GG 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ May, 
or two affords, if he admires the Cyclamen, had 
better leave C. -persicuvi alone, and turn his 
attention to the hardy varieties I have named. 
Seedlings may be raised in heat, and afterwards 
be potted on and grown up to the blooming 
stage; but a few shillings will go a very long 
•way in purchasing flowering bulbs, and then 
one has not long to wait for the satisfaction 
of seeing their flowers. One must, of 
course, admit that Cyclamens in the nooks of 
root-work, as so charmingly displayed in Mr. 
G. F. Wilson’s garden at Weybridge, or on well- 
constructed rockwork, as the late respected Mr. 
J. M‘Nab caused their beauty to appear in the 
Edinburgh Garden of Botany ; or, perhaps, 
better than all, when seen nestling in the sweet 
copartnery of tender young grass and early daf¬ 
fodils on the unmoivn lawn, are singularly beau¬ 
tiful—singularly so, because unlike any other 
flower. And yet, if it so please you to grow 
them thus and thus, forget not that, grown in 
pots and sheltered in a frame, as I am so anxious 
to recommend, they throw their bright blossoms 
up taller and stronger, their foliage is fiesher, 
and one can make more intimate pets of them, 
by bringing them into our room and wdndow- 
gardens, at a time wdien domestic flowers are 
rare. A friend reminds me that a hardy Cycla¬ 
men in a pot seems to be analogous to a lark 
in a cage, adding that both are really more 
happy and beautiful when nestling at home on 
the cool turf. Nevertheless, I must record my 
own impressions, and, at least, draw the atten¬ 
tion of those who have no root-work, or rock- 
work, or turf, to the possibility of growing these 
lovely spring flowers in pots; and if they achieve 
only a tithe of the success that Mr. Barr has 
done, they will, I am sure, be quite satisfied 
with having ventured on their culture in the 
way I describe. — F. W. Buebidge. 
PEAK KOUSSELET DE RlIEEMS. 
VENTURE to bring to the notice of those 
^ of your poniological readers who may 
be located upon the New Red Sandstone 
foimation, as in my own case, the merits of 
this old, but perhaps the most delicious, of all 
pears. The generality of pears and apples, as 
grown on this soil, are quite woolly in texture 
and flavourless, fit only for culinary purposes. 
To this lule there are, of course, a feve excep¬ 
tions, which, in this instance, is of such a 
striking and remarkable character, as should 
rescue this pear from the oblivion to which it 
appears consigned, for I do not find the name 
in any trade catalogue. 
The particular points in favour of this pear 
are flavour and annual productiveness. It has 
but one fault—want of size ; but so also has 
Seckel, the only one to approach it in flavour. 
The late Mr. R. Thompson, of Chiswick, in 
the Catalogue of the Horticultural Society^ de¬ 
scribes it as “ peculiarly rich and sugary,” and 
it has both qualities in a very high degree, 
without the cloying and honied sweetness of 
the Seckel. Rovsselet petit^ Eoiisselet mtisque\ 
and Girofle are given as synonyms. 
The tree, as growing here, on a wall with a 
west aspect, is a very moderate grower, pro¬ 
ducing freely an abundance of bearing wood, 
which never fails to bring a crop to perfection, 
in the end of September, when my employers 
and their friends (no mean judges) pronounce 
it to be the most delicious of pears. Surely 
such a fruit should not be elbowed out of culti¬ 
vation by others possessing far less real merit, 
though they may have more novelt}'.—J. W. 
Laurence, Newstead Abbey, Nottingham. 
CUCUMBER DISEASE v. MANURE. 
BSERVING at p. 63 that Mr. Crump, 
of Blenheim, attributes the Cucumber 
disease to the use of dung in the com¬ 
post, I beg to be allowed to say that I differ 
with him in that opinion, as I have proved by 
experience that both dung and leaves are power¬ 
ful aids in Cucumber cultivation. If the use 
of manure is injurious, how comes it that 
Cucumbers succeed so well under the old hot¬ 
bed and three-light-frame mode of culture, 
where the accommodation of a Cucumber-house 
does not exist ? 
I am strengthened in my opinion that manure 
is not the source of the disease, by my ex¬ 
perience during the last season, when I had 
charge of a house of Cucumbers that were 
planted on a bed of dung and leaves, about 
three feet deep and five feet wide: and 
when the roots began to push through, 
they were alternately top-dressed with horse- 
droppings and turfy loam, and were frequently 
watered wnth sewage water when heavily cropped. 
They were well supplied with atmospheric 
moisture. The minimum temperature was 65", 
and when they were shut up and heavily 
syringed, the thermometer ran up over DO'b 
They came into bearing in May, and from then 
to the end of September about 400 fruit were 
cut from half a dozen plants; the variety was 
that Cucumber par excellence for all purposes, 
the Telegraph. Looking to the result, I do not 
think there was any cause to complain of dung 
having been used in their cultivation.— Geo. 
PoTTe, Jun., Epsom. 
