March 9. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
445 
the same manner as the preceding collection, the weights of 
the fruits being, in both cases, attested and guaranteed by 
the honorary secretaries’ signatures in the reports of the 
! season. 
The following remarks were also included in the Honorary 
Secretary's Report for the season of 1841:—“The un~ 
I usually moist season has affected fruit in different ways. 
The stone fruits, especially Apricots, were shrivelled, 
cracked, and flavourless. Peaches were few and ill-flavoured. 
Pears were fine, and of excellent quality or flavour (espe- 
j cially the Crassanne and Beurre d’Aremberg varieties—a 
fruit, referring to the last, which cannot be too highly prized), 
; and their keeping properties seem to have been much im- 
: paired by the humidity of tire season. The Crassannes, 
| Passe Colmars, Chaumontelles, and Bergamotts de la 
Pentecote (or Easter Beurre), having mostly ripened before 
the fifteenth of December.” 
Here I should remark, that the variety of Pear recog¬ 
nised as the Beurre d’Aremberg is the Glout Moreeau, 
under which name it is cultivated in Jersey. There is no 
resemblance between the two varieties but in the texture of 
the fruit’s skin. The Glout Moreeau, which is much the 
finer of the two, is easily recognised by the vigour of the 
tree’s growth; the wood is also much darker and thorny, 
and the fruits are (when fine) quintagonally divided, and 
elongated at both ends, with a beautiful, smooth, pale green 
skin; keeping from November to January, according to 
seasons. The Beurre d’Aremberg is smooth in the wood, 
paler in colour of the bark; smaller in the size of the 
fruit, being round at the end; at times a little russety, and 
ripening at the same season. 
Hence, from the foregoing remarks of the Honorary 
Secretary, we have the gratification of learning, that the 
ripening season of Pear fruit is in a great measure depen¬ 
dent on the moistness of the season. An useful, though an 
antecedent corroboration of our present ideas and ex¬ 
perience on the subject. We shall learn more about it, by- 
and-by; patience and perseverance will heal many of the ills 
arising from the confliction of opinions on this and other 
useful subjects. 
The greater portion of the Pears included in these two 
short lists were grown on trees budded on Quince stocks, 
in moist, friable soils ; a plan more profitable and pre¬ 
ferable to any other I am as yet acquainted with.—C. B. 
Saunders, C<esarcan Nursery, Jersey. 
THE MANCHESTER POULTRY SHOW. 
Your notice of the Manchester Poultry Exhibition induces 
me to trouble you with a few remarks, which, perhaps, may 
be found worthy of a place in The Cottage Gardener, as 
well as useful to those in other localities who may be medi¬ 
tating a “ first poultry exhibition.” There are only about 
six or eight amateurs here who have paid any attention to 
Poultry, and being desirous of encouraging and promoting, 
as far as their endeavours could, a taste in this neighbour¬ 
hood for “ the fancy,” conceived the idea of an exhibition. 
