May 15, 1897. 
THE GARDENING .WORLD 
'587 
and their numbers for there were many groups in 
different places, and the varieties good. The best 
group of twenty-five plants was shown by Mr. Otto 
Thalacher who had vigorous and well-grown samples 
of moderate size. Mr. Otto Dehne exhibited a 
larger group, consisting of fifty specimens but the 
spathes were not so fine. Being the best in this class 
he got the first prize. Mr. Otto Thalacker also took 
the first prizes for groups of Carnations, and Hippe- 
astrums. The dwarf plants, large flowers and rich 
colours of the latter showed that the exhibitor 
understands their cultivation. The group of 
Cinerarias shown by Mr. H. F. Kirsten contained 
plants of a first-class race, judging by their dwarf, 
close habit and large blooms in various brilliant 
colours. The plants were outlined by Funkias forced 
in hothouses. 
The groups of Azaleas were without doubt a fine 
feature of the exhibition on account of the size and 
quantity of the flowers and their brightness at dis¬ 
tances as far as the eye could see them. Mr. C. 
Petrick, of Ghent took the first award for a group of 
a hundred plants, and well sustained the honour of 
his country where Azaleas are so superbly grown. 
The large flowers and their handsome colours, 
admirably mixed, were well worthy of the first prize. 
Many of the plants were trained in the shape of a 
dome. In the class for fifty smaller plants he was 
also first, his evidence of cultural skill being well 
maintained. The plants had spreading heads on 
single upright stems. The hundred plants of a new 
Azalea shown by Messrs. Reichers & Son, of Ham¬ 
burg secured the first prize easily. The variety was 
named Frau Amalia Reichers, and had beautiful 
salmon and white variegated flowers. From the 
same establishment came groups of larger plants, 
which took more than one first prize. Along with 
these groups, which formed one display, were 
hardier kinds, such as A. mollis and the yellow A. 
pontica ; and it must be said that the whole was 
very effective. Other exhibitors showed that much 
•attention is given to this class of plants and that 
skilled cultivation is given them. 
The quantities of forced shrubs cultivated in pots 
would indicate a big industry in this class of plants. 
Several of the exhibits were very effective and telling 
with their various bright colours. Mr. F. Harms 
took several first prizes. The Lilacs, both single 
and double, exhibited by him were proof of good 
cultivation, and treatment generally. Mr. T. 
Kilzinger exhibited an effective and handsome group 
of Lilacs, Magnolias, flowering Currants, and other 
hardy subjects. He got the first prize. Mr. F. 
Munchmeyer was equally successful with his Tea- 
scented and La France Roses, the latter being 
dwarf bushes. Mr. F. W. Bottcher received the 
first prize for flowering and fruiting-Oranges. 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co. were awarded 300 marks 
for a group of newly introduced plants. Very con¬ 
spicuous amongst them were large plants of Licuala 
grandis, Dracaena godseffiana with spotted leaves 
like an Aucuba, also Heliconia illustris rubricaulis, 
Caladiums and Sander's variety of Araucaria 
excelsa. The same exhibitors received a Gold 
•Medal for a group of new Orchids, some of which 
were very fine. Various groups of Palms and other 
foliage plants were also exhibited. 
- -— 
PEAR PIERRE TOURASSE. 
This Pear was raised by the late M. Pierre Tourasse, 
of the Basses-Pyrenees, and who was considered by 
his countrymen and others as a philanthropist and 
pomologist of the first order. He raised some 
thousands of seedlings and was fond of crossing 
varieties of Asiatic and European Pears. It is stated 
that the above named sort was raised from William’s 
Bon Chretien crossed with the pollen of a Japanese 
variety! but does not retain the astringent juice of 
Kieffer’s Seedling and others of Japanese origin. 
The tree is of good moderate vigour and somewhat 
after the style of Baltet Pere, B.eurre de l’Assomptiop 
and Colmar d’Aremberg. It is amenable for culture 
in pyramidal, bush, candelabra, and the vertical 
cordon form,' even when grafted on the free stock. 
The fruit is large, sometimes very large, and variable 
in form from turbinate to pyriform, and very much 
swollen or widened at the top end. The skin is of a 
bright fawn, spotted with russet upon a clear yellow 
ground,'wakhed with or nge and saffron. In these 
respects the fruit bears'a 'considerable' resemblance 
to Beurre Clairgeau. The flesh is fine, very melting, 
juicy, and richly sugared with an agreeable flavour. 
