1878. ]

HE edged Auricula, of which a specimen is given here, is not an easy subject for a coloured portrait, especially because the exquisitely-powdered surface of the edge in white and grey varieties, and the velvety texture of the ground-colours in them all, can only be approximately given in a picture; while also the precise tints of the ground-colours, and the greens of the green edges are difficult to secure through the different processes under which the printed coloured plate must pass.

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In his Auricula the florist is literally " ticular to a shade," for the slightest variation in the coloured and alterable divisions of the flower, in either proportion or colouring, is sufficient in his sight to constitute a difference great enough for a distinction. Wherefore, it as little follows that any slack representation of an "edge," "body-colour," "paste," and "tube" should be the likeness of any particular Auricula, as that any sort of arrangement of eyes, nose, and mouth one meets with in a face, should form the features of some dear friend.

It will, I am sure, not be taken amiss, after what I have said, if I remark that in the inimitable living freshness of the original of the flower figured here, there is a bluer touch in the ground-colour. Indeed, a large part of the charm and value of this new variety, lies in the beauty and novelty of this very blueness. It is a step nearer to a lovely, and we will hope not far distant class, one of white edges with blue ground-colours; and a still better approach than this came among the same lot of seedlings, but it only lived to be named and once seen at the Crystal Palace Show of 1877. FRANK SIMONITE is a decidedly good Auricula. The tube, indeed, is not the bright lemon or orange-gold that we so prize; but still there is a tint of cowslip in the colour of

POT HYACINTHS an Exhibition spring flower there is none so popular as the Hyacinth. In London the leading Societies vie with each other to produce the best display about the end of March; and this, being the opening show of the year, is always looked forward to with pleasure. The large provincial towns, as No. 10. IMPERIAL SERIES.-I.

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it, and at any rate, it does not prematurely fade into a watery green. It is really very good, considering the fact that hitherto all Auriculas, whether edged or selfs, that have shades of blue in them, have shown an utter disregard for a yellow or golden tube. Such would be a lovely addition; and though we have not got it yet, still we do not rest without it. In Frank Simonite the paste is broad, brilliant, and circular, and of the purest white, although for artistic reasons, shadows rest on it in the picture. The body-colour is a rich, velvety, deep violet-blue, bold and well-proportioned, and the edge is a true, pure, lasting white of great density and of proper breadth. Pip of good substance with rounded petal, flattening kindly and well. Plant a very free bloomer, and of very handsome half-mealed habit. Foliage plentiful, broad, and deeply notched.

Edged Auriculas, with any other groundcolour than black, may even yet, strangely enough, meet with some blind disfavour, as they have done with growers in the North of England aforetime. No doubt a black-ground Auricula, so poorly coloured, or so far out of condition as to have several weak blue or brownish shades in a colouring which, in its perfection, is black, would rightly enough be complained of, and called "chaney," as the technical term of reproach is; but no flower with a rich, pure, steadfast violet-blue, chocolate, or red ground-colour can be anything than a welcome and beautiful acquisition when the other qualities of that ground-colour are good, and the flower brilliant in its other points. Frank Simonite is a seedling raised a few years ago, by Mr. Benjamin Simonite, of Sheffield. There is no record of its parentage, but it was not from mere chance seed.-F. D. HORNER, Kirkby Malzeard, Ripon.

FOR EXHIBITION.

Manchester and others, are also becoming alive to the value of Hyacinth shows, and at these it often happens that amateurs compete more numerously than they do at the metropolitan shows. Having been a successful exhibitor for several years, I propose to offer an explanation of my practic in growing the Hyacinth for

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exhibition, and I may here note that the same method of culture should be followed to obtain the best results, even if the plants are not intended for exhibition.

The first step is the preparation of the soil. I prepare the compost in July or August, and one of the trade growers told me that he did so in May. I chop up two barrow-loads of turfy loam, and add to it one load of leafmould, one of sand, and one of rotten cowmanure, the ingredients being well mixed together. This compost is put into a dry place until it is time to use it. The next consideration is to obtain the bulbs, of which good sorts can be had at from 3s. to 30s. per dozen, or, if newer varieties, at a higher price still. Those unacquainted with the flower would do best to purchase from a respectable nurseryman, pay so much per dozen, and leave the matter in his hands. A selection of very good sorts can be purchased at 12s. per dozen, and if a root or two of newer sorts should be wished for, they could be bought separately.

When the bulbs are received, I take them out of the bag or box, and lay each root separately in a flat box, only one layer deep, and just cover them with the Buckwheat chaff, and place them in an airy room. The time of potting and the size of the pots must both be regulated by the date at which the flowers are wanted. To flower in January and February, the bulbs should be potted early in September, those for succession being planted towards the end of that month and early in October. Those intended for exhibition I pot about the last week in October. For the early flowering roots the pots should be 4 in. to 5 in. diameter inside measure, and those for exhibition should be 6 in.

