1880.] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
187 
growing, but of these some come in early and 
some late, and are thereby useful to be culti¬ 
vated as auxiliaries to the main crop. In fine 
autumns and mild winters, in the Home Coun¬ 
ties, Raspberries have ripened in November.— 
Alex. Forsyth, Salford. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
HE Annual Exhibition of Apples and 
Pears held at Hereford, by the Wool- 
hope Naturalists’ Field Club, took 
place on October 27th. Nearly 2,000 dishes of fruit 
were exhibited, and the greater portion of the 
exhibits were of the highest possible excellence. 
In the first division, set apart for “ professional” 
exhibitors, the first prize, for a collection of dessert 
Apples, went to Mr. Lewis Killick, Maidstone, whose 
collection consisted of twenty-eight dishes, all good, 
and many of them handsome and highly coloured. 
The sorts were—Duchess of Oldenburg, Worcester 
Pearmain, Blenheim Pippin, Golden Knob, Mat- 
tot’s Pearmain, Aromatic Russet, Cox’s Orange 
Pippin, Yellow Ingestre, Border Pippin, Hubbard’s 
Pearmain, Ribston Pippin, King of the Pippins, 
Dungay, Sturmer Pippin, Duchess of Gloucester, 
Golden Russet, Royal Russet, Court-pendu-plat, 
Wyken Pippin, Wanstall, Mannington’s Pearmain, 
Lady Derby, Bordeaux Reinette, Sharp’s Pippin, 
Scarlet Nonpareil, Margil, Court of Wick, and 
Fearn’s Pippin. The first prize for a collection of 
culinary Apples was also taken by Mr. Killick, with 
thirty-four dishes of large, handsome, excellent 
fruits, including Northern Greening, French Crab, 
Wellington, Seely’s, Tower of Glamis, Ecklinville 
Seedling, Yorkshire Greening, Cox’s Pomona, Lord 
Derby, Woodcock, Lord Suffield, Royal Russet, 
Golden Noble, King of the Pippins, White Apple, 
Lucombe’s Seedling, Hoary Morning, Bedfordshire 
Foundling, Stone’s or Loddington Seedling, Blenheim 
Pippin, Golden Spire, Winter Quoining, French 
Royal, Hanwell Souring, Beauty of Kent, Mere de 
Menage, Warner’s King, Queen Charlotte, Cellini, 
Graham, Gooseberry Pippin, Norfolk Beefing, New 
Hawthornden, and Winter Nonesuch. In the 
second division for amateurs, the 1st prize, for a 
collection of dessert Pears, was won by Sir H. 
Scudamore Stanhope, Bart., with a superb collec¬ 
tion of 24 dishes, every fruit a perfect typical 
specimen ; this was, taken altogether, the most 
interesting collection in the exhibition, and the 
whole of the fruits were grown on the cordon trees 
at Holm Lacy. The collection consisted of Doyenne 
Gris, Easter Beurre, Beurre Bachelier, Glou Mor- 
ceau, Beurre d’Aremberg, Doyenne Blanc, Doyenne 
d’Alen^on, Duchesse d’Angouleme, Beurre Diel, 
Triomphe de Jodoigne, Beurre Superfin, Beurre 
Sterckmans, Van Mons, Zephirin Gregoire, Beurrd 
Clairgeau, Doyenne du Comice, Doyenne Boussoch, 
Columbia, Marie Louise, Duchesse d’Orleans, Mon¬ 
arch, Beurre Bose, General Todtleben, Josephine de 
Malines. In the classes staged “ for present flavour,” 
the best Apples were Cox’s Orange Pippin and 
Margil, which were placed equal ; and the best 
Pears were Thomson’s, Seckle, and Fondante 
d’Automne, ranged in the order named. The 
heaviest dish of five Apples (Warner’s King) 
weighed 7 lb. 3 oz., the heaviest Apple (Gloria 
Mundi), lib. 12oz.; the heaviest dish of five Pears 
(Uvedale’s St. Germain), 7 lb. 14 oz.; the heaviest 
Pear (one of the same kind), 1 lb. 12 oz. 
