ISO 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Junb 28, 1859. 
short, very slender peduncles. Calyx two-lipped ; the upper lip 
nearly entire, and the lower one divided into three small, very 
acute teeth. Standard, orbicular, emarginate, scarcely reflexed, 
orange, marked at the base with lines of crimson. Wings small, 
orange. Keel small, dull crimson. 
One of the most profuse blooming and graceful of our green¬ 
house plants. The sleader-droopiug branches are, in April and 
May, literally clothed with its small but lovely blossoms. It 
should be freely pinched in its growing season, to induce the 
formation of plenty of branches ; for those of the present season’s 
growth are the flower-bearers of the following spring. Two parts 
of good peat and one of light fibry loam, freely mixed with sand, 
mako an excellent compost for it. Cuttings of partially-ripened 
shoots root freely in a cool frame; and the best plants are pro¬ 
duced from cuttings, but it abo ripens seeds.—S. G, W. 
OLD-FASHIONED FLOWERS. 
“ I would give almost anything for early spring flowers, par¬ 
ticularly the old-fashioned flowers of my childhood,” was the ex¬ 
clamation of a lady in the Leeds new market; and how many of 
the readers of The Cottage Gardener would do the same, if 
they could lay hands on them. 
There is one class of old-fashioned flowers much neglected,—I 
allude to the Gentians. The common Gentianella i3 not so much 
grown as formerly. It is said all soils do not suit it; but it might 
be better kept if it got rather more moisture. The best edgings 
of it I remember seeing were kept without any extra care, along 
with rare Sedurns and Saxifrages, in an old-fashioned garden at¬ 
tached to a house within a stone’s throw from where I write 
this, at one time the residence of the celebrated writer, Currer 
Bell, the subsoil of the garden a strong clay. 
The beautiful (?. verna is not so common as it ought to be. 
In fact, it is rare to meet with it in gardens, and is highly 
priced by nurserymen. Why it should be so I cannot tell. A 
pot plant was valued at half-a-crown by one a few weeks since. 
The account given by Baines, in his “Flora of Yorkshire,” 
shows it to be very common in Teesdale. He writes,—“This 
little plant, one of the most beautiful of Flora’s gems, will grow 
Well in pots or the open border, if planted in a mixture of fresh 
hazel loam and pebbles, even in the smoke of a city. On the 
Durham side of the Tees thousands of acres are studded with 
its bright blue flowers. No district of the same extent in the 
kingdom will reward the botanist with so rich a harvest as 
Teesdale.’* 
Will some of your Teesdale readers tell us if it is as common 
now as when the above was written ?— Rustic Robin. 
[We quite sympathise with “Rustic Robin” in his love of 
“old-fashioned flowers.” We remember a garden “long, long 
ago,” of whicli Rockets, Moss Roses, Globe Thistles, Solomon’s 
Seal, Honesty, and many such-like, were the chief ornaments. 
We never loved a garden better than that. We shall be glad of 
notes on “old-fashioned flowers.”— Eds.] 
ALOES v. APHIS. 
Like many others, I have been much disappointed at the non- 
success of aloes as a destroyer of the green fly, or aphis, which, in 
this district, is proving very destructive this season. Immediately 
after reading your correspondent’s letter in which he stated how 
successful aloes had been in his hands in destroying this garden 
pest, I obtained some and dissolved it according to the instruc¬ 
tions given. I applied it for several successive days to an infected 
Rose tree, but without producing the least beneficial effect. I 
think the gentleman who made the statement should let us know 
where it is we are all wrong ; for surely it cannot be the aloes 
that is at fault. That would prove your correspondent to have 
been much more careless in his observations than any one ought 
to be who publishes the result of his observations for the guid¬ 
ance of the public.—A Warwickshire Correspondent. 
Having seen in The Cottage Gardener a request that all 
who have tried aloes on the green fly would give you the result 
of their experiments, I write to inform you, that I have for some 
weeks trGd its effect in the proportion of 1 lb. of the best Burba- 
does aloes to six gallons of water on my Roses and Cinerarias. I 
have both dipped the shoots and syringed them, and I have no 
hesitation in saying that it is perfectly worthless as a remedy. It 
neither destroys the fly nor prevents its return. 
Two days ago I syringed a Rose tree with a much stronger 
solution than the above, completely clearing the tree of every 
aphis. The result is, that the foliage is almost black from the 
quantity of aloes on it, and there is not a shoot that is not at this 
moment covered with green fly. 
The only cure for the fly on the Roses is tobacco smoke, which 
I have applied effectually in the following manner. 1 put over 
the tree a wire frame covered with brown paper, and over it a 
brown-holland cover, which I tie round the stem of the plant. I 
insert one of Brown’s fuuiigators at the tie, and one or two turns 
are sufficient to fill the cover. In about ten minutes every fly is 
dead. If the cover is removed sooner the fly revives. The 
operation is rather long if you have many Roses, but it is effectual, 
and your bloom repays you for your trouble. As Brown’s fumi- 
gator throws out the smoke cold, it does not in any way injure 
the plants.—M. F. W. 
FRUITS and FRUIT TREES of GREAT BRITAIN. 
(Continued from page 109.) 
When the season of spring pears has passed ; when Josephine 
de Malines, Beurre de Ranee, and others of the same merit are 
over, we gladly return to apples again; for those pairs that 
prolong the season till May are, after all, rarely worthy of a place 
in the dessert, so far as their flavour is concerned. It is true 
they are called “melting pears,” but in reality they are only half 
melting, or crisp, and their flavour is only a sweetness without 
aroma. It is, therefore, an agreeable change to fall back upon a 
good Stunner Pippin or Ashmead’s Kernel, with their richly- 
sugared, sprightly juicy, and high aromatic flavour. Of this 
class of Apples there are, unfortunately, too few, and it is, there¬ 
fore, with pleasure that I am enabled to introduce to our readers 
the two following sorts, which will take rank with those already 
named. 
No. XXI. —Duke of Devonshire Apple. 
Fruit fragrant; about medium size, two inches and a half 
wide, and two inches and a quarter high. The shape is roundish 
ovate, even, and regularly formed. 
Skin of a uniform lemon yellow colour, but approaching an 
orange yellow, and with a dull red cheek on the side next the 
sun; it has several large, thinly-spread russet dots, and thin 
veins of russet over the surface. 
Ft/e large and open, with incurved, broad, flat segments, set in 
a deep and rather wide basin. 
Stalk very short, and but very slightly depressed. 
Flesh yellowish, crisp, and very juicy ; juice rich and sugary, 
with a fine aroma. 
A first-rate dessert apple which ripens about February, and 
keeps till the end of May. 
This excellent apple was raised at Holker Hall, Lancashire, in 
1S35, by Mr. Wilson, gardener to the present Duke of Devon¬ 
shire. The original tree has attained a considerable size, is very 
healthy, and exhibhs no symptoms of canker. Tn the foliage it 