The compost at the time of potting should be rather dry, never wet. I do not put in very much drainage: only one large bit of potsherd over the bottom hole, and a few small pieces on that; but the drainage should be kept free by having some of the fibre from the turfy loam placed over it. Press the soil in moderately firm, and make a hole large enough for the bulb with the fingers. It is a common but mistaken practice to fill the pot with mould, and then to press the bulb down on it, for this makes the compost firmest just under the bulb, and it is quite likely that

it may be thrown out of the soil when the roots are emitted. I make the soil firmer round the bulb than it is underneath it. When the operation is finished, the top of the bulb should just show above the soil. The pots should be placed out-of-doors in an open place on a hard bottom of ashes, and be covered to the depth of 2 in. or 3 in. over the surface of the pots with cocoa-nut fibre refuse, spent tan, or leaf-mould. It is a great mistake to place the pots under the stage of a greenhouse, as is sometimes done; the water running down from above soaks some, while others suffer for want of it; out-of-doors they require no attention, and cause no anxiety.

When it is intended to force as early as possible, the pots must be removed into the forcing-house as soon as they have formed roots. The pots should be within a foot or two of the glass lights, if possible. The plants must be forced very slowly at first, and will not require much water; but when it is seen that rapid growth has commenced, more moisture will be necessary. The night temperature may then be increased to 60° or 65°. The plants should be removed into a cooler place as soon as the first bells are expanded.

Our exhibition Hyacinths are removed to the house as soon as the crowns have started about 1 in.; this will generally be about the first or second week in January. I remove them to a cold frame where the lights can be kept rather close for a few days, and be covered with a mat to exclude light. It is just as well to inure them gradually to the light, and if I have to place them on shelves in any of the vineries or in the greenhouse, I place a small pot over the crown for a day or two, as it is as well to keep the plants very quiet at first; but after the leaves have become green, air is admitted freely night and day.

If it should become necessary to force in order to get spikes open by a certain date, it is better to do this when they are further advanced. All through the period of growth the plants should be kept close to the glass, and air should be admitted as freely as possible.

Water must also be applied freely, giving manure-water with every alternate watering. I have said water freely, but it is proper to add, glasses of water, it will not in soil which is with judgment. If the Hyacinth will grow in constantly saturated.

The varieties I grow for exhibition are these: Single red: Cavaignac, Fabiola, Gigantea, Macaulay, Solfaterre, Von Schiller, Vuurbaak. Single blue: Baron van Tuyll, Blondin, Lilas, King of the Charles Dickens, General Havelock, Grand Marie, Mimosa. Blues, Lord Derby, Single white: Grandeur

1878. ]

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Blanc. Single

à Merveille, La Grandesse, Mont Single yellow: Ida, Bird of Paradise. lilac or mauve : Czar Peter, De Candolle, Haydn, Sir Henry Havelock. Double red: Koh-i-noor, Lord Wellington. Double blue: Laurens Koster and Van Speyk. This list contains very few double varieties; Koh-i-noor is semi-double only. The doubles have not such compact symmetrical spikes as the single varieties, and although I grow a few, they are very seldom exhibited, but there are a few of the doubles very useful for decorative purposes at home. The best besides those named are: -Red: Noble par Mérite, Princess Louise, Regina Victoria. White: Anna Maria, La Tour d'Auvergne, Prince of Waterloo, Triomphe Blandina. Blue: Bloksberg, Garrick, Louis Philippe.-J. DOUGLAS, Loxford Hall, Ilford.

ON RIPENING PEARS.*

HILE the cultivation of the Pear in favoured localities is easier than that

of Apples, the proper ripening and marketing of the Pear are attended with more difficulty. Indeed, there are but few people who know how to handle Pears so as to ripen them in a way to obtain their best colour and flavour, and to bring them to maturity at just the most desirable time; or, having satisfactorily ripened them, they put them into market in a condition to obtain the best returns. A good Pear be ripened so as to be solid, may juicy, and sweet, with a good rich colour to its skin; or it may be made corky, insipid, and rotten at the core; or again, it may be shrivelled, sour, and unattractive; and these different conditions may all be obtained the same season, and from fruit grown on the same tree.

the same

This being the case, the importance of proper ripening will readily be seen. While different varieties may require slightly different treatment, owing to their individual characteristics and the season, yet general rules will apply to all. I believe that nearly all Pear-growers agree that all kinds of Pears should be picked while green and ripened in the house, but at just what time they should be picked, and just how they should be handled to ripen them, are subjects on which there is much diversity of opinion. But in order that we may intelligently understand this subject, let us see what this ripening process is, and what

From a Prize Essay, read at a Meeting of the Massachusetts' Horticultural Society, January 12, 1878.

