536 



Garden and Forest, 



[November 6, 1889. 



The Grape-fruit in Florida. 



FLORIDA is notably the land of flowers, but it is quite as 

 truly a land of fruits. Her Citrus fruits are now known 

 the world over, and her large grape-fruit and shaddock, hitherto 

 little appreciated by northern people, are beginning to appear 

 regularly on our market-stands along with her oranges, limes, 

 lemons, bananas, pineapples and dates. Many persons use the 

 words shaddock and grape-fruit interchangeably, and the shad- 

 dock is, in fact, a near relative of the grape-fruit, but is much 

 larger, often weighing from three to five pounds. It is also 

 coarser than the grape-fruit, and has not yet proved very use- 

 ful, but the tree and fruit as they adorn the lawns of many 

 southern homes are strikingly beautiful. The fruits grow 

 singly on the trees, and look like veritable pumpkins suspend- 

 ed from twigs. The tree comes from China and Japan, and 

 was first brought to the West Indies by one Captain Shaddock, 

 from whom the name was taken. There are said to be upward 

 of forty distinct varieties of the fruit in Florida, some of which 

 are very large and of use for canning or preserving in the same 

 way that citron is put up. The shaddock is also known as 

 pompelmouse or pummellow. This fruit has probably never 

 been exhibited in our northern markets for sale. It is not of 

 sufficient value to warrant shipping it north, for even the 

 natives in Florida seldom take the trouble to gather it. It 

 will doubtless be found of use in time, however, and until then 

 it will ripen and die upon the trees in southern groves. 



The cultivation of the pomelo, or grape-fruit, is extending 

 rapidly in the south, and it is becoming a first-class marketable 

 fruit, very valuable in the spring and early summer, after 

 oranges are about gone, and by many people esteemed equal 

 to the orange. When it becomes better known it will be a 

 popular fruit during the spring months. It is prepared for the 

 table by removing the bitter, white membranes and sprinkling 

 the pulp with sugar. In warm weather, after it has been 

 iced, the melting pulp and juice from between the mem- 

 branes are deliciously refreshing. The pomelo can be grown 

 niore easily than the orange, and it yields more to the 

 tree than any other member of the Citrus family. The fruit 

 grows in clusters, two, three or four hanging together from 

 one stem, from which peculiarity the name of grape-fruit was 

 given to it. The trees are beautiful objects covered over 

 with rank, glossy, dark green foliage, and loaded with thous- 

 ands of bright, pendent, yellow globes. I have seen a twig 

 no larger than my little finger with five or six big pomelos 

 hanging from it. A comparatively small tree will often bear 

 as many as two thousand at a time. 



California also produces these fruits, but most of them come 

 from Florida. They are sold on fruit stands according to size 

 at from five cents apiece to fifteen cents apiece for very large 

 ones. They vary in quality as much as oranges do, and 

 while the good ones are very good, the bad ones, if green, are 

 very bad. Those with smooth white skins are the best, and a 

 little rust on them will not hurt their flavor or juiciness. The 

 fruit is always cut from the tree, as the orange is, wrapped in 

 tissue paper, and packed carefully in barrels rather than in 

 boxes. They are not sized as oranges are, but are sent north 

 with the number of fruits in each barrel marked on the outside. 



It has been said by more than one southern fruit-grower that 

 a fortune was waiting the man who had the courage to plant a 

 grove of grape-fruit trees, and depend on them for a living. 

 Heretofore there has been no systematic cultivation of the 

 trees. Two or three trees are planted around the yards or 

 orchards for ornament as much as for anything else, and alio wed 

 to take care of themselves. If properly treated, however, their 

 yield would be much larger than it is to-day, and a good profit 

 could be made from them. The trees should be set out about 

 fifty feet apart each way in soil that has been prepared for 

 them beforehand. If possible the young trees should be taken 

 from soil like that on which they are to grow in the future ; that 

 is, if they have come from Pine-land they should not be grown 

 on hum mock-soil, otherwise the trees will become stunted while 

 adapting themselves to the change of soil, and never perhaps 

 attain the vigorous growth that they should. The holes should 

 be made large and shallow, and the dirt worked among the 

 roots with the hand, until it is packed firmly and settled by 

 shaking the tree up and down. If planted too deep the trees 

 will be smothered, and not do half so well as when given 

 shallow planting. If the soil is at all dry, a pail of water can 

 be given to each tree in planting, so that the earth is washed 

 among the roots, and the surface should then be covered with 

 dry soil. Trees planted in this way, and then mulched, will 

 send out new roots and shoots almost immediately. For young 

 trees with tender, sappy buds, a slight protection of coarse, 

 long grass, found growing spontaneously in every old-field, 



if stood up and tied about the trees as gardeners protect Roses 

 from the cold, has been found to repay cost. Muck or 

 commercial fertilizers applied around the roots of the trees, or 

 plowed into the soil generally, will greatly help them in 

 their growth. Weeds should be kept down, and a good way 

 to do this successfully is to plant Cow Peas between the rows, 

 and plow them under. They make a good fertilizer for Florida 

 land. Cultivation should cease late in the season, to allow the 

 young growth to ripen and be in condition to resist frost. 

