October 23, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
373 
fourth paragraph on page 346 the matter can scarcely be misunderstood 
even by non-professional cricketers or rosarians.] 
NOTES ON APPLES. 
Much might be said about Apples, and yet leave a large amount of 
interesting matter untouched. Now, although this is not an Apple year, 
yet it is a season in which we can learn, perhaps, more practical 
lessons than we did in an overflowing year like the last, and I am very 
sure that were gardeners and others interested in Apple culture to forward 
to the Journal such notes of experience as that printed from Mr. Gilbert 
at page 237, we should all of us be much wiser than we are at present. 
One of the most important points to be learnt in a season like the present 
is the variety of Apples to plant and to increase, and which kinds to avoid. 
True no doubt it is that locality, which includes in one common expression 
soil and climate and other matters which go so far towards success or 
failure, has a very decided influence on many varieties, but there are a 
few sorts which do well wherever Apples will fruit at all. In a previous 
communication I named those which I could place the greatest reliance 
upon. The one named Cockpit, and for which I have had a number of 
names, I was told this week by some noted pomologist was not Cockpit, 
though in some respects like it. Coalston Pippin is the latest name given 
it, and I hope the correct one. It is to be hoped that the labours of the 
Apple Congress will do something to help Apple growers, but I am afraid 
the work of one year is far too limited to be of value proportionate to 
the labours undertaken. Ihe R.H.S. ought to have a permanent Com¬ 
mittee to examine and name Apples at stated periods throughout the 
season. There was no possibility of arriving at correct nomenclature in 
the case of varieties which were gathered and presented to the naming 
Committee of the Congress in a condition of unripeness. Four meetings 
throughout the time home Apples are in season would be sufficient to 
include all varieties. Varieties which were not known might be grown 
at Chiswick and compared with those already there. Nurserymen espe¬ 
cially ought to make sure of having their stock true to name ; unfortu¬ 
nately it does not always happen that they have, and a really good sort 
may be condemned for this reason, or a bad one by having its name 
attached to a good variety be praised. 
Reverting to the influence which seasons have on the Apple crop, it is 
very necessary to guard against exceptional circumstances. If I were to 
form a judgment as to the bearing qualities of varieties from the expe¬ 
rience of this season alone, that judgment would be of slight value. 
Keswick Codlin is a total failure this year, so is one tree of another 
variety, which is a most persistent cropper, but the name of which I 
cannot secure. The reason for failure in these cases arose from the very 
exceptional crop the trees bore last season, and for permitting which I 
blame myself. I have had Lord Suffield fail in the same way. It is one 
of the good points of Warner’s King, Ecklinville, King of the Pippins, 
Alfriston, and some others that they do not have excessive crons in even 
a good season, and in a bad one they do not fail. Though “ Thinker ” 
and Mr. Abbey are both perfectly able to look after themselves, I am 
sure they will not object to my noticing one or two points which “ An 
Old Gardener ” has mentioned. There is much which I must agree with 
in that communication, but to the whole of his deductions I cannot. I 
have not the slightest doubt myself that the difference between the Apple 
crop in Kent and in Northumberland, to which he alludes as finishing 
the argument he produces, has occurred as much owing to overcropping 
last year in the former county as from frost in spring. It would be idle 
to say that frost has no effect. It, unfortunately, has an effect, but it is 
blamed without discrimination as to facts. I have repeatedly found, 
when flowers were developed sufficiently to examine, that the o-gans of 
fructification were abortive and the fruit germ itself sometimes wanting. 
1 have found this occur with most kinds of hardy fruit, and even with 
Peaches grown under glass. It happened this season very extensively 
with Apples here, and the result, I am afraid, would have been much the 
same, frost or no frost. How am I to account for good crops on certain 
varieties of Apples, some of them quite as good as last year, while others 
are absolutely barren P Strong growths early ripened in autumn produce 
healthy well-developed flowers, and in that term 1 include not only the 
floral covering, but the all-important rudimentary fruit. Ripening means 
to me a continued process —not suddenly brought about and finished in 
a hot summer, but rather a work undertaken in genial autumn. When 
we experience a “ good ” autumn the chances are in favour of a heavy 
crop of fruit the succeeding year, for the very obvious reason that varieties 
which mature slowly are not checked in the process. I would respect¬ 
fully draw, not only the attention of your correspondent to this phase of 
the subject, but also that of your readers generally, and particularly to 
the rapidity with which buds swell through autumn—in fact, it is the 
natural means of removing the no-longer-required foliage, and also to 
examine the quality of blossom in spring. There is also the unknown 
process undergone by the trees throughout the “ resting ” period. What 
changes occur then we do not know, but this fact every gardener is aware 
of, that a certain season of “ rest ” is absolutely necessary for fruits. Try 
to force them too quickly and failure results. 
