 

 hot water if lime is not at hand. Where brewers' grains are not easily obtained, 

 new bran scalded is a very good substitute I have found placed in the same 

 way. 



Bicton. James Barnes. 



NOUVELLE FULVIE PEAR, 



WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 



The subject of our present illustration, so admirably pourtrayed by 

 Mrs. Dix, is one of the seedlings raised by M. Gregoire, of Jodoigne ; and 

 it is one which, from its handsome appearance, excellent quality, late ripening 

 and fertility, is likely to obtain a wide cultivation. The fruit is large, of a 

 long pyriform shape, considerably bossed and uneven in its outline. The 

 skin is of a deep green before it ripens, and when ripe it assumes a yellowish 

 coat, and it is considerably covered with russet. The eye is open and set in a 

 depression, the edges of which are uneven and sometimes even knobbed. The 

 stalk is about an inch long, inserted on the end of the fruit without any 

 depression. The flesh is yellowish-white, fine-grained, buttery, and melting. 

 Juice abundant, sugary, with a fine perfume and delicious flavour. 



This excellent Pear ripens in January and February. 



