628 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 14, 1893. 
sorts, having reached an abnormal size this year, could not be 
expected to keep well. All the largest specimens are nearly past. 
Warner’s King, The Queen, Queen Caroline, and Codlins are the 
only kinds which, as a whole, are not keeping well. On the other 
hand, the Apples that require a warm time are very grand in colour 
and size, and Calville Rouge, Calville Blanche, Calville Malingre, 
Sturmer Pippin, Clark’s Late Pippin, Royal Russet, the Nonpareils, 
the race of Pearmains, and Reinettes, are very sound, and look 
like keeping well. I would caution the public not to be led away 
by the past hot season. Not only was it exceptionally warm, but 
the spring was so genial that the fruit never had a check. Though 
it did not make much progress in the drought, it very rapidly 
swelled when the rains came in May and June, and in this way had 
a month’s start. These circumstances may not occur again for 
many years. 
We have had the American varieties in our nursery for twenty 
years, but with the exception of Wealthy, Melon, and Mother 
Apples they have never been of any value outside. Northern Spy 
never fruited at all. No doubt the “ Americans ” we have will 
keep, but that is of no use if the quality is second-rate, and from 
present appearances our British sorts will be as good late as the 
Americans. We have in very fine condition Wagener, Melon, 
Peck’s Pleasant, Fallawater, Wealthy, Mother ; but King of 
Tomkins County, Twenty Ounce, and Washington are a little 
past; and Baldwin is very inferior ; Newtown Pippin, small, but 
of plump texture, and just changing colour ; New Rock Pippin, 
good. 
Since writing the above I have seen Mr. Cheat’s sensible remarks 
(page 488), and concur with him, that we cannot do better than 
plant our own tried kinds. Our fruit room is on the soil, and we 
keep this damp, thus preventing that shrivelling which is often so 
prevalent where too dry an atmosphere is kept. After the fruit 
room we will turn to the trees, and now that the leaf is off a little 
we can see the bristling fruit buds and the dark brown wood 
ripened to the tips, which gives us hope for next year. We have 
heard no complaints among the large growers as to bad cases of 
decaying in stores, and generally growers are well satisfied with the 
prices which have ruled for really clean well sorted fruit. Wagener 
Apples, as grown here, are finer than the Canadian examples shown 
at the Drill Hall, but at present they have a distinct Quincey 
flavour.— George Bunyard, Maidstone. 
The general complaint, as Mr. Iggulden says, is that Apples 
keep badly this year. No doubt this is to a great extent caused by 
the large amount of saccharine in the fruit. This is easily observ¬ 
able in the large number of cider fruit, which I convert into 
cider. The juice of nearly all varieties, when tested with the 
sacebarometer shows 10 per cent, and more than their usual 
quantity of saccharine. At the same time, when estimating the 
time of ripening Apples and Pears, it must be remembered that 
the season 1893 has been quite a month earlier all through, both in 
time of blossoming, setting fruit, ripening fruit on trees, and, 
therefore, maturing later sorts in store. However, in cool fruit 
rooms and when the fruit was left to mature well on the trees I 
have no fear but what the late sorts will keep well. No doubt 
in certain cases the fruit did get sunburnt, some of the softer 
fleshed varieties especially. I quite agree with Mr. Iggulden that 
we can limit our varieties too much. It is always observable that 
seasons will suit a variety which will not when others usually 
prolific fail, and the same also applies to localities. At the same 
time it is folly for market purposes growing too many sorts. 
As regards American sorts, I believe they are usually better 
keepers than ours ; this season has suited them, and they are 
much finer than usual; but it does not follow that it would be wise 
to cultivate them generally. Such sorts as Newton Pippin, Bald¬ 
win, Northern Spy, and others will never pay to cultivate in this 
country. Amongst the best are American Mother (grand for a 
warm soil), Wealthy, King of Tompkins County, Rhode Island 
Greening. These, I think, are worthy of extended cultivation. 
Jonathan is a good keeper but poor bearer. I have added about 
fifty of the newer American varieties to my trial plantation, pro¬ 
cured direct from America and selected as those sorts most highly 
spoken of by the leading fruit growers there. Whether they 
will prove as good in our climate is a question which can only be 
answered b} years of trial, but as a rule I find an Apple does not 
retain the reputation it does in the country of its origin.— John 
Watkins, Pomona Farm Nurseries, Withington, Hereford. 