I pass on to another interesting question which has been prominently 
brought before us—the fruiting of Apples on one-year-old shoots. And 
what I have to say here is to ask how Apples grown in orchard houses pro¬ 
duce their fruit ? Perhaps some of your readers may have noticed—Mr. 
Douglas, for instance, who at cne time grew Apple^ thus. As to the fact 
that Apples do fruit on the preceding year’s growths we cannot doubt. 
This season, for instance, two trees of Keswick Codlin, budded on 
August 24tb, 1882, each bore fruit, but in my experience this is not com¬ 
mon. I should imagine that under warmer skies than we experience, 
and especially more genial late and autumn months and springs less 
subject to east winds, that the bearing of Apples on the previous year’s 
wood might be not so much an accident as it is with us now.—R. P. B. 
The Horticultural Club. — The first meeting and dinner of 
the Club in their new quarters, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 
was held on Tuesday evening the 14th ins*^. There was a large attend¬ 
ance, including the Revs. T. Flintoflf and F. H. Gall, Professor Michael 
Forster; Messrs. B. S. Williams, George Deal, William Bull, J. S. 
Cousens, J. Cutbush, H. M. Slottenholl, H. Briscoe Ironsides, A. Bull, 
C. T. Druery, H. J. Adams, H. Balderson, J. Wood Ingram, Shirley 
Hibberd, &c. Much satisfaction was expressed at the arrangements 
which had been made. Some interesting plants were shown, notably 
the remarkable form of Scolopendrium called Helwezii by Mr. Slot- 
tenhoff, and a remarkable form of Blechnum spicant by Mr. Druery, 
Mr. Balderson of Comer Hall, Hemel Hempstead, contributed ten 
varieties of Grapes grown in one house, including Goldtn Champion, 
Muscat of Alexandria, Foster’s Seedling, Mrs. Piece’s Muscat, Buckland 
Sweetwater, and Duke of Buccleuch. These were in excellent condition. 
The Secretary also contributed some good examples of Doyennd du Comice 
and Comte de Lamy, the two best October Pears grown. A pleasant and 
interesting evening was spent, and many good wishes expressed for the 
prosperity of the Club. Two new members were admitted. 
- Richabdia albo-MACULATA.—T his is an exceRent plant for 
the decoration of the flower garden in summer. It only groves about 
1 foot in height, and in outline the leaves aie of the handsome Lent Lily 
type, but far prettier, as the’r blight green is beautifully dotted over with 
little white spots. I lately saw a fine batch of it in Messrs. Wheeler’s 
nursery at Gloucester, and I thought then it was one of the best fine- 
foliage garden plants I had ever seen. In foliage or sub-tropical beds it 
would be a difficult matter to find a more effective plant, and I am sur¬ 
prised it has not been more used in aU gardens.—M. M. 
-A Twin-flowered Cypbipedium Lawrencianum. — Dr* 
Paterson, Fernfield, Bridge of Allan, N.B., sends us a specimen of an 
extremely fine twin-flower stem of the above-named Cypripedium, a 
departure from the ordinary form that is rarely seen in this Orchid, 
though it is not uncommon in C. insigne. The flower stem is 2 feet 
long, proportionately stout ; the flowers are 5 inches in diameter across 
the petals, and the dorsal sepal is 2| inches in diameter, beautifully 
marked with rich purple on a white ground. Both flowers are equally 
fine, and very seldom do we see such a strongly grown sample of this 
handsome Cypripedium. 
- Nerine filifolia.— Flowers of this pretty bulbous plant, also 
from Fernfield, accompanied the Cypripedium, and are scarcely less 
interesting. It is one of the small-flowered species, with very nairow 
pale pink wavy petals, the blooms being produced in umbels of ten to 
twelve in scapes 8 or 9 inches high. For arranging with other cut 
flowers this is most graceful, its delicate colour and elegant flowers 
rendering it charming. Like another celebrated orchidophile, Baron 
SchioJer, Dr. Paterson has a great paitiality for the Nerincs, and, like 
him, grows them extremely well. 
- Roses in October. —From the same source we have received 
some fine Rose blooms, proving how favourable the weather still continues 
in sunny sheltered Bridge of Allan. Two are particularly good—namely. 
Marquise de Castellane and Captain Christy, the former veiy large, 
substantial, and of excellent colour. 
- Rhus radicans. —Amongst plants with richly tinted autumn 
leaves this comparatively scarce species of Rhus is very remarkable, bor 
training on a wall or the side of a house it is admirably adapted, as a 
number of small rootlets are emitted from the sides of the stems and 
branches, which adhere to any surface and support the plant. The 
leaves have three ovate leaflets which assume rich shades of red and 
