1858. j 
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. 
289 
succumbed to the drought, while the Tagetes has remained most glorious. 
I only hope some of our enterprising florists will soon introduce a double 
kind, which would, indeed, be a grand acquisition. 
Wroth am Park. John Edlington. 
MONTHLY CHRONICLE. 
'jflWOST cultivators are now aware that the silvery-leaved plant with 
UJmll yellow flowers, so long grown under the name of Centaurea can- 
didissima, is properly Centaurea ragusina: but it is not so generally 
lmowm that the true C. candidissima is itself the subject of a mis¬ 
nomer, being widely sold under the name of C. argentea plumosa. At 
least I can affirm that the plant sent me by a London firm a year or two since, so labelled, 
was the true C. candidissima, with deeply hipinnatifid foliage, and pale purple flower heads. 
The G. argentea has, I believe, yellow flowers like those of C. ragusina, but the involucral 
scales are spineless, and the foliage is described as pinnate.— W. T. 
- JI^ow fine certain Pears are here (North Middlesex), writes J. E. 
In some instances the trees have suffered from the excessive drought, and 
where such is the case the fruit is naturally small, at least below the aver¬ 
age size. Beurre Ranee is remarkably good, without any signs of cracking. Ducbesse d’Angou- 
lcme is very large; as also are Marie Louise, Beurre Diel, Napoleon, Glou Mor^eau, and 
several other kinds. Our crops are very heavy, in fact, I never saw finer. The Pear evidently 
is at home in a dry season. Apples, although abundant, are below average as regards size. 
- 3The Alexandra or Alexandra Noblesse Peach proves this season 
to be excellent; indeed there is no doubt that it is in respect of the fruit, 
one of the finest Peaches in cultivation; and as regards the tree, one of the 
hardiest. Unlike the Noblesse, to which the fruit bears a close similarity, 
the tree is not subject to mildew, and the leaves are furnished with round 
glands, whereas in the Noblesse they are glandless. 
- £i double-flowered Heath, in the shape of a sport from Erica 
hyemalis has appeared upon a plant growing in Haynes’ Nursery, at Penge. 
The doubling consists in the repeating of the corolla over and over again, 
to the exclusion of the stamens and pistil. In the centre is a small shoot bearing scale¬ 
like leaves. The clear white of the inner petals contrasts nicely with the pink tinge of the 
outer whorl; and, altogether it is well worth the attention of horticulturists. 
- Ehe Messrs. Lane’s large Vinery, some 120 feet long, 24 feet wide, 
and 8 or 9 feet high at the ridge, has this season been well worth inspection, 
The house is span-roofed, and was clothed from base to apex with a remark¬ 
able crop of Grapes the aggregate crop being estimated at a ton weight. These Vines when 
pruned in winter, are cut quite close, and the rod is trained up one slope and down the other, 
notwithstanding which difference of position the crop has been disposed with the most perfect 
regularity over the whole area of the roof. 
- 3The experience of previous years points to the undesirableness of 
digging the Potato crop in early autumn, merely on account of the sprouting 
of the tubers. In the season of 1818, with which the present has been compared for its heat 
and drought, the growth of the Potato was arrested, as it has been this year, and the same 
sprouting habit was observed. On that occasion the undisturbed Potatos yielded in autumn 
an enormous crop of excellent quality. 
