December 1, 1888. 
THE GABDENING WORLD. 
207 
HIGHEST AWARD 
FOR 
Seed Potatoes. 
At the Manchester Royal Botanical Society's Fruit 
and Potato Show, held at Old TrafFord on November 
24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th, 1888, in OPEN COM¬ 
PETITION, the highest Award, 
GOLD MEDAL , 
WAS GIVEN TO 
DICKSON & ROBINSON 
Seed Merchants, 
MANCHESTER. 
NOW READY. 
THE DARDEN ANNUAL, 
ALMANACK, AND ADDRESS BOOK FOR 1889. 
The most Complete and Accurate Reference Buolc for the use of all 
Interested in Gardens yet published. 
The Alphabetical Lists of all Branches of the Horticultural 
Trade have been corrected up to the 10th of November. The 
Lists of Gardens and Country Seats (containiug over 7,900), 
have been very carefully and extensively revised, and are 
admitted to be the most complete ever published. 
Price Is. Post Free, Is. 3d. 
Of all Booksellers, Newsagents, Nurserymen and Seedsmen, 
or from the Publishing Office :— 
37, Southampton St.,Covent Garden, London,W.C. 
Next Week’s Engagements. 
Monday, December 3rd.—National Chrysanthemum Society : 
Meeting of General Committee at 7 p m. Bulb Sales at 
Stevens’, and Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms. 
Tuesday, December 4th.— 
Wednesday, December 5th.—National Chrysanthemum Society: 
Meeting of Floral Committee. Bulb Sale at Stevens’ Rooms. 
Thursday, December 6th—Bulb Sale at Protheroe & Morris’s 
Rooms. 
Friday, December 7tli.—Sale of valuable Cypripediums at 
Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms. 
Saturday, December Sth.—Sales of Bulbs at Protheroe & 
Morris's, and Stevens’ Rooms. 
For Index to Contents & Advertisements, see p. 218. 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.” —Bacon. 
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1888. 
4 
CURRENT TOPICS. 
“Smoky Jennets.”— Additional interest lias 
been lent to any inquiry which may be insti¬ 
tuted into the origin of Pear nomenclature, by 
the sad story so recently told in the Worcester 
Assize Court, of a brutal murder enacted 
beneath a “ Smoky Jennet ” Pear tree. A very 
aged crippled man, as deaf as crippled, and of 
the full term of three score and ten years, 
seems to have conceived a passion for his 
neighbour’s “Smoky Jennets.” Starting out 
at early morn to his work, he made his way to 
his neighbour’s garden in quest of the Pears. 
This neighbour, named Willis, a gardener 
himself, had got up specially early to gather 
his “Jennets,” and seems to have found his 
old neighbour plundering the Pears. A tussle 
seems to have ensued, during which the un¬ 
fortunate gardener received a death-blow from 
the depredator, for he was soon afterwards 
found lying at his own door in a dying state. 
It was a sad ingathering for him, for instead 
of reaping his harvest of Pears he became, all 
too soon, but a unit in the great human harvest 
which falls perpetually to the grim thing— 
Death ! The assailant w r as a shoemaker, and 
in his house, when arrested on the morning of 
the murder, was found a quantity of the Pears. 
The evidence seemed to satisfy the jury and 
the judge, and thus, because tempted by a few 
Pears, this old man was sentenced to death. 
Dismissing the tragedy from further reference, 
we are now anxious to learn what sort of Pear 
is this so-called “ Smoky Jennet.” That it is 
of the very earliest would seem to he evident, 
as the fruits were regarded as ripe in the 
month of July, probably towards its end. 
There are very few Pears which ripen so early, 
very few indeed did so ripen this year, whilst 
earliest of all commonly known in gardens is 
Doyenne d’Ete, hut even that is more generally 
an August than a July Pear. But there seems 
to he evidence that the “Smoky Jennet” is little 
known, even in the district of Droitwich; 
indeed, is almost exclusive to the murdered 
man’s garden. That fact leads to the inference 
that the “Smoky Jennet” is of purely local 
origin. To -what circumstance it owes so odd 
an appellation we should like to learn. Can 
any of our Worcester readers help us to obtain 
the information ? 
Marguerites. — Without doubt the Mar¬ 
guerite, so-called, whether French or of any 
other origin, has proved to be the most 
popular of domestic decorative flowers. The 
true Marguerite of the French, Chrysanthe¬ 
mum frutescens, still holds a high place in 
the estimation of flower-lovers; and hardy 
single Chrysanthemums of various kinds, 
either of British or of foreign species, find 
shoals of admirers. We now hear a cry 
raised for classes for single forms of the 
winter-blooming Chrysanthemum, which the 
multitude will also class as Marguerites; and 
without doubt very beautiful they are. Our 
florists, perhaps, do not care so much for them, 
but bouquetists and floral-decorators know 
their value fully. The single—and in many 
cases wonderfully coloured single—forms of 
the perennial Pyre thrum, also termed Mar¬ 
guerites by many persons—ladies especially— 
are exceedingly fine ; and later in the season 
the larger forms of the perennial Aster come 
under the same common appellation. 
