MAY. 147 



BRITISH POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



At a recent spring meeting of this Society, held at St. James's Hall, 

 several new members were elected, and there was a fine display of 

 fruit. It was announced that Mr. Newton, of Enfield Chase, desired 

 to offer a prize of half a guinea for the best dish of six Cornish Gilli- 

 flower Apples, to be competed for at the meeting of November 17- 

 Mr. Newton, at the same time, announced, as a matter of course, that 

 he should not himself compete. Concerning the merits of this Apple 

 nothing need be said ; they are universally acknowledged. Upwards of 

 200 dishes of Apples and Pears were sent to the meeting on the present 

 occasion, and some of them were accompanied by such descriptions of 

 the manner in which they had been kept, as satisfied the meeting that 

 the experiment (originally suggested by Mr. Busby at the committee 

 meeting on the 19th August) was a very successful one. The largest 

 and most interesting collection, sent by Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, 

 contained 15 varieties, all good and sound, — not over-kept, as was the 

 case with some of the other collections. The Apples were stated to have 

 been grown on bushes in the nursery at Sawbridgeworth in a clayey 

 loam mixed with calcareous sand resting on hard white clay, with 

 numerous chalk stones. Site. — About 60 feet above the level of the 

 Stort, a tributary of the sea. Pruning. — Very slight summer pinching 

 in June and July, and shortening leading shoots towards the end of 

 August. Management. — Taking up the trees biennially in November, 

 and replanting them ; cutting off the ends of straggling roots. Manure. — 

 A quarter of a peck of soot is given to each tree in March, on the 

 surface, in a circle three feet in diameter. As regards the Pears, in 

 replanting, some leaf-mould or rotten manure, and the calcareous sand 

 common to the district, are given to each tree ; two shovelsful of the 

 former, and one of the latter, well mixed. In March the same quantity 

 of soot, as to Apples, is given in the same manner. The Pears are all 

 on the Quince stock, and the Apples on the English Paradise. The 

 Apples had been kept in a very old, dry, arched cellar, under a packing 

 shed, the average winter temperature of which is about 50°. Air was 

 constantly admitted at one end, through a wire grating, and flows 

 gently through by the crevices in a very old ill-fitting door at the end 

 opposite to the wire grating. In this way Mr. Rivers has kept Haw- 

 thornden Apples quite sound till May. The fruit is gathered, and, 

 without any preparation, placed in small wooden compartments, in 

 double and single layers, and never touched till wanted. The Pears 

 were kept in a greenhouse (with Camellias) in new flower-pots, covered 

 with pieces of slate. Mr. Cox, Redleaf, Kent, sent some fine Pears 

 and Apples. The Pears were generally from walls, and the Apples 

 from standards of from 15 to 30 years old, very little pruned, save by 

 occasionally thinning the branches ; great attention, however, being paid 

 to keeping the trees free from Moss, by the use of quicklime in spring. 

 With regard to their mode of keeping, the following information 

 accompanied the fruit : — 



" The Pears were laid out singly on the floor of an upper chamber, when 

 gathered, and the windows kept open, so as to afford a thorough ventilation for 



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