250 THE FLOBIST AND POMOLOaiST. [ Novembee, 



A truly uoble and handsome Pear, -well worthy of cultivation. Ripe in 

 October, The specimen figured is from the market grounds of Mr. F. Dancer, of 

 Chiswick, who speaks of it in high terms, as a good standard fruit succeeding 

 well as a pyramid on the quince. — A. F, Baeron. 



DENDROBIUM CHRYSOTIS. 



^-]N the volume of the Florist and Pomologist for 1871 is a coloured plate 



ijj3 of this Dendrobe. But the short notice of the plant therein contained, is 



'^(i) more an account of its introduction, and a description of the plant, than an 



'^ article on culture, except that we are told " it requires plenty of heat." 



Having grown and flowered it from imported plants, I am now enabled to 



give your readers a few hints on its culture. It succeeds well in an ordinary 



plant stove, where the temperature is seldom below 60°, though if it falls to 55° 



as a minimum in winter, there will be no harm. I have grown it in a basket 



suspended from the roof, and also in a pot, and it does equally well either way. 



It is of very free growth, as much so as the old D. nobile, and should be grown 



as extensively as that fine old species. It is faithfully portrayed in the Florist, 



and the description is faithful. The flowers on the plate are 3 in. across ; a 



correspondent of a contemporary, describing the flowers on the fine plant at 



Manley Hall, said they were 2 in. across ; we had flowers 4J in. across. The 



colour is a rich golden yellow, with two deep maroon blotches at the base of the 



lower petal or lip. Pot it in peat and sphagnum, with some pot-shreds intermixed, 



and water freely when the plant is growing. — J. Douglas, Loxford Hall. 



THE APPLE : ITS CULTURE & VARIETIES.— Chap. V. 



HE Espalier may be trained horizontally either on a trellis of wood or a 

 strained wire fencing. The latter, being very durable, and at the same 

 time light and neat in appearance, is greatly to be preferred where expense 

 is not taken into consideration ; and if adopted, the principal care required 

 is to see that the wires are equidistant, say sis wires in a standard of 5 ft. 6 in., 

 which would allow the lowest wire to be placed at 1 ft. from the ground. The 

 trellis should be of sufficient strength that, supposing the trees to be planted on 

 each side of a walk, a light archway might be thrown over, and the trees trained 

 on until they met overhead, affording an agreeable shade in the heat of summer, 

 besides giving more fruit-bearing space. 



If a trellis of wood be adopted — and for an amateur this is probably the most 

 easily attained method, and comparatively cheaper, because by the time a good 

 substantial wooden trellis has decayed, the horizontal branches ought to be able to 

 support themselves with only a few upright stakes at the extremities — the princi- 

 pal care must be bestowed upon the standards, which should undergo a course of 

 preparation to increase their durability. Wo will suppose them to bo driven into 

 the ground so as to stand 6 ft. 6 in. above the surface ; at least 20 in. should be 

 slightly charred by being held in the flame of burning wood, and afterwards 