I HAVE read with interest the articles in the Journal of 
Hortic'dture on the keeping of Apples this season. I quite agree 
wirh '■ A. D.” (page 465), that in a season like the past, our 
ordinary methods of keeping Apples are not the best. The advice 
as to tha stacking of Apples outdoors is worthy of being put into 
practice. I generally select a dry plot of ground where I intend to 
stack the Apples, and spread clean Wheat straw from 1 to 2 inches 
thick on the surface. The Apples are placed on the straw and 
formed ridge shape, like Potatoes, all bruised and small sized fruits 
being placed on one side for immediate use. After forming the ridge 
I cover the Apples with clean straw, and bank up with soil, fixing 
a 2-inch drain pipe at intervals on each side to let out moisture and 
admit a current of fresh air. During frosty weather the mouth of 
the drain pipes can be easily closed by being filled with dry bracken. 
I have 50 bushels of Apples stacked in this manner, and I am 
confident from the results of past experience that the fruit will 
well repay me for any extra labour, and will keep far better this 
year than others will in an ordinary fruit room. The Apples I 
usually store thus are for use after Christmas. 
Much fruit is yearly lost by careless gathering. Only men who 
can thoroughly be depended upon should be allowed to perform 
the work. The practice of shaking down fruit because it cannot 
be reached without a little exertion on the part of the fruit 
gatherer should be deprecated. On the whole my Apples, both in 
the fruit room and those which are stacked, are keeping well. 
Those produced from trees in the orchards are very firm, especially 
so from trees planted on the hillsides facing north and east. The 
late Mr. T. A. Knight had his orchards established on ground 
facing all aspects, and the wisdom of his so doing is fully apparent 
in that we generally secure, no matter what the season, an abundant 
crop of Apples for home consumption. Our orchards are not 
planted with a few sorts, but with trees of many well tried varieties 
known to suit the soil and climate, so that if one variety fails, 
others yield a crop of fruit. 
I quite agree with Messrs. Iggulden and Cheal that there is 
some danger of too few varieties being planted. My advice is 
plant many trees of early and late varieties which are known to suit 
the soil in different parts. Beauty of Kent with me is sound at 
present, also Blenheims, King of the Pippins, Jefferson’s (Devon 
Red), Hollandbury, Mere de Manage, Reinette du Canada, Golden 
Noble, Goff, and Wyken and Ribston Pippin. I have said nothing 
about Dumelow’s Seedling, Northern Greening, and other late 
varieties. Those who are fortunate enough to have a good 
supply of late Apples will be able to realise good prices for their 
fruit. It has been a sad sight this season to see so much fruit 
wasted because fancy prices could not be obtained.— John 
Chinnery. 
Cirrhopetalum ornatissimum. 
This is a beautiful little Indian Orchid, second only in size and 
interest to the new C. Colletti, to which it is closely allied. The 
former was introduced from Sikkim in 1882, when it was named 
by Reichenbacb. It first flowered, says Mr. W. Watson in the 
American “ Garden and Forest,” at Kew in 1887, and a picture of 
it was published in the “Botanical Magazine,” t. 7229. A plant 
of it was exhibited in flower by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., at a 
recent meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, who awarded 
it a first-class certificate. 
It has four-angled pseudo bulbs springing from long creeping 
rhizomes, a leathery leaf 4 to 6 inches long, and a graceful scape 
8 to 12 inches long bearing an umbel of flowers, each 4 inches long, 
including the tails of the broad curiously twisted sepals, which are 
yellow, lined with dots of purple ; the short petals are each tipped 
with a brush of red palese ; the labellum is small, tongue-like and 
coloured purple-black. Cirrhopetalums are finding general favour 
with English cultivators, being easy to grow in a stove, free 
flowering, and exceptionally interesting in flower structure. 
Odontoglossum crispum. 
A CORRESPONDENT writes to a foreign contemporary that the 
best varieties of Odontoglossum crispum have been found, so far, 
in a comparatively small range between the fourth and fifth 
degrees of northern latitude on the western slope of the eastern 
Cordilleras, and at an elevation of 6000 to 7000 feet. The plants 
grow higher up the mountains, and farther north and south ; but 
when found at an elevation of 9000 feet they are smaller, with 
more decidedly pear-shaped bulbs, which shrivel a great deal when 
they are dried off. At the elevation of 9000 feet the temperature 
sometimes falls to 42° Fahrenheit, while at 6000 the thermometer 
never registers less than 55°. 
