1878.] 
ON THE PRESENT FAILURE IN THE APPLE AND PEAR CROPS. 
113 
AZALEA DUKE OF EDINBURGH. 
[Plate 
f HIS very fine English seedling Azalea 
indica was raised by Mr. A. Parsons, 
gardener to Captain Blake, at Danes- 
bury, Welwyn, a thoroughly practical gardener, 
and one who has always had a great regard for 
florists’ flowers, and been esteemed for many 
years as one of the best judges of that class of 
productions. We have to thank our old friend 
Mr. Parsons—our frequent colleague as a floral 
censor—for the flowers represented in the 
accompanying plate, which well represents the 
fine form and character of the variety, but 
fails, as artificial colours must do, to give more 
than an indication of its brilliancy. 
The variety is called Duke of Edinburgh. 
It is of free-growing, vigorous habit, with 
472.] 
healthy foliage of the usual character. The 
flowers are very large and stout, very smooth 
both on the surface and at the margin, and 
abundantly produced ; their colour is a bright 
rich salmon-red, the upper side of the flower 
being moderately spotted with deep crimson. 
The solid, though not heavy, colouring, and 
the large size of the blossoms, place it in the 
first rank of ornamental varieties, since it 
combines effectiveness with floral qualities of a 
very high order. 
A First-class Certificate was awarded to the 
Duke of Edinburgh on May 3, 1870, when it 
was exhibited before the Floral Committee, 
and no award of that body could be better 
deserved.—T, Moore. 
ON THE PRESENT FAILURE IN THE APPLE AND PEAR CROPS, 
AND THE CAUSES WHICH HAVE LED TO IT. 
« HE present season, although not so dis¬ 
astrous to fruit-growers as the two 
immediately preceding it, has yet dis¬ 
appointed the hopes of those who, encouraged 
by the absence of frost in May, and a promise, 
in many cases, of abundance of fruit, were led 
to expect exceptionally favourable results. An 
inquiry into the causes which have led to so 
great a failure in the crops of Apples and Pears 
may not be without interest to your pomological 
readers. 
Turning to our meteorological register, I 
find that the weather from February 20 to 
March 8 was of a character to encourage the 
action of vegetation. An average niglit-tem- 
perature of 40° in the air, a maximum tempera¬ 
ture ranging from 52° to C0°, and an earth- 
temperature of 44° most certainly gave an early 
stimulus to fruit-trees, and expanding and 
bursting buds sufficiently told how much fruit- 
trees had been excited by the unusual warmth 
of an early spring season. From March 9 to March 
21, there was a gradually declining temperature, 
with intervals of abnormal warmth, until the 
21st; but the weather was not unfavourable, 
and the rapidly-budding fruit-trees remained 
without a serious check until the 21st, when a 
great depression of temperature occurred, and 
lasted until the 7th April. During this period 
frost was recorded with greater or less severity 
No. 8. imperial series.— x. 
on every night, while the earth-heat, instead of 
advancing with the season, fell from 44° to 40°. 
Perhaps less apprehension was felt in regard 
to the action of this weather on fruit-trees 
because, in the majority of cases, the fruit- 
blossom had not expanded, and the folded 
petals seemed sufficiently to guard the delicate 
organs of fructification ; but the experience of 
this season has taught us that the susceptibility 
to injury by weather of the blossom-buds of 
Pears and Apples, is greater at a period prior 
to the full development of the flower than when 
the flower is fully expanded ; and a lesson like 
this is of great value, warning us to be early 
in placing protective material on our trees in 
spring, and telling us, in orchard-house man¬ 
agement, at what moment a certain heat is 
essential. 
The question as to the period at which the 
flower-bud and expanded blossom are most 
susceptible to injury from weather is an in¬ 
teresting one. The results of the present 
season appear to me to confirm the opinion I 
have expressed above, that a given amount of 
frost is more fatal when inflicted on unde¬ 
veloped than fully expanded flowers. The vital 
energy of a tree is greatest when its blossoms 
are expanded, and the individual vitality of 
each flower is greater at the time of its perfect 
expansion than at an earlier period, and the 