— ®he Royal Botanic Society has arranged 
to hold the following exhibitions next year:— 
Spring shows on March 30 and April 27 ; 
Summer shows on May 25 and June 22; and an 
evening f6te on June 15. 
— ^t the exhibition of the Peebles Leek 
Club on October 21st (34th competition), the 
six heaviest Leeks, entire, blanched not less 
than 6 in., were shown by J. M'Cormick, Hay Lodge, 
Peebles, who was awarded 1st prize, and whose six 
leeks weighed 16 lb. 6 oz.; 2nd, John Johnston, 
Bridgend, Peebles, 16 lb. 5 oz.; 3rd, George Ballan- 
tvne, Kingsmuir Hall, Peebles, 15 lb. 9 oz.; 4th, 
John Elder, St. Mary’s Mount, 15 lb. 14 oz.; 5th, 
Alex. Wood, Neidpath, 14 lb. 8 oz.; 6th, D.M'Farlane, 
Kingsmeadows, 13 lb. 14 oz.; 7th, Robert Johnston, 
Springwood, 12 lb. 13£ oz.; 8th, George Steele, 
Barns, 12 lb. 2 oz.; 9th, George Brown, Merlindale, 
11 lb. 9 oz.; 10th, Alex. Walker, Peebles, 11 lb. 7 oz. 
Mr. M'Cormick also came in 1st for the heaviest one 
Leek, which weighed 3 lb. 124 oz.; and also for the 
heaviest six Onions, which weighed 8 lb. 6 oz. The 
1st place for the heaviest late Cabbage was gained 
by Mr. George Brown, Merlindale, the weight being- 
22 lb. 8 oz. 
— S2Ie learn from Mr. Anthony Waterer 
that the hardy double-flowered Azalea Graaf 
von Meran is one of the most brilliant of its 
race in the autumn tints of its foliage. Many of the 
hardy Azaleas are remarkable for the glowing hues 
which the dying leaves assume, and this variety is 
one of the most effective. The colour they take on 
is a rich bright crimson. 
— ®e are indebted to Mr. A. Clapham 
for samples of Prothallia from a crested form 
of Athyrium Filix-fcemina , from the upper sur¬ 
face of which small tufts or rosettes of green scales 
—buds, in fact, similar to the gemmae of mosses— 
have sprung up, and which will probably grow up 
into crested Fex-ns, and possibly reproduce the 
variety from which they spi'ing. On the lower sur¬ 
face of the original prothallium were to be found 
numerous archegonia, but no anthei-idia. The sup¬ 
plementary scales bore no trace of sexual oi-gans. 
This form of reproduction by means of buds pro¬ 
duced by the prothallia was first observed by Farlow, 
and has been included by De Bary under the head 
of Apogamy. 
— According to Harper's Weekly, it is 
estimated that the American Apple crop of 
the present year will amount to two hundred 
millions of barrels, but thousands of these will rot 
in the orchards. It seems a great pity that so much 
fruit must be thus wasted in the year of plenty. 
— SSome New Single Dahlias, of the 
coccinea type, have blossomed this year in the 
Chelsea Botanic Garden. Amaranth seems 
to be quite a new colour in this race, and is both 
dwarf and free-flowering, the florets a bright ama¬ 
ranth, deep golden-yellow towai’ds the base, so that 
this colour forms a distinct ring around the brighter 
yellow disk. Mulberry is also a novelty, the colour 
in this case being a deep velvety-maroon, purple at 
the back, so as to acquire in some lights a good deal 
of the hue of the Mulberi-y fruit. Morning Star is 
a very rich and bi'illiant crimson-scarlet, with bi-oad 
and overlapping floi-ets. The variety called Yellow 
Dwarf, distributed last year by Mr. Cannell, the 
only one of the set planted out at Chelsea this year, 
has fully maintained its character as a decorative or 