The fruit ripens about the middle of September and 
keeps in season till the end of October. It is an 
exquisite fruit in the opinion of divers arboricultural 
and pomological committees, who have judged it at 
different times since the 25th October, 1886, and 
before whom it has been placed at Paris. The 
opinion prevails that it is a fruit that will worthily 
occupy a place amongst Pears that will carry well. 
The above opinions of it are endorsed by M. Ch. 
Baltet, and a good coloured illustration of it is given 
in the Bulletin d'Arboriculture, de Floriculture etc.,ior 
January last. 
-—- 
ROYAL BOTANIC SOCIETY. 
The large conservatory of the Royal Botanic Society 
at Regent’s Park, is at the time of writing especially 
gay with Azaleas, and Rhododendrons. It seems 
very problematical whether gardeners generally will 
ever cease to make a distinction between the two, 
and so we will refer to them separately out of 
deference to a widely established custom. 
A large collection of Azaleas is grown by the 
society, but the kings of the collection are the huge 
specimens of A. indica alba that are just now a mass 
of white flowers. One of the largest of the plants 
measures from 9 ft. to 10 ft. in height and fully as 
much in diameter, and it would not be easy to 
describe to the full the magnificent show that such 
a giant makes when clothed from head to foot in a 
mantle of snowy white. We were informed that 
these plants flower in much the same style year 
after year. Amongst other fine varieties we found 
in fine condition Souvenir de l’Exposition, rose edged 
with white, and spotted with cerise ; Gloire de Beige, 
white, striated pink ;jand Carminata, rich carmine. 
Mrs. Gerard Leigh is a rather small-flowered variety, 
but the rosy magenta blooms are produced very 
freely, and taken as a whole the plant is very 
attractive. Mrs. Turner has large bright pink 
flowers heavily spotted on the upper segments with 
rose-magenta. Stella is one of the prettiest of the 
semi-double flowered varieties. The flowers are very 
large and bright rose-magenta in hue. The flori- 
ferous character of the plant renders it peculiarly 
valuable for conservatory decoration. 
Of the Rhododendrons, certainly the most con¬ 
spicuous feature in the house was a grand specimen 
fully 20 ft. high with a fine spread that was carrying 
a great number of large trusses of the bright rose 
flowers. We were told that this selfsame plant did 
not flower last year, but it has evidently made up 
for it this season. R. arboreum, a species which 
was introduced from the Himalayas in 1820, has been 
largely used for hybridising purposes, most of its 
progeny being early-flowering forms. Rhododen¬ 
dron Gibsoni is a native of Khoosea. It has flowers 
of medium size, white, and flushed slightly with 
pink. The leaves are small, about 2^ in. long, and 
oblanceolate in shape. 
R. henryanum is a garden variety of great merit. 
The leaves are small, and lanceolate in shape. The 
flowers, which are produced in twos at the extremi¬ 
ties of the matured growths, are fully 4 in. in 
diameter. The colour is white, with a conspicuous 
■yellow blotch at the base of the- tube internally. 
There are considerable flushings of pink externally. 
The perfume of the flowers is powerful and peculiar, 
although not unpleasant. 
Dwarf Plants. 
One of the peculiar features of gardening in the far 
east is the extent to which the dwarfing of various 
trees and shrubs is carried. The cunning Jap seems 
to revel in the fact that he can produce such libels 
upon nature as the dwarfed, gnarled, twisted, and 
distorted specimens, in which he delights, exemplify. 
Western ideas of “the aTt that does mend Nature,’’ 
do not favour such malpractices, and yet there is no 
denying the fact that such caricatures exercise a kind 
of fascination upon those who see them by reason of 
their very grotesqueness. 
Probably one of the most extensive collections in 
England is now to be seen in the long corridor lead¬ 
ing out of the large conservatory at Regent’s Park. 
These plants have been lent to the society by H. M. 
