138 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 21. 
Cadet, which is said to ripen in succession for three or 
four months; in winter, a valuable quality ; but this Pear 
is only fit for private use, as, though it were shining 
yellow, it is too small for a fashionable dessert. 
Unless you have fruit amateurs round the table, never 
| dish the very largest or the smallest specimens of any 
given variety; never put too many on a dish, which 
looks vulgar; and rather go without, than introduce a 
scanty supply, or fruit out of condition, which looks 
stingy. The best dinner in London, and the best wines, 
too, go for nothing, if the dessert is not good and served 
up m first-rate style. If the proper name of each 
fruit is not written, in a plain hand, on a slip of paper, 
and stuck on the dish between two fruit, it is a sign 
that you want to spare the wine, and follow the ladies 
into the drawing-room, without raising a Pomological 
discussion on the merits of this or that kind of fruit. 
The next best sample of Pears was from Mr. Tillyard, 
gardener to the Right Hon. the Speaker, at Heckfield. 
The finest looking of these, and the best looking Pear in 
England, is the Forelle, or Trout Pear. This was nearly 
scarlet on the sunny side, and golden-yellow on the 
other, dotted all over, like a trout, with faint dots; this 
Pear is soon in and soon out, but it is a good bearer, 
and a hardy sort; below the middle size, but by no 
means a small Pear; and being long, it is easily dished 
in any shape, and no one ought to miss it for a select 
party in November. SecJcel is another Pear of the same 
stamp and character, but not so good-looking as the 
Trout Pear. Grossc Calabasse, and Duchesse d' Angoulcme, 
were also in this lot, but their enormous size is much 
against them, and they require the best aspect on a wall 
to ripen them properly; and they are not worth it, unless 
it were to give ono to a sportsman just returned from 
the covers, and dying of thirst. 15ut the best of all 
Pears, “ when you catch it,” the old Brou n Beurre, 
was beside them ; a very tender and uncertain kind, 
however; but, like the Cabbage Rose among Roses, 
is the Brown Beurre, when in first-rate order. There 
were several other collections of Pears in the room ; and 
Louise Bonne of Jersey, from Mr. Rivers, to prove that 
the Quince stock improves the flavour of some Pears, 
at least. 
There was a beautiful dish of Coe's Golden Drop Plum, 
from Mr. Hill, gardener to R. Sneyd, Esq., of Steely 
Hall, Staffordshire, the author of “ Shot Silk,” for the 
variegated Geranium bed and the Verbena venosa. 
Lots of Pine Apples, — Montserrats, Queens, Smootli- 
leaved Cayenne, and Enville, and all with large, leafy 
crowns this time. The autumn was so hot, that all the 
air they could give them could not check this growth in 
the crowns; and it seems a kind of relief to know that ' 
we are not worse off than our neighbours in growing 
Pines. My own Pines were never so small in the crowns 
as at this season, for they had none at all. Two 
beautiful match Pines, Montserrats , from Mr. Fleming, 
were the best,—one was 51b. loz., the other 4lb. lOoz. 
i Two Queens and a Smooth-leaved Cayenne, from Mr. 
! James, gardener at Ponty Pool Park, were the next best. 
The Cayenne weighed 41b 12oz., one Queen 41b., and the 
other 31b 1 loz. Two large Envilles, one of them 
weighing Gib. loz., the other 5lb. The heaviest was from 
Mr. Ogle, gardener to the Earl of Abergavenny; and | 
the other from Mr. Elms, gardener, Winsdale House, 
j Exeter. 
Among Grapes, Mr. Forbes, gardener to the Duko of 
Bedford, sent three large bunches of the finest-looking 
| Blach Hamborouyhs I have seen this season. He and 
Mr. Fleming are the best packers of Grapes of all the 
exhibitors. Go whatever distance they will, the bloom 
on their Grapes is sure to be as fresh and sound as 
when they left home. This is another subject for which 
we must look to the Pomological Society for instructions. 
| There were other fruits, besides Grapes, at this Meeting, 
much hurt by packing. One bunch of the Barbarossa 
Grape, weighing 21b. 8oz., was from Mr. Webb, 
gardener to Sir Jasper Atkinson ; and Blade Hambro’ 
Grapes from Mr. Muirhead, gardener to Lord Charles 
Wellesley. They were to show that mildewed plants 
may produce fine Grapes if the blight is battled with in 
time; and Mr. Muirhead sent word that he found i 
McAdam’s anti-blight composition the most effective \ 
cure for his Vines: bis bunches looked pictures of 
health and cleanliness, and they were nearly 21b. each, 
notwithstanding a severe attack of Vine-disease at first. 
Mr. Ingram sent a beautiful lot of his seedling Straw¬ 
berry, called Prince of Wales, from the Royal Garden, 
at Frogmore. They were the second gathering from 
forced plants, and held on since the middle of September; 
he also sent the finest-looking Kidney Beans I ever 
saw, from a cold pit, without heat; they were long, flat, 
and tender, without the smallest sign of seeds inside, 
and called Mohawk, and if they are good bearers, and 
tolerably hardy, I should say no Dwarf Bean excels 
them. 
A new way to pay old debts was shown by Mr. Till¬ 
yard, in the fleshy roots of Oxalis Deppii, which were 
so waxy as to stick in one’s throat, when we used them 
as kitchen stuff; but now, he says, they will pay the 
damage, if you preserve them in sugar. I should really 
think this would answer well for helping out the dessert 
in winter, just as they preserve lettuce-stalks, in imita¬ 
tion of green Ginger. I have often used this mock 
Ginger in the dessert, and 1 would quarter the Oxalis 
roots, which look like stumpy, unripe Parsnips, and very 
white inside, for the same purpose in the dessert. 
Miscellaneous. —There were not many odds and ends 
exhibited at this Meeting. Mr. Rivers, the great Rose- 
grower, sent two Atlas Cedar-trees, four or five feet high, 
in pots having holes all round the sides, such as some use 
for Orchids, and roots were fibering out through all 
the boles. This is a very good nursery plan, to secure 
plenty of roots without cork-screwing {hem in the pots ; 
but for private use, and temporary purposes, little, flat 
hampers, or even fish-baskets, are preferred by gardeners 
to nurse pet and rare plants in, for a few seasons before 
they plant them out for good. 
Mr. Dodds, gardener to Colonel Baker, of Salisbury, 
sent a very neat-made frame, thatched with straw, for 
covering cold pits, and hot pits, or any other pits, instead 
of mats. A frame of the same size as the glass light, 
with cross-bars, is covered with a thick layer of wheat- 
straw, and the straw is fastened to all the cross-bars with 
tarred twine, and they last many years. 
There were specimens of a Bamboo, from John 
Luscome, Esq., of Combe Royal, in Devonshire, which 
grows to a great height out-of-doors with him. It looks 
much like the hardy Bamboo, which Lord Hardinge 
sent from India, a few years since. D. Beaton. 
GIVING AIR. 
“ Winter is now coming on us, and I feel perplexed 
about your rules of much and little air-giving, to suit 
different plants. Will not the house soon become of 
the same temperature all over, even when most air is 
given at one place ; then why the necessity of arranging 
the plants in groups? I take nature for my guide, and 
like to see my plants regularly mixed.” There is no 
necessity for disputing your taste. To a certain extent, 
a man may do “ what he likes with his own,” provided 
he touches on no privilege or right of his neighbours; 
and this you are not likely to do by arranging your 
plants just as best pleases you. The basis of your 
theory—a uniformity of temperature in the house—is 
’ quite a different matter. Have you experienced the 
! same sensation, as respects heat, when seated near an 
