JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 12, 1882.] 
337 
flower. For summer flowering the tubers should be started with 
Gloxinias and Achimenes, or a trifle later, say in April; for winter 
and spring flowering in July or early August. 
As to varieties that are good they are very numerous, and as 
long lists are not infrequently more perplexing than useful, only 
half a dozen varieties for summer shall be named now—the most 
distinct in the collection now flowering at Chiswick. It was the 
inspection of the bright group there that prompted these notes ; 
and thus the old garden proves its usefulness in not only testing 
things that are new, but in showing the merits from time to time 
of plants that are generally overlooked or neglected. There is 
nothing now so attractive under glass in the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Garden as the Gesnerias or Nmgelias, and the following 
are among the best in the collection. 
Penelope .—Salmon rose tube, deep rose segments, white and 
mottled crimson throat ; fine spikes and good habit. Very 
effective. 
M. Pollux .—Rich glowing rosy crimson tube, with paler mot¬ 
tled segments ; fine symmetrical spike. Very pleasing. 
IranJtlin. —Deep velvety scarlet tube, throat and lobes mottled 
with white. Neat habit. 
Horace Vernet .—Orange scarlet, brighter than the preceding 
with whiter lobes ; dwarf habit. Rich and glowing. 
Brcguet .—Pale rose tube with deeper lobes mottled with white. 
A strong grower with good spikes. Very useful variety. 
Jeannot .—Flowers rich uniform chrome yellow, symmetrical 
spike ; very rich dark velvety foliage, the contrast in colours 
being very striking. 
It should be remarked that all the varieties named have hand¬ 
some foliage, this adding materially to the attractiveness ; indeed 
it is a question if there are any plants that possess in combination 
the three qualities—beautiful leaves, bright attractive flowers, and 
a pleasing habit of growth, more markedly than those under notice ; 
hence they are worthy of record here, and for growing for the 
better embellishment of conservatories in summer.— Expeeientia 
DOCET. 
NOTES ON PEARS. 
To have Pears in good condition through the winter months 
they must be grown on walls, except the early kinds, which to my 
mind produce fruit of much better flavour, if not quite so large, 
on espalier and pyramid trees. Pears that are in season from 
November onwards should be grown on walls having south or 
west aspects. I think an east aspect—although I have had the 
management of Pear trees on such aspects—had better by far be 
planted with Plums, as it must be a favourable season to obtain 
good crops of Pears there. The ground for Pears should be pre¬ 
pared in the same manner as recommended for Apples in a former 
article (page 291), and the trees planted in the same position of 
the garden as recommended for Apples. 
As to the stocks employed for planting, I shall recommend the 
Quince, as in my experience it is the best stock, and comes into 
full bearing much sooner than trees do that are worked on the 
Pear stock ; but the trees must be well attended to. Some people 
think that Pears on the Quince are short-lived. If the trees have 
not been worked low enough or not planted in properly prepared 
soil they are; but if the ground has been well prepared before 
planting, and the trees well attended to as regards surface-dress¬ 
ing and adding fresh soil to the roots when needed, they will 
succeed. Be careful to select trees that have been worked low 
enough, so that the union of the stock and scion is beneath the 
surface. 
Some persons may say they have handsome trees on the Tear 
stock that bear annually large crops of fruit. No doubt they have. 
I have seen such trees, but they require a much larger space than 
the others ; besides, as I have mentioned above, they do not com¬ 
mence bearing nearly so soon. Some kinds I would plant on the 
Pear stocks, as they do not succeed so well on the Quince, such as 
Williams’ Bon Chrfetien, Winter Nelis, Easter Beurrb, Knight’s 
Monarch, and Beurr6 Clairgeau. The latter as a rule is not worth 
eating, but it does for a show Pear. Marie Louise succeeds both 
on the Quince and Pear stock. 
Pears on the Quince stock for walls or espaliers should be 
planted 12 feet apart, pyramids 6 feet apart, and when they 
almost touch each other every alternate one may be taken out. 
I would also recommend a cordon Pear wall to those who require 
the greatest number of varieties in a given space. These should 
be planted 18 inches apart. The first season train them at an 
angle of 60°, the next season bring them down to 15°, or at least 
all that have grown freely. These may be kept in good health 
for a number of years if not overcropped, the roots being at the 
same time surface-dressed, and at intervals of a few years have 
good turfy loam placed round them after the old inert soil has 
been removed. 
