JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 57 
the flesh, which i3 quite melting, sweet, and with a rich flavour ; 
leaves with round glands. The fruit sent to us weighed 1H ozs., 
and we presume it was grown on a tree in a pot. Grown outdoors 
it usually ripens in September. 
- Major-General Milman, in alluding to our reply to 
a correspondent last week on the decay of Spruce Firs, states 
that on his estate in Berkshire, and in the neighbourhood 
generally, there is scarcely a Spruce, either large or small, that 
is not inflicted with a sort of blight, which is getting worse 
daily. The vitality of the trees, with the exception of a green 
tip at the extremity of the branches, appears gone ; the leaves 
turn brown and fall. Some very large trees here have hardly 
a leaf remaining. This occurs not only on the sandy and peaty 
soil of this place, but also on the clay at an estate some miles 
distant. 
- Relative to the new Golden Queen Mignonette 
that was recently certificated by the Floral Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, we are requested to state that “ it 
was sent by Messrs. Benaiy, Carter & Co., E. G. Henderson and 
Sons, and James Yeitch & Sons.” The official report that was 
sent to us last week contained none of these names, and Messrs. 
Carters’ name was inserted because a certificate of the variety 
bearing their name alone came under our notice, hence we con¬ 
cluded the name had been accidentally omitted from the report. 
- In allusion to our reply to a correspondent last week, 
“ S. W.” highly recommends Funkia spathulatA alba, which 
he says is now producing freely spikes of small blush white 
flowers, which are of the greatest value for vase-decoration, and 
have also quite a pretty effect on the plants in the border. 
The plant was obtained from Mr. Ware of Tottenham, and its 
spikes of flowers are not unlike the white form of Dictamnus 
Fraxinella. Our correspondent thinks this Funkia should be 
more extensively grown, and says that the spikes which are a 
foot high require no sticks to support them. 
- A correspondent (“ J. W. R.”) writes to us as follows 
with reference to Clay’s fertiliser and Dahlias :—“ Having 
planted several single Dahlias in my garden where slugs abound, 
I spread around the plants a small portion of the above fertiliser. 
This has not only prevented the plants being eaten by the vora¬ 
cious nocturnal pests, but has had such a remarkable effect in 
accelerating the growth of the Dahlias that the circumstance 
should be known. It changed the foliage from a pale to a deep, 
almost black, green in a few days, and the growth has been so 
rapid that some of the plants are flowering freely. The powder 
is sprinked round the plants so as to fairly cover the soil, and as 
long as it remains there it forms an effective barrier against slugs. 
When the rain washes it in more is spread round as often as is 
needed, and thus the slugs are completely baffled, while the plants 
are as signally benefited. I consider this manure a boon in my 
suburban garden, and it forms undoubtedly a valuable dressing 
for flower borders and vegetable ground where ordinary farm¬ 
yard manure is difficult to obtain.” 
-Referring to the Peas Certificated at Chiswick 
on the 7th inst. and enumerated on page 39 last week, a corre¬ 
spondent writes to us complainingly in the following words :— 
“ Were you not able to give a better description of them 1 You 
state nothing definite about their height, character, nor period of 
use. Surely the date of sowing and of gathering, with the height 
the varieties attained, might have been given, the same as Messrs. 
Yeitch appear to have done with a collection that they exhibited 
on the 11th inst., and referred to in the same issue of your paper. 
It is very seldom I am disappointed with your descriptions of new 
things, but in this instance you can scarcely regard my complaint 
as ill-founded.” The report of the Committee meetings that were 
held at Chiswick on the 7th inst. was supplied to us and our 
contemporaries officially, and we did not curtail it in any way 
before publication. 
- Mr. Muir has sent us from Margam a sample of Cul- 
verwell’s Giant Marrow Pea, which he regards as the finest 
variety in cultivation. We have never seen finer Peas than those 
submitted to us. The pods are of great size, 7 inches long and 
1£ inch wide, curved, dark green in colour, and crowded with 
fine peas. Mr. Muir states the variety is a great cropper, and 
the produce is of the first quality when cooked. He thus esteems 
it as one of the most useful Peas in cultivation as well as one 
of the best for purposes of exhibition that can be grown. 
- Mr. Thomas, late gardener to Sir Robert Peel, Bart., 
Drayton Manor, Tamworth, has been appointed gardener to John 
Corbett, Esq., M.P., Impney Hall, near Droitwich. Mr. Thomas 
enters on his duties on the 22nd inst. 
-The following Hybrid Orchids are now flowering in 
Messrs. Veitch’s collection at Chelsea—Cypripediums Morganm, 
pycnoptrum, selligerum, calanthum, porphyrospilum, superciliare, 
grande, euryandrum, Sedeni, marmorophyllum, oenanthum, albo- 
purpureum, and Dominii; Dendrobium rhodostoma; Lmlias cal- 
listoglossa and Philbrickiana; Zygopetalum Sedeni, and Mas- 
devallia Chelsoni. 
-The Horticultural Exhibition and Market, which 
is to open in the Agricultural Hall, London, on the 24th inst. and 
closes on August 5th, promises to be both extensive and diversified. 
It is expected to comprise every requisite in connection with the 
garden, the following exhibits being enumerated in the prospectus 
before us: — Conservatories, greenhouses, frames, handlights, 
boilers, heating apparatus by water and otherwise, garden statu¬ 
ary and fountains, Fern cases, aquaria, window boxes, vases, 
flower pots, fancy tiles, rockeries, cascades and waterfalls ; sum¬ 
mer houses, garden seats and furniture of all kinds ; lawn-mowers, 
verge-cutters, garden hose, engines, water barrows, watering cans, 
gardening tools, wire netting, guards, Rose stakes, dried flowers 
and grasses, artificial plants, flowers, fruit, seeds, bulbs, root?, 
plants, cut bloom, manures, insect-destroyers, &c. Thus an ex¬ 
cellent opportunity will be afforded for visitors, and they will 
doubtless be numerous, of comparing the merits of the different 
articles exhibited, and selecting those best adapted to their pur¬ 
poses. The Exhibition, as may be seen by our advertising columns, 
will be held under very distinguished patronage. 
- The correspondent of an American paper writes in glow¬ 
ing terms on Roses at New Orleans. A Lamarque Rose is 
instanced as “ growing 80 feet long. The stem is 8 inches through 
in the thickest part. It was planted seventeen or eighteen years 
ago. It is twined around a verandah, and its gorgeous clusters of 
cream-tinted Roses are splendid to behold. Marshal Niel Roses 
run wild. The blossoms grow in gorgeous clusters of half a dozen 
or more, and the flowers are so large that they would more than 
cover the top of a large-sized coffee cup. The Rose the French 
inhabitants of New Orleans are fondest of for decoration is called 
the ‘ Gold of Ophir.’ Northern florists have it, but it is not com¬ 
mon. The bud is especially prized for its beauty. It is a smallish 
Rose, of a very pale pink, shading on towards the heart in a deep 
rich good colour. Faint streaks of crimson touch the outer petals. 
It is one of the loveliest Roses I ever saw.” 
STRAWBERRIES—MODES OF CULTURE—MISTAKES. 
Yery light sandy soils, and especially if in a district where 
the annual rainfall does not exceed 24 inches, are perhaps the 
most difficult of all on which to grow Strawberries ; and next to 
them, and almost as bad, are hungry clays where the rainfall 
averages 50 inches a year. An important matter in connection 
with soils of the former nature is to let them alone as much as 
