CONTENTS. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. General Subject. ART. I. Descriptions and Engravings of Select Varieties. of Pears. By the Editor, Page. 337 Horticulture. ART. II. The Strawberry Question. By the Editor, 347 .. 349 ART. IV. Descriptions of Eight New Varieties of Prairie Floriculture. 353 ART. V. On the Propagation of Stove and Greenhouse Exotics in a Series of Letters. By James Kennedy, Gardener to S. T. Jones, Staten Island, New York,. . . . . 356 ART. VI. Floricultural and Botanical Notices of New and Beautiful Plants figured in Foreign Periodicals; with Descriptions of those recently introduced to, or originated in, American Gardens,. . ART. II..... Domestic Notices, . ART. III....Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 358 Printed by Dutton & Wentworth, No 37 Congress St., Bosten. THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. AUGUST, 1847. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ART. I. Descriptions and Engravings of Select Varieties of Pears. By the EDITOR. WE Continue our descriptive list of pears. Some of the number which are enumerated below are tolerably well known, and part of them very highly esteemed kinds. The Ananas is of more recent introduction, and is a very fine early autumn pear. 73. FIGUE DE NAPLES. Hort. Soc. Catalogue, 3d. Ed. 1842. Fig Pear of Naples, Book of Fruits, (first series,) p. 91. Beurré Bronzé, Fourcroy, of some English and American collections. } of The Figue de Naples is tolerably well known around Boston under the name of the Beurré Bronzé, it having frequently been exhibited under that name, though incorrectly. Mr. Manning fruited it for several years, and, in his Book of Fruits, he described it as a "very productive variety, bearing young, juicy and good." Last year, a tree in our collection, received under the name of Beurré Bronzé, produced several fine pears, and we were somewhat surprised to find it so fine a variety. Whether from the season, the locality, or the soil, we considered it as one of the best pears of the season. It possesses a rather thick skin, but the flavor is peculiarly rich, musky and delicious. Since our description was made, we have observed that Mr. Thompson has described it in the Gardener's 31 VOL. XIII.-NO. VIII. Chronicle, and he remarks that "it requires particular management after gathering. It has a thick, tough, softly russeted skin, which appears to permit occasionally a too rapid evaporation of the juices, in consequence of which the flesh. does not become melting, but actually the reverse, until it finally decays. To prevent this, it is necessary to pack the fruit away from the free action of the air." The tree grows very vigorously, with upright brown shoots, sprinkled with brown russet specks, and is very productive: the fruit all have a remarkably clean skin, free from specks. It grows freely, and bears well on the quince. Our description of the Figue de Naples (fig. 26), is as follows:— Size, large, about two and a half inches in diameter, and three long: Form, oblong, slightly contracted in the middle, and very obtuse at the stem: Skin, fair, smooth, pale green, becoming lemon yellow when mature, marbled with dull red on the sunny side, and very regularly and thickly covered with small green dots and russety specks: Stem, medium length, about one inch, moderately stout, rough, dark brown, fleshy and swollen at the base, and inserted without any cavity Eye, rather large, open, and slightly sunk in a broad, shallow, smooth basin; segments of the calyx broad, long, pointed, and quite reflexed: Flesh, yellowish, fine, melting, and very juicy: Flavor, rich, sugary, vinous and excellent, with a fine musky perfume: Core, medium size: Seeds, medium size, plump, brown. Ripe in November, and is in eating three or four weeks. 74. FORELLE. Hort. Trans., Vol. V. pl. 17. Poire Truite, Forellenbirne, Hort. Soc. Cat., 3d. Ed. 1842. Trout Pear, of some gardens. The Forelle is, without doubt, the most beautiful pear which has ever been produced, and would deserve cultivation for its appearance only, if it were even a second rate pear. But it stands almost as high for its excellence as for its beauty. Dr. Diel, in his Pomology, speaks of the Forelle as competing with the best French varieties, and Mr. Thompson states that it "merits his eulogium in all respects." The Forelle (fig. 27), takes its name from the resemblance of its beautifully speckled skin to the Trout, and, in the French collections, it is generally called the Truite pear. When the fruit is produced in perfection, it is deeply colored with vermilion, and profusely covered with grayish russet dots, which are margined or rayed with crimson. The tree grows very rapidly, more resembling, in the color of the wood, which is of a rich violet red speckled with grayish white, an apple than a pear: young shoots woolly leaves, roundish ovate. It is very productive, and grows either upon the quince or pear stock. Mr. Manning, who described it among the many kinds which he proved in his collection, (Vol. III. p. 49), stated that with him it had not come up to the character given it in the Pom. Mag., but we suspect he had not produced it under favorable circumstances. Our drawing is from a specimen produced in the collection of Mrs. Heard, of Watertown, in 1846, and, in beauty as well as quality, it was a first-rate fruit. Where the locality is unfavorable as a dwarf or standard, we would recommend it as deserving a wall or an espa lier. Fig. 27. Forelle. Size, large, about two inches in diameter, and three long : Form, oblong obovate, regular, rather the largest in the middle, and tapering to an obtuse point at the stem: Skin, fair, smooth, dull yellow in the shade, broadly shaded with vermilion on the sunny side, and beautifully speckled with grayish dots, which are deeply margined with crimson: Stem, rather short, about three quarters of an inch, slender, nearly straight, and obliquely inserted in a small, shallow, contracted cavity, with a swollen lip or projection on one side: Eye, medium size, partially open, moderately sunk in a small and rather abruptly depressed basin; segments of the calyx broad |