34 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
{ July 11, 1878. 
Paul & Son; second, Messrs. Cranston & Co. 
trusses of La France.—First, Messrs. Paul & Son; second, Mr. G. 
Davison ; third, Mr. H. Frettingham. Prizes were offered for 
twelve single trusses of Maréchal Niel, but there were no entvries. 
Messrs. W. Paul & Son were highly commended for a collection of 
ten boxes of Roses. 
First-class certificates were awarded.to Messrs. W. Paul & Son 
for Rose Countess of Rosebery, and Messrs. Paul & Son, Ches- 
hunt, for Rose Mrs. Laxton.—D., Deal. 
ORIGIN OF THE RIBSTON PIPPIN APPLE. 
WE have received the following from an esteemed corre- 
‘spondent :— 
“On the Ist September, 1693, in the fifth year of King 
William and Queen Mary, Robert Clemesha of Goldsborough, 
brought his son Robert to be bound to the Honourable Robert 
Byerley of Metridge Grange, in the county of Durham, as a 
gardener. His master covenants to find him sufficient meat, 
drink, clothes, lodging, and washing suitable for an apprentice. 
When bound he signs with a cross ( x ), not being able to write. 
The Honourable Robert Byerley had land near Goldsborough 
I know from receipts of rent in my possession. Perhaps Cle- 
mesha lived at Ribston Park, in after life was chief gardener 
there, and had given him the pip of an Apple brought from 
France which he was desired to cultivate. This he succeeded 
in doing, and the fruit was much approved, and takes the 
name of the Ribston Pippin from the locality where it was 
first raised, This tree died in 1849. The indenture in my 
possession was ready to drop to pieces, so I had it glued to 
cartridge paper and have presented it to the Hull Philosophical 
Society, in whose museum it is now deposited.” 
We are very glad to be able to publish this information, 
and we print also the following for comparison from the last 
edition of Dr. Hogg’s “ Fruit Manual.” 
“There is no Apple in this country which is more generally 
cultivated than the Ribston Pippin. It did not become gene- 
rally known till the end of the last century, and it is not 
mentioned in any of the editions of Miller’s Dictionary or by 
any other author of that period, neither was it grown in the 
Brompton Park Nursery in 1770. .... The original tree was 
first discovered growing in the garden at Ribston Hall near 
Knaresborough, but how, when, or by what means it came 
there has not been satisfactorily ascertained. One account 
states that about the year 1688 some Apple pips were brought 
from Rouen and sown at Ribston Hall near Knaresborough ; 
the trees then produced from them were planted in the park, 
and one turned out to be the variety in question. -The original 
tree stood till 1810, when it was blown down by a violent gale 
of wind. Itwas afterwards supported by stakes in a horizontal 
position, and continued to produce fruit till it lingered and 
died in 1835. Since then a young shoot has been produced 
about 4 inches below the surface of the ground, which, with 
proper care, may become a tree, and thereby preserve the 
original of this favourite old dessert Apple. The gardener at 
Ribston Hall, by whom this Apple was raised, was the father 
of Lowe, who during the last century was the fruit-tree nur- 
seryman at Hampton Wick.” 
THE HORSHAM ROSE SHOW. 
AMONGST the many votaries of the queen of flowers Horsham 
holds a forward place, and her two-years-old Association bids fair 
to be very soon a very leading one in south-east England, not 
least through the liberal step taken by the Committee of throw- 
ing open to all England a twenty-four, twelve, and twelve-of-the 
same-kind class. On July 2nd the second annual Show was held 
in the Assembly Rooms, a place admirably adapted for the num- 
ber of Roses requiring to be staged, and the result was a show of 
very considerable merit. Not only in the all-England class, but 
aiso amongst the members’ boxes, fine Roses were exhibited. A 
magnificent triplet box of Mr. W. G. Sharp of Birchen Bridge 
was particularly noticeable. Finer blooms of Marie Rady and 
Annie Wood it is scarcely possible to imagine, immense size being 
attained without loss of colour or coarseness. In the all-England 
classes the first prize for twenty-four was taken by Mr. Prince of 
Oxford, the second by Mr. Ridout, gardener to J. B. Heywood, Esq., 
of Reigate; Mr. Piper of the Uckfield Nurseries being third, and 
J. H. Pemberton, Esq., fourth. In the twelve of any kind Messrs. 
Prince and Piper were an easy first and second with very large 
and fine blooms, the Rey. Alan Cheales being third, and J. Grayeley, 
Esq., Cowfold, fourth. Mr. Prince was also first with a mag- 
nificent dozen of Capitaine Christy, the Rey. R. Cox-Hales being 
s2cond with a very even box of Marie Rady. A fine box of Paul 
Twelve single | 
Verdier was also shown. This old Rose, though not a perpetual, 
is worthy of more attention than it receives. 
