90 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
Sanders’ New Red .—A fine free-grower, and a good bearer, but not equal to 
the foregoing. 
Great Eastern and Garibaldi are two fine varieties, raised in the neighbour¬ 
hood of York. I have not sufficiently tested them, to say much on their merits. 
In Black Currants, I have succeeded in raising one named Black Prince , which 
surpasses all others for flavour, being nearly devoid of that peculiar acidity for 
which this fruit is remarkable. Many who have tasted it compare it to the 
Black Hambro’ Grape. Its superiority is found in a moment on tasting it, when 
fully ripe. It is a free-grower and bearer, equal to or larger than Ogden s Black 
Grape , but rather tender in the bloom, and liable to be cut with the spring frosts. 
I have taken great interest in the Red Currant for years, and grow fifteen 
varieties. I adopt with them a method of training peculiar to myself, namely, the 
pillar form, and which is much admired when in fruit, since the trees take up little 
room, and fruit freely. The pillars are raised in the following manner :—I select 
good well-grown shoots for cuttings, leaving the leading bud and five or six 
others; these latter form side-shoots, while the leader goes upright, forming 
branches as it advances, which latter are cut back every season to one or two 
buds. The plants require tying to a stake. When they get about 12 in. or 
14 in. wide, I cut the new wood close; and in the case of those from which I 
wish to exhibit, I pinch off all the shoots close at the latter end of June ; this 
mafies a wonderful difference in the size of the fruit, and they are easier to shade 
with mats, when wanted for a later season. 
White Currants I also train in the same way, and find that they generally 
bear finer fruit than on the old system, while they are not liable to be beaten 
about by storms. They take rather longer to raise in this way. I have several 
plants 6 ft. high.— John Walker, Manchester . 
Gr ANSEL'S SECKLE PEAK. 
|R. HOGG gives the following account of this valuable little Pear in this 
year’s edition of his Gardeners’ Year-book , whence our figure is derived :— 
u Though one of the very best of our native pears, this is one which is 
little known, and very seldom met with. It is one of the seedlings of the 
late Mr. Williams of Pitmaston, to whom we are indebted for so many excellent 
new fruits. It was obtained by crossing the Seckle with Gansel’s Bergamot, and 
hence its name. 
“ Fruit not unlike the Seckle in shape, and also with much of the character 
of Gansel’s Bergamot on a small scale. The skin has a solid bright crimson 
cheek next the sun, which shades off to yellow on the opposite side; the shaded 
side is covered with a thin smooth crust of cinnamon-coloured russet, and the 
crimson cheek is strewed with distinct dots of grey russet. Eye small and closed, 
with erect acute segments, set in a narrow and considerable basin. Stalk 
generally short and stout, but sometimes three-quarters of an inch long, inserted 