 New York. George E. Walsh. 



Orchid Notes. 



Detidrobium Brymerianum. — This is a very handsome 

 and interesting Orchid, and should be in every collec- 

 tion. The terete bulbs are about fifteen inches long, very 

 much swollen in the middle and tapering at each end, with 

 four or five persistent lanceolate leaves at the apex. The 

 flowers, which are produced in short racemes from near the 

 top of the bulbs, are about three inches in diameter and of a, 

 rich golden yellow. The lip is very much fringed, the front 

 lobe terminating in a long branched fimbriation, which ren- 

 ders this species very striking, and distinct from any of its con- 

 geners. Z^.i^ry/z/^rzawz^wi was introduced from Burmah in 1874, 

 but it has never been very plentiful. A few years ago plants 

 from another locality were sent out for this species, but they 

 proved to be a worthless variety, since named D. histrionicum. 

 This variety may easily be distinguished from the true species 

 by its short and more swollen stems. The flowers in this 

 variety are small. The peculiar beard-like appendage of the 

 lip being rarely developed, the flowers are often self-fertilized 

 in bud, and do not open at all. D. Brymerianiiui grows freely 

 in the warmest house, is strong rooting, and requires abun- 

 dance of water during growth. It should not be kept very dry 

 in winter, providing the house is warm. 



Ccelogyne {Pleione) lagenaria. — This is one of a small genus 

 now included in Ccelogyne, popularly known as Indian Crocus. 

 It is a charming little Orchid, and its flowers are particularly 

 welcome at this season. The bulbs should be planted pretty 

 thickly in small shallow pans, so that when the flowers appear 

 (which they do as soon as the leaves have ripened and fallen 

 off) they will completely cover the surface of the pan, the 

 flower scape being only about an inch long. This Orchid re- 

 quires rich soil and liberal treatment during growth, but the 

 bulbs need thorough ripening in a cool house to ensure a good 

 crop of bloom. 



Cattleya labiata vera. — This grand old species is now in 

 perfection with us. It is of very distinct habit, and may easily 

 be distinguished from its congeners. The clavate bulbs are 

 about one foot long, proceeding from an unusually thick 

 rhizome, and bearing a very thick coriaceous leaf about ten 

 inches long, both bulb and leaf being suffused with reddish 

 purple. Tlie flowers, usually three on a peduncle, are about 

 six inches in diameter, with narrow sepals, and broad, wavy 

 petals of pale rose. The lip is very handsome, tlie anterior 

 lobe, which is deeply emarginate, is very crisp and of a deep 

 magenta-purple, with deeper colored veins extending into the 

 throat. The side lobes are convolute and pale rose. A charac- 

 teristic of this species is the purplish double flower-sheath. 



The true C. labiata is a very rare plant, though among the 

 first known of the genus, having been introduced from Rio 

 Janeiro about eighty years ago ; but as no plants have been 

 found (though diligently sought for) for nearly forty years, the 

 species is belie v^ed to have become extinct in its native coun- 

 try. In order to develop its massive bulbs this plant requires 

 very liberal treatment in respect to heat and water, also plenty 

 of air and light, and though it may be kept moderately dry 

 during the winter months, the warmest corner of the house 

 should always be given to it. 



The finest specimens and freest grown plants I have ever 

 seen were grown in an old-fashioned flue-heated stove pit, 

 with the pots plunged in tan bark, and this same pit has 

 contributed very largely toward preserving this noble species 

 to our collections. „ ^ , , . 



Kenwood, N. Y. ^ . Goldrmg. 



Corydalis lutea.— This pretty Corydalis flowers more continu- 

 ously than any hardy plant I know. Its bright yellow flowers 

 appear in May, and the plant is still bright with them (October 

 30th), in spite of the severe freezing it has been subjected to ; 

 and from May until November there is not a day on which it. 

 is not in flower. Corydalis lutea is a native of southern 

 Europe, where it grows in waste and rocky places. It has 

 become naturalized through longcultivation in many countries 

 where it did not grow originally, like England and some parts 

 of northern France and Germany, but in this country it is not 



