April 13, 1892. J 



Garden and Forest. 



173 



showing from twelve to as many as twenty flowers, the 

 bracts being much closer together than usual. The flow- 

 ers are yellowish white with rosy purple markings. The 

 petals are spirally twisted, comparatively short, and nearly 

 horizontal, and the pouch much inflated. It is a great 



Cypripedium X Lucie, Hort. — A hybrid raised by Mon- 

 sieur Moreau, of Paris, by crossing C. Lawrenceanum with 

 the pollen of C. ciliolare. It bears a strong resemblance to 

 the mother plant, though somewhat modified in the direc- 

 tion of the other parent.- — Orchtdophile, 1892, p. 17, with 



colored plate. „ „ 



Kew. R. A. Rol/e 



O" 



26. — The Pepiiio, Solaiuini mui'icatum, 



fruit. 



acquisition. — Gardejiers' Chronicle, February 20th, pp. 234, 

 241, fig. 34. 



Dendrobium O'Brienianum, Kriinzlin. — A Philippine spe- 

 cies, introduced by Messrs. F. Sander & Co., of St. Albans. 

 The small flowers are yellowish green, and borne in long 

 drooping racemes. It flowered at St. Albans in the autumn 

 of last year. — Gardeners' Chronicle, February 27th, p. 266. 



The Pepino. 



UR experience in fruiting the 

 Pepino during the past year 

 differs somewhat from that of Pro- 

 fessor Bailey, as detailed in a recent 

 bulletin from the Cornell University 

 Experiment Station.* The experi- 

 ment at Cornell, an account of which 

 was given in Garden and Forest (vol. 

 v., p. 95), seems to indicate that but 

 one fruit sets in each flower-cluster. 

 Of our plants one bore two fruits 

 in the manner described, while the 

 others, cuttings from the first, were 

 much more prolific, bearing six to 

 eight fruits in each cluster. The ac- 

 companying photograph represents 

 one of these plants. The photo- 

 graph was taken on February 25th, 

 and the plant was about three feet 

 high. It will be observed that the 

 peduncles are not elongated to such 

 an extent as they are when only one 

 fruit develops. I have noticed the 

 same trait in the Egg-plant. That 

 is, when fruit fails to set, the stem 

 and calyx are often elongated ab- 

 normally. 



In view of the natural habitat of 

 the plant, in the highlands, where 

 the temperature is relatively low, 

 and of the fact that the fruits never 

 set well in Florida except during a 

 cool period, it would seem that we 

 have some hints for treatment un- 

 der glass. Heretofore I have never 

 succeeded in obtaining any fruit, 

 though the flowers were repeatedly 

 pollinated by artificial means. The 

 plants at this time were grown in a 

 Tomato-house with a night tem- 

 perature of sixty to sixty-five de- 

 grees. During the present season 

 the treatment has been very differ- 

 ent. The plants were from cut- 

 tings started in May. During the 

 summer they were in four-inch pots 

 plunged out-of-doors. In the fall 

 they were removed to six-inch pots 

 and placed in the house. Since then 

 they have been kept in a cool house 

 — forty-five to fifty degrees — and 

 have received no bottom heat. This 

 treatment has proved much more 

 satisfactory than the other in in- 

 ducing the fruit to set ; but, as be- 

 fore, a large proportion of the blos- 

 soms fail to set fruit. The lower 

 temperature seems also to develop to a higher degree the 

 peculiarly rich flavor of the fruit. Professor Bailey com- 

 pares the flavor to that of a "juicy, tender, somewhat acid 

 egg-plant." With us the flavor has been decidedly musky ; 

 so much so, that when tested recently by several parties 



* Bulletin 37, Cornell University Experiment Station. 



