MISCELLANEOUS. TWO WINTER PEARS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2250, 15 April 1897, Page 8

MISCELLANEOUS. TWO WINTER PEARS.

Two excellent winter pears are Glou Morceau and Winter Nelis. Lovers of this fruit should make note of them, as the 7 bear well and aro strong in growth. Glou Morceau is one of the most popular frnits in cultivation, and is therefore not expensive. The fruit should alwajs rem&in as long as possible on the tree, otherwise it (thrivels badly — more so than any other pear. It is pbovate in shape, sweet and juicy. Winter Nelis is more delicious in quality, but is scarcely such a good all-round variety as the other, though it takes a high place amongst winter fruits. BIICHAEOIAS DAISIES. These late hardy herbace^ui or perennial flowers have been makicg a fine show of late. Some of them are little more than lft in height, while others are over 3ft high. The flowers vary in colour, white and lilac in different shades predominating. They prow luxuriantly, and the flowers come in armful?, which make them very acceptable *fc this time of the year when flowers generally are declining in quantity and attractiveness. They ought to Had a place ia all gardens where late flowers are desired. They are easily increased by dividing the larger plants, and they are not by any i means particular as to soil. | HONE HEAL FOR INVIGOHATINQ LAWN QEASS.) Bone meal sprinkled over the surface of lawns at the rate of 3jz per square yard and brushed well into the sward will do weakly grass much good. WINDOW GARDENING. Plants in spare rooms must be kept as dry as is consistent with freshness of foliage. A plant will get very dry at this season without the leavai wilting. Plants in flower, such as heath"? and bulbs, must be kept reasonably moist. Cleanliness is very important. The syringe is a. great refresher. GROWING SEEDLESS FHUITS. The lateat triumph of the scientist is the cultivation of fruits without seeds. From the results already obtained it is probable that we shall soon be able to purchase many kinds of fruits that can be eaten without fear of beiog choked by seeds or pips. Several varieties of seedless apples and pears have already been produced. A species of table grape has also been cultivated. The seedless fruits can only be obtained by easy stages of cultivation, each crop showing a further diminution, until the fruit is entirely without seeds. The fruit that is mosl desired without seeds or stones is plums, but all efforts to grow stoneless plums have been unsuccessful. It is also found that blackberries and raspberries aro very difficult to cultivate in a seedless form. Cherries without stones have beeu successfully produced, and are said to be far superior in flavour to the ordinary fruit. It is thought that if all kinds of grapes can be cultivated without seeds, it will prove a tremendous boon, owing to the large quantities of raisins used. A LATE SWBET-SMELLIKO BOSE. The variety I refer to, says a writer in a Home paper, is Souvenir de la Malmaison. It is a climbing kind, of strong, free growth. Unlike the majority o£ roses, it will succeed ia

a somewhat shaded aspecb. Ib has large leaves, and ib flojvera in cluttars. The individual blooms are very large to ba produosd in this way — in fact", they are quito as large as the ordinary roses sceu on bushes generally. Tb.9 colour of the flowers is a very light, silvery pink, and their fragrance is more sweet than &nj vaiieby I could name. In lliis respect ib is a rsost delightful rose, and I think altogether its fine qualities cannob be generally knG??il, OT ib would bo grown much more commonly. As ib i?, ib is rarely Been, and I gladly call attention to it. There are som9 roses thab bloom freely iv buuimsv, some? appear in early autumn ; but they are rare ia late autumn, and it; is thon that this variety flowers most freely. At present I kno.iv of a plant of ib beariDg many clustei'3 of its showy flowers, and I have known ib blossom into early winter. Apatt, therefore, from its other goad properties, its late flowering babib ia a recommendation, and at all times the flowers ate simply delicious with their sweot smell. Ib is sometimes grown as a bush, bub in this form ib is not bo useful as when climbing — a purpose which it should be very generally used for. COLD TEA AS A PLANT STIMULANT. May I draw ths attention of your readers to the value of cold tea and tea leaves. These are generally thrown out, but are of great uso to anyone who has window plants. For all plantf, except ferns, cold tea can be used. Ib can be weakened with some w&ter, aud the leaves pub at the rcob of the plant. An old Cumberland woman gave mo a "guess" once : Though neither fish nor fowl I bey, Yet I do lova a little drop of tey. She said bho answor was the " window plant." •WHERE TUB BEST TOBACCO IN THO WOULD GROWS. Cuba has the honour of having given tobacco to tho world, 'aud, what is more remarkable, of haviug retained the reputation which ib acquired of bsing the blest island in whioh ib waa grown iv perfection. Tho aborigines called tho roll of u herb3" "tobaco," which name has since come to bo ap--plied to the plant itself, though still used in Cuba to designate the completed cigar. In the f-ighteeath century tho now celebrated region of the Vuolta Abajo was found (o pioduca tbo best leaf, and from that period dates the prosperity of Cuba. No other region holds in combination cuch elemeols of successful cultivation as that comparatively restricted district known as the Vuelba, Abajo. The entire, section covers but a small portion of tha province, beinpr, perhaps, 100 miles in length and 25 iv br. adth. Scarcely any of the vegis, or tobacco farms, ccoupy more than 33 acres, aud, ns their local appellation indicates, are mostly in low and damp localities, or aloug the margin 1 ? of rivers. Here the tobacco plant flourishes luxuriantly. The tobacco plaut grows to a height of from 6fb to Bffc, being carefully divested of all superfluous leaves, tbab tha resultaub product may Le finer and stronger. With the experience derived from ancestral tradition, the planter watches tho plants throughout the Reason, carefully prunes and buds, wars against the numerous insect foe?, and guides his pet production to development. Ib is paid thab ho c»n produce tobacco of whatever strength or quality he desires; and it is this consfaub car>>, combined- with the soil aDd climate of 'the Abvjo, thab sustains the world-wido reputation which the produat of that section has acquired. " Tobacco of tho best quality," says a Cuban expert, "snob as is produced in the choicest vegas of the Vuelta Abajo, is known by it* even tinb cf rich dark brown and freedom from stains, burning freely, when made into cigar?, with a white or brown &6b, which will remain sometimes on the cigar until ib is half tmoked without falling off."