September 23 , 1880 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE {GARDENER. 279 
Sligo, these deserve special commendation. The one is a fine 
fresh rose colour tinted with lilac, with large and effective flowers 
and broad shaded lines, the spikes being unusually long. The 
other an enormous flower, white, rose, and cerise, with dark 
carmine spots and beautifully softly shaded throat. Each of 
these had upwards of twenty flowers to each spike and very open. 
—W. J. M., Clonmel __ 
APPLE BENONI. 
Fkuit below medium size, oblato-cylindrical, even and regular 
in its outline except at the crown, where it is somewhat undu¬ 
lating, and generally higher on one side than the other. Skin 
when fully ripe of a rich yellow colour, with a crimson cheek 
where exposed to the sun, and marked with short broken streaks 
of darker crimson; here and there, especially towards the apex, 
there are patches of russet. Eye closed, with flat segments, which 
overlap each other, and set in rather deep and irregular cavity ; 
tube long, funnel-shaped ; stamens median ; stalk from a quarter 
to half an inch long, very slender, and deeply inserted in a round 
cavity.. Flesh yellow, very tender and delicate in tissue, sweet 
and briskly flavoured, and with a remarkably high perfume, like 
that of a Pine Apple, which is very characteristic of this Apple 
when it is highly ripened. Cells of the core closed. 
This delicious Apple for the dessert ripens in September. It is a 
native of the United States, where it originated at Dedham in 
Massachusets. There it ripens in August, and the colour is 
described as being of a “ deep red.” It was introduced to this 
country by Mr. Rivers of Sawbridgeworth, to whom we are in¬ 
debted for the specimen from which this figure and description 
are taken. Some of the fruit we received from Mr. Rivers were 
grown on a tree in a pot out of doors, and these were a brilliant 
golden yellow, and the flavour and perfume superb ; the others, 
which were from a bush tree in the open ground, were in accord 
with the description given above, but had not the exquisite flavour 
and aroma of those grown on the pot tree. Mr. Rivers says, “I 
have little pyramids covered with fruit, which were ripened before 
this time (September 16th) last year.” This Apple ought to be in 
every garden. 
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM FOR EXHIBITION AND 
CONSERVATORY DECORATION. 
Soon a scarcity of flowers will be felt, and where flowers are 
required in quantity there are no plants that supply this desider¬ 
atum through the dreary months of November and December so 
well as a few dozen plants of large-flowering and Pompon Chrys¬ 
anthemums. Where these plants have received moderate atten¬ 
tion in affording them copious supplies of water, securing their 
growths to sticks and tying to prevent breakages by wind, no 
anxiety need be felt as to results. 
Cuttings struck last November or early in the spring should 
have been potted-on in a compost of good stiff yellow loam, with 
a liberal admixture of well-decayed manure and sharp sand. 
Three shifts for large-flowering varieties and three stoppings will 
be found quite sufficient, the last shift being into a 10 or 11-inch 
pot, which size will be large enough for plants to produce from 
forty to sixty good blooms. Where quality is desired, forty of 
the strongest shoots should be selected, and all the buds from 
the remainder removed. These blank shoots can be utilised when 
training commences to supply foliage to the base of the plants. 
Large-flowering Chrysanthemums ought not to have been stopped 
after the middle of June, and Pompons not later than the first week 
in July, bearing in mind that well-ripened wood produces good 
quality flowers. Plants growing freely will require weak liquid 
manure, frequently commencing the application about a fortnight 
after the last potting. Soot water is a good stimulant, and imparts 
a healthy green colour to the foliage. Weak guano water can be 
substituted, say twice a week, from the middle of October, with 
advantage to the flowers (but not to the foliage) until they show 
colour. 
Plants that have received the above treatment during the spring 
and summer months have by this time nearly, or quite, completed 
their growth. All the early large-flowering varieties intended for 
public exhibition or otherwise, if not already disbudded, should be 
attended to without delay. The late varieties will be coming in 
fast now, and will require attention. The operation of disbudding 
is simply removing all buds except the centre one, leaving one 
bud to each shoot, the object being to concentrate the strength 
of the shoot in one flower. The bush form of training is the best 
for large varieties. Until the first week in October no training is 
necessary, except inclining the breaks from the first and stopping 
them in a downward direction. Sticks 2 feet long, and painted 
green, will be found very suitable. Some twisting will be 
required to bring each bud on the top of the stick. 
Pompon standards are very useful and beautiful. The only 
difference in treatment is that the cutting must be allowed to 
grow to the desired height before stopping, a small wire hoop 
must be placed round the head, and the branches tied down 
occasionally. A few of the weakest buds should be taken out as 
recommended for large varieties, but not to such an extent.— 
W. H., Tulse Bill. 
POTATO SELECTION. 
So much has been written on the Potato and its disease in the 
Journal for the last few weeks both practically and theoretically, 
that, if the subject was not of so much importance to the com¬ 
munity generally, there would seem little need for further notes 
on this matter. 
Selection of seed, of site for planting, and of manures, do un¬ 
doubtedly in a measure tend to reduce the virulence of the disease, 
but I venture to think that above all we must make a selection of 
the varieties grown. The notes on Potatoes on page 251 of the 
Journal of horticulture, by Mr. Muir, contain to my mind in¬ 
formation from which much benefit may be derived by those who 
cannot advantageously carry on experiments for selection pur¬ 
poses on a large scale themselves, especially when those notes are 
the outcome of repeated trials extending over years when the 
disease has been exceptionally bad. Mr. Muir, at least, is not 
one of those “ ordinary gardeners ” who are said to fold their 
hands and submit to fate with the apathy of Orientals. I re¬ 
member with what interest I was shown last summer his exten¬ 
sive plots of trial Potatoes, where not only was there the great 
number of varieties mentioned by him, but experiments were 
being conducted on some varieties with different forms of arti¬ 
ficial and natural manures. 
In the selection of Potatoes the least trouble will be found with 
those for early use, as the first-crop Potatoes can generally be 
lifted before the disease sets in. To those mentioned by your 
correspondent I should like to add Rector of Woodstock, as it is so 
good in quality at an early stage of growth that it need scarcely 
be left in the ground after the tubers are of fit size for use, for 
unfortunately it is very subject to disease, and can only be 
recommended for use as a first early. 
In the selection of a midseason Potato there is more difficulty, 
and the only one that resists disease well with me is the School¬ 
master. I usually save my main crop of Potatoes by pulling off 
the tops on the first symptoms of disease, but I am in the habit of 
leaving a row of each variety with the tops on ; and I find that while 
the rows thus left were utterly worthless in the case of Snowflake, 
Rector, &c., and much diseased in Porter’s Excelsior, International 
Kidney, Yorkshire Hero, and others, the row left unpulled of the 
Schoolmaster not only remained good, but the Potatoes had in¬ 
creased much in size, and the crop would be quite one-third 
heavier than in the rows from which the tops were removed. 
This immunity results probably from the same cause as that to 
which is attributed the greater disease-resisting powers of Cham¬ 
pion and Magnum Bonum—viz., hard texture of stems. I have 