These few amateurs set to work, raised a guarantee fund, 
which was most liberally responded to by the “ merchant 
| princes ” here, and in a very few days over 41300 was 
| guaranteed by sums of 415 each. That the first Manchester 
i Poultry Show should be worthy of their city, they deter¬ 
mined to give prizes equal to those given at other large 
exhibitions, in order to induce the first breeders in the 
country to send their birds. I think they wisely resolved 
not to restrict an exhibitor to one pen of any particular 
class, thereby giving the amateur the chance of taking all 
the prizes, if he could, in any particular class. One regula¬ 
tion, I would suggest, should be altered in future shows; it 
was “ no person (with the exception of cottagers) could 
exhibit without being a subscriber of 10s.” This gave him 
the privilege of showing four pens of birds and having two 
admission tickets. The reason is obvious : a subscriber of 
10s., having four pens, sent inferior specimens to fill up 
his allowance. There should always be a fixed charge per 
j pen as well as per ticket. Had this been the case here, I 
I believe the committee would have found themselves better 
■ off in a pecuniary point of view. The committee are de¬ 
serving of the highest praise for their courtesy and un¬ 
wearied exertions. I know many of them were in the Free 
Trade Hall, each day, from the opening to the closing of 
the exhibition, and suffered severely in consequence of the 
fatigue. The Amateur Prize of £5, for the best cock of five 
different breeds, afforded a fine opportunity to breeders of 
purchasing first-class stud birds, and I think is worthy of 
being copied at other exhibitions. The fine specimens 
exhibited here showed how exhibitors appreciated this i 
prize. I think the liberality of Mr. John S. Henry, of 
Woodlands, Crimpsall, a member of the committee, ought 
to be made known: it was he who so handsomely pre¬ 
sented this prize. Although I find he was an exhibitor 
amongst the Cochins, I regret that his liberality was not 
rewarded by a prize ; but I doubt not that in a future occa¬ 
sion he will be more successful, as he has since purchased 
some of the best blood in the country. Your correspondent’s 
remarks about the Cochins exhibited are very true; they 
were, indeed, with few exceptions, “ a bad lot.” Many of 
them were sold, the day after the exhibition, at auction, for 
the most ridiculously high prices for such specimens; and 
why ? because they were puffed off as remarkably short¬ 
legged birds, and the produce, of poultry belonging to our 
first breeders. One black cock, who, amongst a lot of very 
poor ones, had a prize here, was sold, after much compe¬ 
tition, for A’8 10s. But there is nothing like a good 
puff for selling fowls, as everything else. Really, Messrs. 
Sturgeon and l’unchard’s yards have been very much drawn 
upon for fine specimens and pedigrees. These gentlemen 
have much to complain of. If you think this worthy of 
notice, I shall be glad to inform you how “ Manchester 
Poultry ” progress.—J. R. 
[We concur in the opinion of the writer of the above, that 
“pen-money” is likely to serve a good purpose in future 
Poultry Exhibitions, not merely as adding to their receipts, 
but as affording a useful check against too many entries 
on the part of a single individual. A graduated scale, after 
the manner of the assessed taxes on carriages or horses, 
might aid such a plan. The regulations at present in force, 
where this restriction is exercised, are notoriously evaded, 
the names of wives, relations, friends, and servants, who 
have no bona fide ownership in the birds, being continually 
employed to secure the admission of the extra number. A 
rule that is thus infringed with impunity becomes one of 
those things that are more hononred in the breach than the 
observance. We must congratulate Manchester on its late 
debut in the poultry arena, and have sanguine anticipations ; 
for its second season.] 
HARDY BORDER PLANTS. 
ERICA CARNEA. 
This Heath of “ flesh-coloured ” flowers is often called 
E. hcrbacea, the Herbaceous, or the Early-flowering Heath. 
It is a little shrubb}', or under-shrubby, evergreen plant; 
is of procumbent habit, and still forms one of the snuggest 
little bunches that can be introduced into our flower borders, 
whether as a marginal plant to shrub plantations, a bunch- 
bed to itself, or as a mixed plant with other hardy 
herbaceous plants. Wherever planted, it should always be 
a front plant in the beds from its dwarfness, its height 
being from six to nine inches. 
It will thrive in almost any good garden soil, and in any j 
situation ; so that it might be “ every one’s plant; ” but the 
soil most suitable to it is a mixture of one-half peat, well 
worked in with one-half common garden soil, and if with a 
spadeful or two of leaf-mould, all the better. This mixture 
should be used ns a top dressing round about and in among I 
the stems of such plants. 
Though it will root from cuttings, like all the rest of its 
long family—the Heaths—yet, where the old-established 
bunches are kindly attended to once a-year, keeping their 
stems well top-dressed, as before said, all its stems that 
come in contact with the earth beneath or about them will 
put out abundance of roots, which enables the plant to be 
readily increased by rooted slips. Occasionally, an old plant 
taken up affords an abundant increase by division, like other j 
common herbaceous plants. 
Although this plant is a native of the Alps and mountainous 
parts of Germany, I have always found it to flourish best in 