are the conditions essential to its most perfect development. Chemists tell us that about fourteen per cent. of the Pear is soluble matter, and that it is composed of a trace of free acid and twenty-three hundredths of one per cent. of albuminoids, and that the rest of the soluble matter is made up of cellulose, dextrine, and other farinaceous subsugar, starch, stances. Now this ripening process is a saccharine fermentation, and is analogous to the malting of brewers' grains. In malting, diastase is formed by a change of albumen in the grain, and this diastase acts as a ferment on the starch, gum, and cellulose of the barley, and changes a portion of these substances to glucose or grape-sugar. In the ripening of Pears, the vegetable acids which they contain act on the farinaceous substances of which the Pear is so largely composed, and if the fruit is removed from the trees and kept at a temperature which favours this saccharine fermentation, its cellular tissues will be broken down, its water and aroma set free, and glucose or grape-sugar will be formed from its farinaceous substances, giving us a sweet, juicy, high-flavoured Pear. Now, what we want in ripening Pears is to obtain the most perfect development of this fermentative process, but at the same to avoid vinous any or destructive fermentation, which would destroy the sugar or induce decay. We also want to have the fruit as large and plump as possible, avoiding any wilted or shrivelled appearance, and to obtain its best colour-as much of bright straw-colour, with a tinge of red, as possible. Now, how shall we make a practical application of these principles so as to obtain the desired results ?

Summer and early-fall Pears should be picked just before they begin to turn, and when they are nearly grown, should be handled with great care to avoid bruising, and should be placed in barrels or boxes in a room or cellar, where the temperature may be kept at about 70°, and a moderate degree of moisture maintained. A very dry air is not so good, as it absorbs the moisture and aroma from the fruit, injures its flavour, and causes it to wilt and shrivel up. After being kept in such a room a few days, they will begin to turn, and some of them will mellow; then they should be sold or used, before they soften. The boxes,

barrels, or whatever they may be placed in, should be covered with papers, to exclude the light and prevent the escape of the aroma.

Care should also be exercised to avoid placing them so deep in barrels or heaps as to allow of the generation of much internal heat, which might carry the fermentation too high, and destroy the fruit. When one has the facilities for doing so, he may improve the colour, and possibly the flavour, by spreading them on shelves between old newspapers. This ripening between papers, on shelves in a room where an even temperature, and the right degree of moisture can be maintained, seems to give the most satisfactory results of any method with which I am acquainted. The manner in which early Pears thus treated will colour is truly wonderful.

It is often desirable to lengthen the season of the ripening of some of our early Pears; especially is this the case where the Bartlett [Williams's Bon Chrétien], which seems to be the standard summer Pear for marketing purposes, is the main crop. This may be readily done, by making two or more pickings from each tree, with several weeks between the first and the last picking. The largest and ripest should be picked first, as soon as the windfalls will ripen and be good; and the smaller and greener ones should be left, to receive the additional sap which the earlier ones would have appropriated. Sometimes one side of a tree will be much earlier than the other, in which case the earliest side should be picked first. This early picking should be ripened off at once by the process already described, only observing that the greener the fruit the higher temperature it will require, and a more humid atmosphere will be needed to prevent their shrivelling.

Having ripened and disposed of this early crop, another picking should be made, and served in a similar way, leaving the greenest on the trees as long as they will keep green. Mulching, and where practicable, watering will help to prolong their season, by keeping up the vigour of the trees. Most summer and fall pears may be kept best by leaving them on the trees as long as they will hang and keep green. I have tried keeping them on ice, but while it checked their ripening, it induced decay, and destroyed the life of the pear, if I may be

allowed such an expression. Certainly, keeping pears a long time at a low temperature injures their ripening properties. By making early and late pickings as described, we may obtain a larger crop from each tree, and sell it at better prices, because we can put part of them into market early, before the bulk of the crop is received, and we can keep a part of the crop until quite late, and sell when the rush is over, thereby obtaining better prices. Splendid specimens for exhibition purposes may be obtained, by leaving a few of the largest and fairest specimens on the tree, and picking all others early; then, when fully grown, pick and ripen between papers or blankets, as the weather and degree of ripeness they have attained on the tree may require.

A great many people pick their Pears too green. Such Pears are small, and they will shrivel unless ripened with great care, and they lack the body and flavour of those which are fully grown. Late fall and winter Pears should be left on the trees until hard frosts and windy weather cause them to drop, then they should be carefully picked, sorted, and packed in clean barrels, and stored where the temperature can be kept as near 40° as possible until the season of ripening has arrived, when they should be placed between woollen blankets in a room where an even temperature of as near 70° as possible can be maintained, and they will soon ripen like summer Pears.

I believe the cause of the failure of so many people to satisfactorily ripen winter pears, is that the fruit is kept and ripened at so low a temperature that the tendency to saccharine fermentation is destroyed, instead of being favoured, and consequently such pears are dry and tasteless.

The summa summarum of the whole matter is: If we wish to keep pears and retard their ripening, we must keep them in a still dry air, at a temperature as near 40° as it is possible. But when it is desirable to ripen them, put them in a dark warm place, with a moderate degree of moisture in the air, and keep them covered, to exclude the light and retain the heat and gases which are generated. In warm weather use papers for a covering, and in cold weather use woollen blankets.-J. W. PIERCE, West Millbury, Mass.

PENTSTEMON CLEVELANDI.

HIS very pretty and distinct Pentstemon is a native of Lower California, and has been quite recently introduced. It appears to have first flowered in this country, in the garden of A. O. Walker, Colwyn Bay, North Wales, where it continued in flower from June to December.