116 EEPORTS OP THE -pRTJIT COMMITTEE, 



Charles Stecckland, Esq., F.H.S., stated that Boyiitou, 

 where the Fubston Pq^inns which gained the second prize were 

 grown, is three miles west of BridUngton. The soil is a shallow 

 loam upon chalk gravel ; the surface is a level, in the bottom of 

 a valley. The tree is old, but in good health, and is trained 

 against a west wall. There are mauy varieties of Apples which 

 are good in the south of England, but which prove of very indifferent 

 quality in the north. The Fubston Pippin is, however, an excep- 

 tion, for the specimens exhibited from Yorkshire, proved that the 

 variety attains in that district a high degree of perfection, 



Blenheim Pippin.— The competitors were :— Mr.Cox,F.H.S., 

 Redleaf; and Mr. McDonald, Woodstock Park. The First 

 Prize was awarded to Mr. Cox ; the Second to Mr. McDonald. 



Mr. Cox has already stated the nature of the locality of Red- 

 leaf, Kent (pp. 20, 29). The orchard where the Blenheim Pippin 

 Apples were produced, which gained the first prize, is sheltered 



on level ground at the foot of a hill, sloping to the south at an 

 angle of about 20°, and is generally very productive. The soil is 

 loam, 18 inches to 2 feet deep, resting on a subsoil of stony 

 gravel. The fruit was produced on a healthy and vigorous tree, 

 25 years old, on a free stock. The specimens exhibited were 

 remarkably handsome, about half-a-pound weight each, splendidly 

 coloured, and richly flavoured. ' 



Mr. C. McDonald, stated that the climate of Woodstock Park, 

 Inistiogue, Kilkenny, is humid, about 32^ inches of rain having 

 fallen last year. The soil is from 8 to 18 inches deep ; the sub"^ 

 soil clayey slate; the ground slopes to the south-east about 1 foot 

 lu 10. The trees that produced the specimens of Blenheim 

 Pippin and other sorts exhibited, are very old standards, which, 

 previously to last season, had received no pruning for more than 

 twenty years ; and the ground had been regularly cropped with 

 vegetables for upwards of a centurj-. They were severely root- 

 pruned last autumn, and the branches thinned ; fresh compost, 

 was then added, consisting chiefly of charred earth and weeds ; 

 and the ground was irrigated in summer. Formerly these trees 

 produced very unequal and badly spotted fruit ; but this year the 

 fruit was more equal-sized and comparatively free from spots, and 

 this improvement Mr. McDonald attributes to the fresh compost, 

 and irngation in the growing season. This season, he remarked 

 was remarkably dry, and Apples in the locality were under a third 

 of an average crop. The specimens exhibited were very large and 



