•V 
1«70. ] GARDEN GOSSIP. ’ 215 
Mrs. Boulton, white, with rich deep crimson eye, a fine exhibition flower. 
Probably for the same reason, or because growers are keeping them back for the 
coming show at the Crystal Palace on the 6th of September, seedling Dahlias 
have been sparingly produced. Mr. G. Wheeler, Warminster, has received a 
First-Class Certificate for Marchioness of Bath., pale ground, heavily tipped with 
deep rose, a flower of fine shape and substance. Mr. Keynes gained Second-Class 
Certificates for Flora Wyatt, a fancy flower of much promise, buff ground 
striped and flaked with dull red; and for Incomparable, yellow ground, heavily 
tipped with bright purplish claret. Hollyhock Bose Queen., a promising rose- 
coloured variety, from Mr. Porter, gardener to E. Benham, Esq., Isle worth, has 
also received a Second-Class Certificate.—E. D. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
HE Condition of our Fruit Crops for the present season has just been 
reported in a tabular form in the Gardener s Chronicle. From this it 
would appear that fruit of all descriptions has been abundant, that much 
of it has been small, and that there is a general complaint of lack of 
flavour, probably from the vant of sufficient moisture to develop to the full those subtle 
chemical changes on which flavour depends. Fruit trees, as a rule, are reported to be in a clean 
and healthy condition,—a favomuble augury for the next year’s crop. Insect pests do not 
seem to have been so troublesome as might have been expected. As regards particular kinds 
of fruit, the tenor of these reports runs thus :—Apricots generally plentiful and good ; Apples, 
and Pears abundant but small; Cherries very plentiful and of good quality; Plums much 
above the average; Peaches and Nectarines numerous but small; Strawbeiries not so satis¬ 
factory as most other crops, the flowers having, in many eases, withered from the drought. 
Small fruits have been produced in plenty, and of good quality. Nuts of all kinds. Walnuts 
especially, plentiful. 
-- ^ VARIETY of Damson., called Crittenden s Prolific, raised many years 
ago by Mr. J. Crittenden, of East Farleigb, is said to possess extraordinary 
bearing qualities as compared with the sorts usually grown, so much so, that of 
late years many groAvers have done away with the Prune, Shropshix-e, and other Damsons, and 
introduced Crittenden’s, which is so popular in the district that every year a stock of it is 
raised fi’om suckers, which can be had in any number. Its free-beaidng character and its 
qualities as a fruit ai-e well attested ; Avhen the fruit begins to SAvell, the branches have in many 
cases to be propped up, to prevent their bi-eaking. Tedious as this work may appear, Ave may 
bo assm-ed that it pays, otherAvise it Avould not be done. 
- ^HE Messrs. Huber et Cie., of Hyeres, announce the Dahlia arhorea as 
a distinct and unpublished species, having many points of advantage over 
D. imperialis. One of these is its dwarfer habit.. It grows some 6 ft. or 7 ft. in 
height, fonns a bi'anched shrub, is clothed Avith large leaves, and produces an innumerable 
quantity of pretty mauve-coloured flower-heads, which latter are px’oduced A^ery late, their 
development, so it is said, not being ai'rested by a tempei'atm’e beloAV the freezing-point. The 
floAvers are compared Avith those of a gigantic Anemone. 
- According to some recent observations of the Eev. M. J. Berkeley, in 
the Gardeners' Chronicle, on the Pustules on Pear Leaves., the cause of which has 
hitherto been a m 3 'stery, these bodies are found to contain three or four minute acari, 
about one-hundredth of an inch in length. The whole body has dense transverse striso, 
consisting of granules. The anal exti'emity is slightly contracted with tAvo bristles, and thei-o 
are four feet in front, each consisting of four joints, of Avhich the basal one is SAVoUon, the 