The later autumn gives us two hardy 
flowers, •which, have specially good qualifica¬ 
tions to the term Marguerite, Pyrethrum 
uliginosum, and Chrysanthemum maximum. 
The latter is the earlier bloomer, and the 
more enduring ; the former, perhaps, the 
more pleasing, but the flowering season does 
not so long endure. We have seen within 
the past few days the giant Daisy, C. maxi¬ 
mum, blooming almost profusely from late 
growths and side shoots, whilst the flower- 
stems of the Pyrethrum have been dead and 
removed some two or three w T eeks. To have 
Marguerites blooming in such purity and 
beauty out-doors at the end of November, 
when all other ordinary hardy plants, with 
the exception of some late Chrysanthemums, 
are long past flowering, shows that C. max¬ 
imum is a most meritorious plant, and well 
worthy of wide cultivation. Practically it 
is evergreen, for the new growth is made 
before the old stems are cut away. 
The Recent Gales.— What we may regard 
as the usual equinoctial gales have recently 
visited us, perhaps a little later than usual, and 
happily so, as when the trees are denuded of 
their leaves they otter less resistance to the 
wild fury of the storm, and less mischief is 
wrought amongst heads and branches. The 
thinning out of dead wood which results is 
very beneficial, and if for the time productive 
of untidiness and possibly some danger, the 
thinning renders little need for further alarm 
for some time to come. But whilst the big 
established trees—the noble vegetable giants— 
of our land may have come to little harm, 
newly planted trees and shrubs have been 
sorely tried. 
Planting as early in the winter as possible 
seems to he good practice, having regard to the 
excellent work done by the roots ere really 
hard weather sets in, but it is just possible 
that if some gain is found in this early root 
action, it may often he very seriously counter¬ 
balanced by the effects of November hurricanes, 
unless ample precaution has been taken to 
have all newly planted things well secured. 
That may be a matter of difficulty where the 
planting is an extensive one, but should be 
without excuse when the planting is of but 
moderate dimensions. Still, it is worth con¬ 
sidering whether it may not be, on the whole, 
wiser to allow the planting, especially if a 
considerable one, to stand over until December 
is in and the autumnal gales are past, and thus 
save the trees from much dislocation. Pierce 
wind storms usually bring to the gardener 
considerable trouble, and too often much 
damage ; but we hope so far the recent high 
winds have expended their force in harmless 
directions. 
-->X<-- 
National Chrysanthemum Society.—A meeting of 
the general committee of this society will he held on 
Monday evening next, at Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet 
Street, at 7 p.m. The annual dinner and presentation 
of prizes will take place at the same hotel on 
December 13th., when the president, E. Sanderson, 
Esq., will take the chair. Special efforts are being 
made to render the proceedings of the evening as 
enjoyable as possible, and to this end a selection of 
music, under the direction of Dr. J. H. Haskins, will 
be performed by Miss Mary Belval, Miss Ethel Winn, 
Mr. John Bartlett, and Mr. Franklin Clive. Mr. 
Holmes will be greatly obliged if those intending to be 
present will make application for tickets not later 
than December 10th. 
Marguerites for Autumn Flowering.—Writing from 
Clerwood Gardens, Corstorphine, near Edinburgh, on 
the 23rd inst., Mr. William Rushton remarks that he 
has Marguerites still in profuse flower in the open air, 
and that considering the cold stormy weather and the 
lateness of the season, too much cannot be said in their 
praise. His plants were put out the first week in 
June, in front of some shrubs facing north and north¬ 
east, and they have been a sheet of bloom ever since. 
The Scarlet-berried Elder.—The same correspondent 
also states with reference to this plant, noticed by us 
at p. 183, that there is a large plant at Clerwood which 
fruits very freely every year. 
The Weather, the Harvest, and the Garden 
Crops in Scotland.—The mild weather we have been 
enjoying in the south seems to he pretty general all 
over the island. Mr. A. Cruickshank, Glenbervie, 
Kincardineshire, writes that the harvest has just been 
completed in his locality. The crop has been a 
bountiful one, and has been stacked in good order, 
after a very protracted harvest season. Last week he 
gathered Peas and cut Cauliflowers in very good 
condition ; the case of the latter is not very remarkable, 
but seldom can Peas be gathered out of doors on 
November 24th, even in the generally more favoured 
south. The supply, he remarked, will continue till the 
end of the month. His district is a late one, yet he 
commenced to gather on June 23rd. Even now the 
Peas are firm and well-flavoured, considering the late 
period of the year, as we can testify from the sample 
sent us. The variety is Maclean’s Best of AH, the 
pods of which are about 3 ins. or 3£ ins. in length, 
and well filled. A less cheering note comes from an old 
gardener in Dumfrieshire, who, writiDg early in the 
week, remarks that “the season now drawing to a 
close has been the worst in my gardening life. People 
who have lived through it ought to be immortal.” 
A New Race of Winter-flowering Begonias.— 
"Writing to the Gardeners’ Chronicle, M. Lemoine, of 
Nancy, says :—“ I beg to send yon a photograph taken 
from a specimen of a new race of autumn-flowering 
tuberous Begonias, which may, perhaps, have some 
interest to you. It is the result of a cross which I 
made some years ago between the white-flowered 