Beddington, Esq., and Claude Beddington, Esq., the 
majority of them having been imported recently. In 
all there are upwards of sixty of these quaint-looking 
objects, representing a considerable variety of 
material.. - -----. - - 
Conifers are in the majority, although they appear 
to have suffered much more from the long voyage 
than the deciduous element, not a few of them exhi¬ 
biting no signs of life. One specimen of Thuya 
obtusa, stated to be a hundred years old, is about 
18 in. in height, and about 2 ft. through at its widest 
part. It is accommodated in a bowl that would not 
hold any more soil than a 7-in. pot. For the most 
part the grower has favoured flat pans varying from 
an inch to 2 in. in depth for the roots to run in. 
Larix leptolepis appears to have gone to its long 
home at the age of twenty-five years, during which 
it had grown to about a foot in height. Pinus 
Bandaisho, also twenty-five years of age, is in the 
last stages of this life, whilst a healthy old tree of 
Ginkgo biloba some 15 in. in height is covered with 
large fine leaves, and yet it is only growing in a pan 
1$ in. in depth. Taxus cuspidata and Pinus parvi- 
flora have also been experimented with, the latter 
having stood the ordeal for seventy years. At one 
point in its stem where a huge twisted knot occurs 
it measures fully 10 in. in diameter. Juniperus 
rigida has 120 years weight upon its devoted 
head, and is thus the patriarch of the family, but 
there’s plenty of life in the old ’un yet. 
Acer palmatum, Jasminum sieboldianum, Punica 
Granatum, Ilex integra, Buxus japonica, Ribes fasci- 
culatum, and Crataegus cuneata are a few of the 
other plants that have been subjected to the same 
kind of treatment, and all of them are weird monu¬ 
ments of the skill which the gardener of the far east 
has brought to bear in inducing the plants to forsake 
their birthright and assume , the shapes that have 
seemed to him best. 
RHODODENDRONS AT KEW. 
The grouping together of various classes of plants, 
so as to form distinctive features, that has been 
carried on at Kew under the present directorate has 
been highly successful in more than one respect. 
Not only does such a system display to the fullest 
extent the value of certain classes of subjects as a 
whole, but the result from a scenic standpoint is 
excellent. The Rhododendron Dell is a notable in¬ 
stance of this. Great taste has been displayed in its con¬ 
struction, and a most enjoyable promenade has thus 
been afforded the public ; moreover, the gathering 
together on a large scale of a vast number of forms, 
exhibiting a corresponding vastness of range in floral 
colour, and season of blooming, cannot fail to be 
instructive to those who wish to see what can be 
done with Rhododendrons alone. 
At the present time the “ Dell ” is in its brightest 
mood ; possibly it gains something by virtue of the 
complacent feeling with which the human is prone 
to regard the efforts of spring to adorn Mother 
Earth, although the Rhododendrons may well be 
taken on their own merits. 
The most distinguished occupant is Rhododendron 
kewense, a hybrid between R. grififithianum and R. 
Hookeri according to the pedigree upon the label. 
Curiously enough, a plant that is in flower in the 
Temperate House contemporaneously with those 
outside, states the parentage to be R. Aucklandii and 
Hookeri. Of the beauty and value of the plant, 
however, there is not the slightest doubt. Half-a- 
dozen fine specimens are situated at the western end 
Of the Dell. The flowers are large and vary slightly 
on the different plants from v?hite to flesh-pink. The 
trusses are of immense size, rather loose, and as the 
pedicels are long the individual flowers have a droop¬ 
ing appearance. The leaves are about 6 in. in length 
by 2 in. in width, lanceolate in shape, very leathery 
in texture, and of a dark, shining, green hue. The 
habit seems to be naturally dwarf and bushy, and all 
the plants are very symmetrical. Flowering at this 
time of the year the plants have a good chance to 
escape the blighting spring frosts with which April 
only too frequently visits us ; they thus escape the 
fate of more precocious blooms. 
Amongst a number of other fine varieties which 
should commend themselves to favourable notice the 
following are a few of the most conspicuous R. 
Francis Thiselton Dyer, bright Rose, a very large 
and showy flower ; R. Smithi elegans, deep crimson, 
a small flower but a compact and conical truss; R. 
Corregio, bright rose-crimson ; R. Mirandum, rosy- 
cerise ; R. Albiflorum, pure white, with a few light 
yellow spots on the upper segment of each flower; 
and R. Luscombii, mauve-pink. 
The Rhododendron Dell is well-worth a visit . 
