42 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
THE NEW FKUITS OF 1874. 
the Fruit department the acquisitions during the past year have not been 
so abundant as usual. The season, although extremely trying during the 
f early part to the fruit cultivator, was not, on the whole, an unkindly one 
for fruits in general; and, but for the frosts in May, the crop of fruit 
everywhere would have been excessive, and as a consequence, helped by the 
succeeding dry summer, very inferior. The crop of Plums was perhaps more 
affected by the cold spring than that of any other fruit, while that of Straw¬ 
berries suffered from the excessive drought; there were, indeed, excepting in such 
favoured spots as the county of Kent, scarcely any good Strawberries last year. 
We have, therefore, no new varieties of this most popular fruit to call attention 
to, but we would just remark, as a noteworthy fact, that the winning Straw¬ 
berry of the past season was Sir Joseph Paxton; its great size and beauty made 
it conquer at almost every exhibition. 
In Apples , the number of new seedling varieties submitted for public opinion 
has been unusually great. There has not, however, been any of very startling 
merit. The variety amongst Apples is now so great, and the quality so good, 
that it is extremely difficult to secure any advance. We must here note, if not 
as a novelty, yet as being a very important addition to our pomological know¬ 
ledge, the fruiting, or at least the observation of the fruiting, for the first time, 
in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick, of the true 
Pommier du Paradis (the French Paradise Apple). This is the stock so much 
used in France as a dwarfing stock for Apples, and about which there has been 
so much controversy in this country during the past few years. The fruit is of 
medium size, pale yellow, with a flush of light rose on the exposed side, and 
would pass muster very well in a basket of Keswick or Manks Codlin. It ripens 
early in August, and is then of very good quality ; so that not alonp is it valuable 
as a stock, but it is also worthy of cultivation as a useful fruit on its own account. 
It may be described as precocious in every sense of the word. It flowers and fruits 
at a very early stage, and induces the same habit in any variety grafted upon it. 
It blossoms early in the season, which is rather a demerit, and is one of the 
earliest sorts to ripen. [Of this we shall publish a coloured figure shortly.] 
Of Pears we have not many to notice, yet there is one of sterling merit— 
Lucy Grieve , an English seedling, raised by Mr. Grieve, of Culford Hall; it is not 
unlike a small Glou Morceau, and is of equally good quality ; [this we shall 
also figure shortly]. The following, although not exactly new, have yet stood so 
prominently forward this season as worthy of extensive cultivation that we 
think well to mention them, viz., Pitmaston Duchesse d’Angouleme [which we 
shall also figure], Beurre de VAssomption, and Souvenir du Congres [see 
p. 37]. We must not forget to mention the Pyrus Maulei , the fruit of which 
we were introduced to for the first time last season. It is a sort of Quince, the 
ripened fruits of which make an excellent marmalade. It is doubtful, however, 
whether it will be most appreciated as a useful fruit or as an ornamental plant. 
