Is70. ] 
NEVT GLOXINIAS.-THE APEICOT AS A STANDARD. 
265 
NEW VAEIETIES OF GLOXINIA. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
genera of ornamental plants are more useful in tlieir way for general 
Oiir decorative purposes than the Gloxinia^ which to facility of culture adds 
the recommendations of convenience of size, variety of form and tint, 
hif profuseness of flowers, and a velvety richness of colouring which is almost 
unapproached. Need we wonder, then, that they are largely grown both for 
house decoration and for exhibition—though not much encouraged at the great 
London shows; and, moreover, that the varieties are very numerous. 
Their culture is so simple and well understood, that we need not here devote 
space to explain it. SufSce it, then, to say that the variety Scarlet Gem (fig. 1) 
is one of the richest and brightest flowers we have ever seen, and one which 
unanimously won a first-class award when exhibited last spring. The, colour at 
the deepest parts is of a rich bright velvety tint of carmine scarlet, beautifully 
blended with a soft violaceoas hue at the throat. This novelty was shown by 
Mr. Williams, of Holloway. The other flowers represented are Negro (fig. 2), a 
richly shaded violet purple, raised last spring by the Messrs. Veitch and Sons, 
amongst many others of great beauty and merit; and Mademoiselle Jeanne 
Prevost, a French variety of recent introduction, of a deep rosy lilac tint, 
beautifully spotted and rayed with violet in the mouth and throat. As the 
figures show, they all belong to the erect-flowered section of Gloxinias. —M. 
THE APEICOT AS A STANDAED OE BUSH TEEE. 
I^ITHEETO the cultivation of the Apricot as a standard has been of rare 
m occurrence, even in the southern counties, where the fruit is apt to be 
deteriorated in quality from exposure on south walls, and rarely attains 
f that luscious richness of flavour which fruit obtained from standards gene- 
•rally possesses. Why, then, are bush or standard trees not more generally grown 
in favourable localities ? If a crop can be relied on once in three years, without 
protection or any care whatever, assuredly with the fostering care of the culti¬ 
vator, aided by protection from frost, we might expect to be rewarded by an 
average crop of fruit yearly. In corroboration of this, I may mention that in this 
neighbourhood two heavy crops have been secured from standard trees during the 
last three years. Of one tree in particular, a remarkably fine specimen of the 
Moor Park, and of perfect form, with branches extending 17 yards in diameter, 
the produce has this year exceeded five pots, equivalent to six bushels imperial 
measure. The pot is the local measure by which all fruit is sold in this neigh¬ 
bourhood, but there is no definite or recognized weight for a pot. I am told 
that this tree has seldom failed to produce fruit during the last sixteen years, 
while, as an average, the crop has once in three years been immense. 
This year the produce of younger trees has been profuse, and the fruit of 
3rd series.-III. N 
