796 



THE GARDENERS* MAGAZINE. 



OCTOBEE 19, 1912. 



PYRUS VEITCHIANA. 



A small tree of free growth, and quite 

 hardy. It fruits freely, and as the fruits are 

 about half an inch in diameter^ and of a 

 deep crimson colour, the tree is * useful for 

 autumn effects. A.M., R.H.S., October 8. 

 Me^rs. Jas, Veitch and Sons, Chekea. 



COTONEASTER SALICIFOLIA RUGOSA. 



This evergfreen shrub has long*, drooping 

 branches furni^shed with elongated willow- 

 like leaves. Along these branehes the scarlet 

 berries are borne in clusters. An attractive 

 species that should find favour for autumn 

 effects. A.M., R.H.S., October 8. Hon. 

 Vicary Gibbs (gardener, Mr. E. Beckett, 

 V.M.H.), Aldenham House, Elstree. 



ADIANTUM CUNEAITJM MICRO- 



PINNULUM, 



A beautiful fern, even more graceful and 

 with smaller pinnulet^ than A. c. gracillimum 

 from which it has descended. Tlie young 

 fronds are prettily rose-tinted, so that the 

 plant has many good features. A.M., 

 R.H.S., October 8. Messrs. H. B. May and 

 Sons, Edmonton. 



ASTER NANCY BALLARD, 



This double Michaelmas daisy has flower 

 heads over an inch across^, and of a purplish- 

 mauve colour. The growth is stiff, and the 

 flower are borne erect as in the case of the 

 parent variety. Beauty of Colwall. A.M., 

 R.H.S. , October 8. Mr. Ballard, The Court, 

 Colwall, Herefordshire. 



HARVEST IN ORCHARD 



LAND. 



himself 



all anyhow/' so to speak 



the apples in many eases are beW' 



lected. which is not surnHsinrr i_ r^' 



■mg 



By Orchard Land I refer to that part of busy haymaking. 



GREENHOUSE CLIMBERS AT 



KEW. 



T!u^ ^Mcenhouse (No. 4) is just now par- 

 ticularly gay with flowering subjects of all 

 kinds, not the least attractive feature 

 being furnished by the climbing plants, of 

 which there is an extensive and well-chosen 

 collection. Of the different climbers that 

 especially appeal to one may be mentioned 

 Abutilon insigne, a very distinct species 

 with large rugose leaves, and flowers more 

 widely expande<l than in the garden forms ; 

 they are of a deep crimson colour, with 

 darker veinings; Abutilon megapotamicum 

 variegatum, a slender-growing kind with 

 yellowish flowers and prettily - mottled 

 leaves ; Abutilons Boule de Neige and Gol- 

 den Fleece, two popular varieties, with 

 white and yellow flowers respectively ; Bou- 

 gainvillea glabra, of which there is a parti- 

 cularly richly-coloured form in good condi- 

 tion ; Clerodendron Thomsoni, usually 

 grow^n in a warmer structure, but in the 

 greenhouse the pretty red flowers protrud- 

 ing from largo white calyces are very at- 

 tractive ; Clerodendron ugandense (or 

 cfcrulea), prominent among clerodendrons 

 l)ecause the flowers are of two shades 

 of blue; Fuchsia simplicicaulis, a beauti- 

 ful Peruvian species of lax growth, and 

 bearing clusters of very long, rosy-scarlet 

 coloureil flowers ; IponKea rubro-cjcrulea, 

 an annual species whose flowers are at first 

 of a charming shade of blue, with later 

 on a reddish suffusion ; Jasminum grandi- 

 florum, a Himalayan species, with white, 

 highly fragrant blossoms that have a red- 

 dish tinge on the exterior ; Lantana salvia- 

 folia, more generally known as L. delica- 

 tissima, is a popular bedding plant, but its 

 great merits as a greenhouse climber are 

 not so generally recognised ; Lonicera sem- 

 pervirens minor, with bright re<l and yellow 

 flowers, borne throughout the entire ; 

 mer and well on into the autumn ; Passl- 

 flora cmrulea alba, also well known as Con- 

 ^^tanco Elliott ; Plumbago capensis, a well- 

 known plant with a profusion of light 

 blue flowers; Plumbago capensis alba, a 

 White counterpart of the preceding K 



„ _ ^ ural 



stead has its grass orchard, containing a 

 heterogeneous collection of apples and 

 pears, with perhaps plums, and a few odd 

 damson and prune trees in the hedgerows ; 

 and where the filling of the domestic cider 

 hogsheads is an essential item of the fruit 

 harvest. 



Strange records have been established in 

 Orchard Land this season, and the other 

 day a small holder inforine<l me that for 

 the first time in his life he had picked his 

 plums from a punt. A curious experience, 

 you say. Just so; but, then, what was 

 the man to do ? For he lived by the side 

 of the Severn, which overflowed its banks 

 when the plums were ready to pick ; and 

 it was either a question of utilising the 

 punt for the purpose or leaving the plums 

 to spoil, which was out of the question 

 when they were fetching five or six shillings 

 a pot down in South AVales. So our friend 

 paddled his boat underneath the trees, and 

 picked the fruit in the manner described. 

 I admit, by the way, that this was an ex- 

 ceptional instance; but it actually hap- 

 pened in August, when miles of land in 

 the Vale of Severn were under water. 



