52 
THE FLORIST AND rOMOLOGIST. 
[ April, 
though tinged with regret, yet, with Tenny¬ 
son, the writer feels,— 
7 I 
“ ’Tis better to have loved and lost, 
Than never to have loved at all.” 
—Samuel Barlow, Stalcehill House , Ccistleton , 
near Manchester. 
PITMASTON DUCHESS PEAR. 
MONGST those Pears that have been the 
least affected by the adverse character 
of the season, that handsome sort, the 
Pitmaston Duchesse (VA ngoiileme, stands out 
pre-eminent. Here it has certainly been the 
finest Pear of the year. Both pyramids 
and bushes have cropped abundantly, and 
perfected fruit of excellent quality—I may 
say, almost equal to the produce of ordinary 
years—which is saying much for its behaviour 
in this untoward season, when so many of 
our best sorts are absolutely worthless. The 
Duchess possesses every favourable point to 
recommend it, as it is a vigorous grower, pos¬ 
sessing a hardy constitution, and being likely to 
thrive on any soil, and to prove a prolific bearer, 
while it produces large melting fruit of the rich¬ 
est quality. This variety, as it becomes better 
known, is destined to be extensively grown for 
market, for which, in my opinion, it has no 
equal, and I confidently recommend it. 
The behaviour of the majority of Pears this 
season is somewhat remarkable. Many of the 
sorts upon which we usually depend for supplies 
are perfectly worthless—being small in size, 
dry, cracked, and specky. Amongst such are 
Jargonelle , Williams’s Boil Chretien , Beurre 
Biel , Louise Bonne of Jersey , Gansel's Ber¬ 
gamot, Passe Colmar , Knight’s Monarch, 
&c. Very late sorts are not likely to ripen. 
Amongst those which have produced fruits 
approaching to the average size and quality 
may be named :— Beurre de Amanlis , British 
Queen , Doyenne Boussoch , Swan's Egg , Mare- 
chal de Coni' , Doyenne' da Comice , as pyra¬ 
mids. From walls, the very best have been 
Marie Louise, Winter Nelis, General Tocltlehen , 
Tnomphe de Jocloigne, Josephine de Malines , 
Durondeau, Beurre Bose , and Beurre Sterclc- 
mans , all of which have ripened well. —Geo. 
W estland, Wit ley Court. 
[A. S., writing in the Gardeners ’ Chronicle 
not long since, states that out of a collection 
of upwards of thirty kinds of Pears, grown 
as pyramids in a heavy, coldish soil, the 
Pitmaston Duchesse d’Angoideme has, during 
the past unfavourable season, maintained 
its high character better than any other 
variety, and that he had gathered eighty-two 
splendid fruit from a small tree, “ All things 
considered, ’ he says, ‘’it may, I think, be 
pronounced the best pear we possess, being a 
strong, healthy grower, and combining the 
three chief requisites of size, quality, and pro¬ 
ductiveness. Madame Treyve, British Queen , 
and Doyenne du Comice are also good, while 
Louis Bonne , Beurre Diet , and some others 
are worthless.’’] 
DAHLIA COCCINEA AS 
DECORATIVE PLANT. 
A 
EW of our garden flowers are more truly 
) [6 decorative than this old-fashioned but 
< 5r little known Dahlia—a single-flowered 
Dahlia, as might be disparagingly said by the 
florist, whose so-called double Dahlias must be 
perfect models of symmetry, high-crowned and 
full-centred ; while the Dahlia coccinea pre¬ 
sents to view its yellow disk and star-like 
arrangement of ray florets of the most brilliant 
orange-scarlet, and is not only graceful in 
habit, but showy and attractive in the extreme 
—more so than most flowers, in consequence 
of its winning colour. Dahlia coccinea , in its 
type form, grows about 3 ft. in height; has a 
purplish stem which appears grayish, from the 
numerous short, stiff hairs which cover it ; and 
orange-scarlet, showy blossoms, which are pro¬ 
duced in profusion for a long period. 
Of this very showy flower-border plant, we 
have had the good-fortune to obtain from seeds 
some remarkably distinct and handsome varie¬ 
ties, some more particularly adapted for bedding 
purposes, and others suitable for the mixed- 
flower border. They are not florists’ flowers, 
nor suited to the taste of the florist, but all 
lovers of graceful and elegant flowers will at 
once welcome them for the summer and autumn 
decoration of their borders and parterres. 
The two following varieties are especially 
adapted for beds, being not only dwarf in 
habit, but exceedingly floriferous. The habit 
of one of them, named Scarlet Dwarf, is -well 
shown by the accompanying woodcut, pre¬ 
pared from a sketch taken by Mr. W. Gl. 
Smith in the Chelsea Botanic Garden. This 
plant was about 2-^ ft. in height, and had, at 
the time the drawing was made, as many as 
sixty blossoms either expanded or in an ad- 
