THE COTTAGE GAEDENEll. October 2. 
cording to Coxe, to IMr. Seclde (not Seckel) of Philadel¬ 
phia, and lienee the origin of the name. Downing says, 
“ the precise origin of the Seckel Pear is unknown. The 
following niorceau of its history may be relied on as au¬ 
thentic, it having been related by the late venerable 
Bishop White, whose tenacity of memory is well known* 
About 1705, when the Bishop was a lad, there was a 
well-known sportsman and cattle dealer in Philadelphia, 
who was familiarly known as “ Dutch Jacob.” Every 
season, early in the autumn, on returning from his 
shooting excursion, Dutch Jacob regaled his neighbours 
with Pears of an unusually delicious flavour, the secret 
of whose place of growth, however, he would never sa¬ 
tisfy their curiosity by divulging. At length, the Hol¬ 
land Land Company, owning a considerable tract south 
of the city, disposed of it in parcels, and Dutcb Jacob 
then secured the ground on which his favourite Pear-tree 
stood,—a fine strip of land near the Delaware. Not long 
afterwards it became tlie farm of Mr. Seckel, who intro¬ 
duced this remarkable fruit to public notice, and it re- ! 
ceived its name.” | 
We have thought proper to adopt the orthography of i 
the name as given by Coxe, in opposition to that of the j 
Horticultural Society’s Catalogue, which Downing fob j 
lows; because Coxe resided at Philadelifliia, and must i 
have known whether Mr. Seckel spelt his name Sechle \ 
or Seekel; and as the only reason assigned for altering ! 
it is, that it is supposed, Mr. Scckle was of German dc- j 
scent, and there is no name known among the Germans I 
spelt seckZ^. In our opinion, not a suliicient plea for the I 
alteration, in opposition to the authority of Coxe. j 
CRYSTAL PALACE.— 19 xh September. * 
As I had chosen the middle of September, last year, ' 
for examining the details of the first planting of the 
flower-gardens at the Crystal Palace, and in order to 
have the means for a just comparison between the first 
and second planting, I had no choice left me this ' 
season for the time of my annual visit of inquiry into ' 
the progress of the art, as exemplified by the planters ! 
at this grand national establishment. Y^ou cannot j 
fairly compare a flower-garden in June, July, or August, 
with the same flower-garden in September. ! 
If the season has been favourable, like the present, a 
flower-garden ought to be at the highest pitch of, 
brilliancy from the 10th of August to the 10th or 1 
20th of September; and certainly, at the time of my 
visit, the flower-gardens here were in splendid bloom, 
and in the highest order of good keeping. Y’ou could 
not see a dead flower, a broken-down plant, a yellow or | 
curled leaf, or a yard of grass, or gravel, which was not j 
as smooth, and short, and clean, as if the whole garden 
had been “ gone over ” that morning on purpose for 
some grand party. 
Below the grand terrace there are four times more 
1 flowers this season than were there last year, and there 
i are many additions to the kinds of flowers in use, the 
j of which are the China Asters and the 
j Dahlias. At a rough guess, I should say there are i 
I between two and three thousand Dahlias planted there.! 
! this -season. All the shrubberies and fronts of planta- i 
tions were alive with them. 
1 do not know a single individual connected with 
j t icse gardens, after Sir Josejih Paxton, who is now only 
a consulting oracle to the firm, therefore, there can be 
no “ confederacy ” between them, or any of them and 
your humble servant; still, I have the satisfaction to be 
now able to report, that everything in the arrangements 
of the plants and planting with which I was not 
particularly well pleased last year, has been changed 
this season: not, however, from anything that I said 
against them, — which was very little, and will be 
found in our volume for this time last year,—but from 
the palpahility, if there is such a wmrd, of the errors 
themselves. 
There is a great deal of improvement in the planting 
I of the different parts below the grand terrace from what 
the planting was last year, and there is a considerable 
departure from last year’s arrangements on the terrace 
garden; however, it is no improvement, but rather the 
contrary. I have no idea who decides on the different 
arrangements of plants and colours here for the season; 
but, from the disposition of the colours, particularly 
this season, I am certain that no lady is on the com¬ 
mittee, and I never yet knew a man who could grasp 
so much witliout some slight mistakes during the first 
few years; but to balance that, there is no system of 
flower-gardening so good, in the long run, as that 
system which a clever man undertakes at his own 
risk and responsibility, because he is constantly alive to 
its improvement in every way in which the situation, 
the soil, the aspect, and the various tribes of flower- 
garden plants will assist him. 
There is one radical error, or an error of principle, 
in the planting of the two great chain-patterns this 
season. Last year there was an error of taste, if you 
will allow the expression, in this part of the chain, and 
I alluded to it in my report; 1 mean, the connecting 
band, which is two feet wide and three feet long, being 
planted with the Emma Verbena, the beds which were 
thus connected being in scarlet and yellow. These 
beds are just the same as they were last year; but the 
black or dark purple band is dropped, and Tom Thumhs 
are used instead; that is, two large flower-beds on the 
right of Tom Thumh are joined to two large beds ditto 
on the left, by the very plant which forms the ground¬ 
colour of every bed in a chain, which may be -300 yards 
long! This is the first time, in my experience, that I have 
met with a plant, which is the real jJant for the situa¬ 
tion, destroying a given design. A gold chain is a gold 
chain all the world over, and it is made of many patterns, 
still, every link of it is of gold, whatever the sizes may 
be. On this principle the chain-pattern at the Crystal 
Palace is planted this season; every link in it is of the 
same metal, and the large links are inlaid with yellow. 
Last year, every third link was of steel, and I suggested 
frosted silver instead; but, certainly, if it could be so 
managed, every link should be (as it now is) of the 
same metal, and by being so the character of the chain 
is destroyed. The plants in the narrow bands which 
connect the beds are as tall as the plants in the beds 
themselves; this turns the chain into a rope, and no 
one who did not see the pattern last year could believe 
that it is what it is, a chain-pattern, instead of a 
continuous rope with swellings at regular distances. 
Apart from all idea of the ground pattern, and looking 
at the thing as a mass of rich colouring, nothing 
could be more richly gorgeous; and if the present 
planting will be repeated, there is a way of doing it 
without breaking the character of the pattern. 'The 
narrow stripes which connect the main beds must 
bo planted with the smallest late spring cuttings of 
2'om Thumb, and the ground must not be so rich as that 
of the beds. Then, by stopping, the young Toms may 
be kept low enough to mark these narrow divisions as 
distinct from the main beds, and the pattern will be 
understood at once by any one. 
After all, I still hold to my first impression, that the 
