104 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ July, 
but in every way appears identical with that 
very handsome, well-known Peach, the Violette 
Hfitive. 
We know soil and general treatment have 
much to do with the appearance and quality 
of fruit, but before cultivators attempt to give 
a name to any kind which they cannot identify 
with the original, they should exhaust every 
means to ascertain what it really is. It is 
misleading, and is sometimes damaging, to be 
deceived by supposititious names.—M. Temple. 
The Marquis of Downshire Peach was a 
seedling raised and sent out by Mr. John 
Standish, during his residence at Ascot, and 
was, we believe, one of the original seedling 
trees with which an experimental peach-house 
erected there was planted. We do not find 
any particulars as to its history, or when it 
was sent out; but in the Gardeners' Chronicle 
(1870, p. 1506) we find the following note 
from the late Rev. W. F. Radclyffe:—•“ Mr. 
Standish kindly presented me with one tree of 
each [Early Ascot and Marquis of Downshire]. 
They were planted near together on. a wall 
facing south. My garden, being exposed, is 
late. The Early Ascot was ripe August 26th, 
the Marquis of Downshire coming on a fort¬ 
night later. The habit and appearance of the 
last-named tree are exactly like the Royal 
George, but the Marquis has glands, and the 
Royal George has none. The fruit of the 
former is an elongated round, while that of the 
latter is a flattened round.If my 
Marquis of Downshire is correct, it is not as 
early as the Early Ascot. Mr. Standish states 
that Marquis is superior to the Early Ascot. 
At present, I cannot agree with him; it is, 
however, a very good peach, and a great 
bearer.”—E d. 
PELARGONIUMS INDOORS AND 
OUT. 
f REAT praise is due to those who have 
improved the important breed of 
Dwarf Pelargoniums, by adding fine 
foliage to what had been already attained 
in the way of flowers, for not only has the 
colour been attended to, but the form of 
truss, its carriage above the foliage, and its 
stiff habit of growth, so that few things tell 
better during the summer season than these 
Dwarf Pelargoniums. It is sometimes, however, 
a mistake to mass them in large beds, for whilst 
they may be elegant in ribbons and narrow 
strips, they may be clumsy in broad areas ; and 
when the bed has breadth, it is length of leg 
that is needed in the plants, so as to raise the 
bed with plants and not with earth, as we too 
often see done. 
This brings us to another class of scarlet 
Pelargoniums, viz., the tall-growing or long- 
legged ones. I was once very much surprised, 
on entering a flower-garden, to see tall, com¬ 
pact scarlet Pelargoniums dotted about the 
ground, standing nearly a yard high, and 
blooming freely. On inquiry, I found that 
these dots were made up of two scarlet Pelar¬ 
goniums planted back to back, and tied to look 
like one, and that they were taken up, of 
course, every autumn, and housed in good time 
in the greenhouse. 
In my first situation I had charge of a 
greenhouse, called by courtesy a greenhouse 
conservatory, in which the plants had been 
planted out some twenty years before my time. 
Two plants had been put in to terminate the 
vista of this long greenhouse, and these were a 
broad-leaved Myrtle, which had passed the size 
of a bush, and had a trunk like that of a small 
tree ; and a scarlet Pelargonium. These two 
divided the honours between them, for while 
the Myrtle, with its tiny white flowers, made 
no display as a flowering plant, its dark-green 
foliage, sweetly-scented, formed a delightful 
background, and when the tall, rambling Pelar¬ 
gonium intruded its gaudy trusses of flowers 
across the Myrtle, it showed, on entering the 
house, as one plant. These two had been 
culled from and cut at all seasons, for the 
warm, close atmosphere of the greenhouse 
suited the flowering of this kind of Pelargo¬ 
nium, which was little short of 9 ft. in height, 
and as much across.— Alex. Forsyth, Salford. 
ONION-KEEPING. 
T is not generally believed that Onions, if 
kept dry, will stand any amount of frost, 
and keep sound and good until very late 
in the season, even if the weather has been 
severe. This season the larger portion of our 
stock was hung in bunches in an open shed 
with a slate roof, and having the open side ex¬ 
posed to the north. The thermometer was 
more than once as low as zero, and now (May 
18th) a number of the Onions which are left 
are solid, sound, and good. They are, how¬ 
ever, milder in flavour than usual. The samples 
average 12 in. to 14 in. in circumference, and 
are composed of Brown Globe, White Spanish, 
Bedfordshire Champion, Reading, and others. 
Thorough ripening, and due precaution used to 
prevent a second growth, are essential points, 
when Onions are to be kept late.—M. T., 
Impney Hall Gai'dens. 
