78 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ Apbil, 
seen the Eliza Pear noticed in catalogues, and therefore I conclude it is not so well 
known as it deserves to be. The Eliza Pear [also called Groom's Princess Royal] re¬ 
sembles the Easter Beurre in size and shape, with a similar shank, but a rather closer 
eye or crown. The prevailing colour is greenish-gray, without russet on the sunny 
side. In flavour, the Eliza excels the Easter Beurre. It ripens about the middle or 
end of January, when some of the late kinds of Pears, though highly spoken of, 
are often dry and corky, and remain so until they decay ; but after several seasons’ 
trial, I have never found the Eliza to be so. Consequently, be it old or new, it 
is worthy of notice, in consequence of its being so hardy and productive in 
situations where the most of the late good kinds of Pears would be worthless. 
The drawing shows the usual size of the fruit as it grows here, from the top 
of a standard tree about 16 ft. high.—J. Wighton, Cossey Park. 
DENDROBIUM DEVONIANUM. 
iMONGST the many fine Orchids we now have in cultivation, there 
are few, if any, that surpass this, if we take into account its elegant 
drooping habit, its exquisite combination of colour, the wonderful moss¬ 
like fringe that margins the labellum of the flower, and its agreeably 
aromatic perfume. Altogether it is one of the most desirable of plants, yet, 
somehow or other, even amongst collections of Orchids that are generally well 
grown, this is rarely met with in good condition. Very often, like numbers of 
other plants of this singular family, it appears to do well for a time, and then, 
without any apparent cause, gets into bad health, and ultimately dies out. 
This, I think, is traceable more to defects in its management than to any peculiar 
delicacy of constitution. 
This Dendrobium Devonianum is found indigenous in the comparatively cool, 
but very moist district of Khoseea. Now when plants from such a climate as 
this are submitted to the strong heat in which the Vandas , Saccolabiums , and 
other denizens of hot, low countries are grown, they go on for a time, until their 
constitution becomes so impaired by over-excitement that they die of sheer 
exhaustion. That such treatment has been and yet is the cause of this and 
many other fine things getting the character of being difficult to manage, I have 
no doubt; whereas if they met with more rational usage there would be no diffi¬ 
culty in managing them satisfactorily. It is a plant that cannot bear to have 
too much root-room, yet it does not generally succeed well on a block of wood, 
which apparently does not afford it enough sustenance. 
I find a moderate-sized pot, well drained, with a mixture of the best fibrous 
peat, all the earthy particles of which have been sifted out, and one-fourth small 
lumps of charcoal, with a little sphagnum added to it, to grow the plant well; 
but, as will be seen by what I have already said, I look more to the temperature 
in which it is grown than to the material in which it is potted. The house in 
which I have grown it was occupied by Cattleyas , Lcelias , and similar plants, that 
did not receive through the growing season a higher temperature in the night 