The arrangements of the Hon, Secretary, W. H. Saddler, Esq., 
were very complete and effective, but the unfavourable weather 
prevented the attendance which might have been anticipated, 
and it is to be feared operated unfavourably on the funds of the 
Society. This Society adopts the somewhat novel plan of letting 
all-England amateurs and nurserymen exhibit together. The 
former, of course, are somewhat overweighted ; the result is, how- 
ever, a large average of high-class flowers.—A. C. 
TORENIAS ASIATICA AND FOURNIERI. 
TORENIA ASIATICA is one of the most distinct and elegant 
of plants for the decoration of stoves in spring and green- 
houses in summer. As a basket plant it has few superiors, its 
elegant pendent growth and richly coloured flowers rendering 
it singularly attractive. As a prize plant for boxes and 
elevated stages, also for placing on isolated brackets, it is very 
suitable. It is further well adapted for cultivation in pots, 
its growth being loosely trained round sticks or wire trellises. 
It, however, shows to the greatest advantage when grown in 
baskets. Its cultivation is extremely easy, but its preservation 
through the winter is often somewhat difficult. Cuttings 
should be struck in late summer, and when rooted be potted 
in a rough compost such as nodules of peat, a little very turfy 
loam, and lumps of charcoal in equal proportions, the plants 
being wintered in small pots on the shelf of a light and well- 
heated stove. When fairly growing in the spring richer soil 
may be afforded them, and liberal supplies of water; they will 
then crow luxuriantly and flower with great freedom. Cuttings 
struck now will make attractive plants for flowering in late 
autumn and early winter. This is a good old plant somewhat 
too much neglected. 
T. FOURNIERI.—This is a most valuable acquisition for 
which British gardeners are indebted to the celebrated French 
firm of Vilmorin, who sent plants or seeds to Chiswick. These 
were well grown and flowered by Mr. Barron, and a first- 
class certificate was voted to the plant last year by the Floral 
Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society. This year 
plants haye been again exhibited at South Kensington by Mr. 
Barron in a manner which stamps this distinct Torenia as a 
plant of high excellence for summer decorative purposes. __ 
The plant is quite dissimilar in habit from T. asiatica, which 
is a trailer, the new introduction being suffruticose, and is very 
dwarf and stubby, especially when grown cool—that is, not 
drawn in a high stove temperature. It flowers with great 
fréedom and is richer in colour than its well-known prototype, 
inasmuch as each rich purplish violet flower has the addition of 
arich orange blotch. The plants exhibited last week did not 
greatly exceed 6 inches in height, and they were a complete 
mass of rich flowers set in bright green foliage. The sprays 
had no stakes or other supports, the short-jointed growth being 
sufficiently strong to retain their upright position and sustain 
the flowers without any extraneous aid. 
The plants referred to were grown from seed saved at 
Chiswick last year. It was sown in the spring, and the plants 
have been grown, after they were fairly established, in an un- 
heated house. They will no doubt flourish admirably in a 
cold frame during the summer months. For front rows in 
greenhouses and conservatories this Torenia is eminently suited. 
Tn the colour of its flowers it is distinct from all other plants ; 
indeed it combines richness with elegance in a remarkable 
manner. : } 
“All nurserymen should obtain a supply of seed of this beauti- 
ful summer-flowering greenhouse annual, and all gardeners 
should order a packet next spring. If they grow the plants as 
well as those which have been grown at Chiswick, and this 
they may do with ordinary care, they will have good reason to be 
satisfied with what is one of the most charming of the “ floral 
simplicities” of recent introduction. Torenia Fournieri is sure 
to become popular, and the sooner the better.—J. WRIGHT. 
WILKINSON'S REGISTERED PEA TRAINERS. 
WHEN travelling through the southern parts of Lanca- 
shire about eleven months ago I had the good fortune to 
visit a well-kept garden belonging to Captain J. H. Birley, 
called Brookside, in the village of Newton-le-Willows, three 
minutes’ walk from the Newton Bridge station of the London 
and North-Western Railway. While accompanying the SAT 
dener round this snug little spot I saw a novelty which especi- 
