10 
THE . FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
bloom. In small cases under looking-glasses, &c., we have Begonias, as insignis 
and others of the best winter-blooming sorts, grown in pots of the proper size 
to fit the boxes. Four or five cuttings are put into a 60-sized pot in August, 
and shifted at intervals into the proper size, which is generally that called 48’s. 
When no longer serviceable the plants are thrown away. The red and white 
Primulas and Cinerarias are also grown in the same size, and thrown away 
when done with, as they are seldom of any use afterwards, as we find it better 
to push on a fresh stock than try to recover them. The best Tulips for very 
early work are the Due Van Thols, particularly the yellow. In niches round 
the entrance-hall, or on each side of busts, the Calla eethiopica is most useful, 
and can be had during most of the winter and spring months. 
No taste which has sprung up of late years is so beneficial to the gardener 
as that for fine-foliaged plants ; they not only add to the summer variety, but 
many when properly treated are most useful for winter house decoration. Sup¬ 
posing that we are in the midst of a run of company, and anxious to make a 
change from the flowering plants, we put in the large vase, where the high 
Azalea is, a plant of similar height of the Canna discolor; in the next size, 
Latania borbonica and Seaforthia elegans. The former of these is a most grace¬ 
ful Palm for a room or entrance-hall; and when large the Seaforthia is more 
stately in habit, and requires a few Ferns round the bottom of the stems. For 
the other places we have Dracaenas, Croton pictum, Ferns, &c. ; and for the 
small boxes, Centaurea argentea and candidissima, Coleus Verschaffelti, and 
the yellow-variegated Geraniums. Centaurea candidissima is a most beautiful 
plant for decoration ; its long,' feathery, frosted-looking, silvery leaves are very 
handsome in vases, and the plants come in for the garden in spring. Many of 
the new yellow-variegated-leaved Geraniums are much more beautiful and 
effective in pots with a little heat than when planted out in the garden. All 
the variegated-leaved Begonias are unfortmiately very dull, and make no show 
in a room, which is the more to be regretted on account of their easy culture ; 
they want a more decided mixture of white and red. The Coleus requires a 
little bottom heat to keep it moving into leaf for the winter months. 
J. F. 
PEARS. 
No fruit, perhaps, has made more progress than the Pear. Some few years 
ago, with rare exceptions, Pears were little better than a dish of Skirving’s 
Swedes ! The difficulty now is how to select good Pears, and the best. The 
Pear catalogues are nearly as extensive as the Bose catalogues, the reader is 
bewildered, and ends by ordering none. I have pleasure in recommending the 
following. All not asterisked are on the quince stock. The best two here, 
and the best I have ever tasted, are respectively the two first-named :—1, Jose¬ 
phine de Malines ; 2, Beurre Superfin; *3, Marie Louise; 4, La Yineuse ; 
5, Doyenne d’AlenQon; 6, Beurre Diel; 7, Duchesse d’Orleans; 8, Dr. 
Trousseau; 9, Baronne de Mello; 10, Bergamotte d’Esperen; 11 , Beurre 
d’Aremberg ; 12,Beurre deBance ; 13,Beurre Defais ; 13, St. Michel Archange ; 
14, Marie Louise d’Uccle ; 15, Williams’s Bon Chretien ; 16, Beurre Beymont; 
17, Napoleon Savinien; 18, Glou Morceau; 19, Doyenne Gris; 20, Beurre 
Bachelier ; 21, Peach ; 22, Beurre d’Amanlis; 23, Comte de Lamy; 24, Passe 
Colmar ; 25, Beurre Mauxion ; 26, Duchesse d’ Angouleme; 27, Beurre Sterck- 
mans; 28, Doyenne d’Ete, first early. These lost their crop by the frost. I 
removed the sheet over them a few days too early. On the 7th of May, the 
water in the stable-bucket was frozen. Madame Millet, Barbe Nelis, Fondante 
de Mars, Comte de Flandre, Fondante d’Automne, Beurre Giffard, "Winter 