The following are useful kinds for succession. Early Pears for 
pyramids or espaliers—Beurr6 Giffard, Williams’ Bon Chretien, 
Beurr6 d’Amanlis, Beurrd Hardy, Beurrd Superfin, and Pitmaston 
Duchess. The following for south or west walls—Marie Louise, 
Doyennd du Comice, Beurr6 d’Aremberg, Josephine de Malines, 
Winter Nelis, Glou Morqeau, Passe Crassane, Knight’s Monarch, 
and Bergamotte Esperen.—A. Young. 
SINGLE DAHLIAS AT TOTTENHAM. 
Five acres of single Dahlias in bloom has not yet become so 
common a sight as to rank amongst the things which tire by their 
sameness and repetition. Probably, indeed, the display now pro¬ 
vided in Mr. T. S. Ware’s Hale Farm nurseries has never been 
equalled either in extent and beauty, and it may therefore be 
fairly considered as unique. It is doubtful, also, if so extensive a 
display will be again seen, for the object of planting so many has 
been simply [a utilitarian one—that of selection—which, having 
been accomplished, those excluded from the place of honour will 
be promptly destroyed. Thus another season the stock will be 
much smaller, including only the finest and most distinct amongst 
hundreds of seedling forms, many of which are the results of 
crossing with the best of the types now in cultivation. As might 
be readily imagined, the variation in colour and form of the 
flowers, habit, &c„ is very great; all shades of colour, from the 
deepest maroon through scarlet, orange, and yellow to white, are 
represented, the flowers varying in form from the star-like earlier 
type to the broad rounded florets and symmetrical flower of the 
handsome White Queen. In habit, too, there is every gradation 
from the most slender and graceful to the most robust and com¬ 
pact ; but all the selected forms agree in a remarkable floriferous- 
ness, though even amongst the best some surpass others in this 
respect. It is not easy, however, to select a few where all are so 
good, but the following amongst the novelties are especially 
worthy of note :—Darkness, rich deep crimson ; Duke of Teck, 
fine mauve tint, dwarf ; Francis Fell, warm deep purple ; Harle¬ 
quin, deep rose banded with purple ; Lutea grandiflora, Sunflower 
and Yellow Queen, the best yellows, of great excellence, fine 
flowers, and very free ; Mauve Queen, beautiful shape and soft 
tint; Nora, pink, bushy ; Thalia, rosy, very free and dwarf ; 
William Gordon, pink and mauve shaded ; Rob Roy, brilliant 
scarlet; and White Queen, the finest white. Of several seedlings 
raised from Paragon Pantaloon is the best variety, very distinctly 
marked, tipped with white. Amongst the older but not less 
beautiful forms the following dozen include the leading varieties : 
Ascalon, deep rosy purple ; Beauty of Cambridge, intense crimson, 
very handsome ; Fusilier, white shaded pink ; Painted Lady, 
delicate pink ; Pompeii, rich crimson ; Gracilis, ardens, elegans 
and perfecta, scarlet and crimson forms of that elegant Dahlia; 
Orangeman, deep orange ; Paragon, maroon edged with purple ; 
and Wilmott, peculiar rosy tint. To these may be added the 
Dahlia Zimapani, also known as Bidens atro-sanguinea, and 
Cosmos diversifolius atro-sanguineus, a small-flowered form which 
is not considered as a true Dahlia, though it much resembles that 
genus in all respects. It is similar in habit to D. glabrata, but 
has deep maroon, almost black flowers. 
An experiment has been made in this nursery, the success of 
which deserves attention, as a similar practice might be advan¬ 
tageously adopted in many gardens. A number of the single 
Dahlias were planted in a bed, and when the shoots became of 
sufficient length they were pegged down closely to the surface. 
The lateral growths subsequently made, with the points of the 
stems turning upwards as they advanced, have now clothed the 
bed with abundance of flowers a foot to 18 inches or 2 feet above 
the soil. In this way they are seen to excellent advantage ; and 
further good results are observable, for the strong-growing varieties, 
which under the ordinary system are frequently so luxuriant that 
few flowers are produced, are sufficiently restricted by pegging 
them down to greatly increase their floriferousness. Some charm¬ 
ing examples of autumn bedding might be produced by various 
applications of this idea, which will be more extensively tried at 
Tottenham another year.— Visitoe. 
THE ROSE ELECTION, 1882. 
It was rather to be expected that any attempt to arrest the 
introduction of “ too much alike ” Roses would not be universally 
popular. This, I doubt not, many feel. Having all of us our own 
likes and dislikes, and with the natural pertinacity of us islanders 
for our own opinions, I suppose some of us think that one or other 
of the bracketed “ too much alike ” Eoses of the National Eose 