Climatically speaking, it was not a happy 

 time for plums, and the variety that stood 

 the best— the one that could be picked 

 when it was fine or when it rained, and 

 fetched its money when it got into the 

 market— w\as a local plum, not unlike a 

 miniature Victoria, that is known down 

 the Severn Vale a^ the Blaisdon Red. It 

 origmated, so the story goes, in the tiny 

 \ illage of Blaisdon, in Gloucestershire, and 

 It occupies the position in the Severn Vale 

 that is held in Worcestershire by the 

 \ellow Pershore, or Egg Plum. Little by 

 little the Blaisdon Bed has been distributed 

 from the place of its origin, and propaga- 

 tion IS an easy matter, because it grows 

 readily from suckers, until it has found 



nas everybodj 



But there is disappointment in many an 

 ...chard as I writo, and there are dozem 

 of trees laden with apples; but they ar^ 

 small, scrubby, and not much biotrer f}>«^ 

 hazel-nuts. Why didn't they s'well and 

 come to maturity, as they ought to^have 

 done.^ asks the farmer, as he quaffs a cun 

 of cider with a neighboiir, and discusses 

 the prospects of the coming vintage. Th^y 

 can^t make niuch of it, and put it down 

 in a general way to the season. But thev 

 do not remember about last May-time, when 

 the apple trees were crippled and infested 

 by the apple aphis— blight it is called in 

 the West, m common with every other pest 

 that attacks fruit trees-^but the swelling 

 fruits were doubtless checked by the pesfa 

 m question^ which sucked the juices from 

 the leaves round the trusses, and, owing to 

 the unfavourable conditions of weather that 

 followed, the apples were never able to 

 recover. 



The crop of the year, however, is pears, 

 and this generally miserable summer has 

 suited them, for the fruit is particularly 

 fine and clean. In many orchards there 

 are a few trees of really good varieties that 

 have been planted from time to time, and 

 the farmer has a few pots to sell ; but the 

 low price he gets causes him to grumble. 

 ''What is the good of growing pears?" he 

 says; '^they fetch no money." And when 

 you ask him how many he has sent to mar- 

 ket, you find that it is only a matter of a 

 few baskets, and perhaps it is several years 

 since he sent any before. 



But the pears that figure most conspi- 

 cuously in West Country orchards are not 

 eating varieties at all, but Perry pears, 

 which in some seasons are worth sending to 

 market to sell from costeimongers' barrows. 

 But this year the demand will be small, 

 even if it exists at all. Fine old specimens 



—the Blake- 



. ^ of trees are these perry pears- 



its way into most of the orchards round ney Reds, Barlands, and the 



of 



about; and, though other commercial and 

 reputedly better varieties have been intro- 

 duced from time to time, the local growers 

 tell you that, taking one season with an- 

 other there is no plum that crops so 

 heavily, stands unfavourable weather so 

 well, or brings in more monev than the 

 Blaisdon Red. One wonders if it would do 

 so well if It were taken awav from its 

 native district. 



A strange thing is that this season, in 

 spite of the wet and the lack of sunshine 

 the apples are colouring well, and a pretty 

 sight is a typical West Country orchard on 

 one of the beautiful September days we 

 are enjoymg at the moment of writing As 

 a rule, the West Country apple crop is 

 fairly good this year, and as you pass a 

 typical orchard you see almost as manv 

 varieties as there are trees; and reddest 

 of all are the little cider applas, which are 

 pretty to look at, but deceptive if you 

 come to taste. An air of harvest ripeness 

 IS stealing over the orchard iust now, and 

 amongst the leaves <^hanging from green to 

 yellow you see fruits of a lemon tint on 

 this tree, and others deepening to purple- 

 crimson on the next. It is ten to one that 

 most of the varieties are strangers to vou 

 hut the farmer knows them by curious 

 names that were never seen in any nur^ry- 

 man s catalogue, for the simple reason that 

 they were raised by some local celebritv in 

 the district in davs gone by. In a general 

 Avny. the farmer turns his attention to the 

 orchard after harvest, picking what he 

 calls the tnble fruit for market, and sratber- 

 ing tbo rest in heaps as it falls to feed 

 the culor mill later on. This year he finds 



rest — and 

 fruit that 



enormous is the weight of fruit that a 

 single specimen will produce in a year like 

 this, when every branch is simplv roperl 

 with pears. What will be done with 

 them ? They w^ill fall in due course, or be 

 shaken from the trees ; a quantity will be 

 ground up for perry, or be mixed with the 

 apples to make cider ; while some, perhaps, 

 wdl be sent to market. 



The big centres of population in South 

 Wales take a lot of the fruit direct from 

 West Country orchards, and a lot goes to 

 the Midlands and the North. But when 

 there is anything like a crop, the prices of 

 apples in local markets about this time are 

 rarely very high. The reason of this is 

 not far to seek, for the farmer, as a rule, 

 has a great idea of getting the fruit into 

 niarket as soon as possible — perhaps be- 

 cause he wants the money, or perhaps be- 

 cause he has no proper means of storage ; 

 or maybe he considers the loss and shrink- 

 age that storage entails. But it would 

 really be a wonder if much of the orchard 

 produce realised good prices when you see 

 the mixed medley of varieties that makes 

 up a consignment from one farm — ^the big, 

 little, and medium samples all jumblecl to- 

 gether, or not infrequently with the former 

 on the tep, and the generally untidy and 

 unattra<rtive appearance of the packages. 

 As a rule, there are plenty of buyers at 

 the auction who know how far to go ; and 

 perhaps, in an ordinary way, they give as 

 much as the fruit is worth ; but not in- 

 frequently it is a price that would send 

 the farmer to bankruptcy if he had to de- 

 pend entirely on his orchard for a living. 



G.H. 



