276 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 29, 1892. 
but indoors this is a capital soil for Apricots and fruit trees gene¬ 
rally. Good turfy loam, neither light nor heavy, but preferably 
calcareous and silicious than heavy, four parts, lime rubbish from 
an o!d building one part, and road scrapings one part, the loam 
chopped moderately small and fine, the whole well incorporated, 
form a suitable compost. It should be made compact, and the trees 
may be planted as soon as the leaves begin falling. Those that 
have been trained to walls for about three years are the most 
suitable, as they will be in a fruitful state and calculated to afford a 
moderate crop of fruit the first season, and having been lifted 
annually they can be moved with safety. The borders being firm 
and a few inches allowed for settling, plant at once, giving a good 
watering. If the roof lights are moveable, as they ought to be, 
take them off and mulch over the roots with a couple of inches 
thickness of short stable litter, but not containing more than a 
third of manure. 
Apricots succeed well grown in pots. As a rule, striving to 
grow them in a house with other fruits is not successful, yet I have 
seen them produce some fruit in a house with Peaches and Vines. 
Trees should now be procured or ordered. Standard trees are 
much the best. By standard is meant a tree with a clear stem and 
a rounded head, the height of stem being proportioned to the space 
or height of the house. Bushes answer for low houses, while 
pyramids are better adapted for houses of medium height, as 
spans. If in pots when received they must be given a size larger 
if they require it whilst the leaves are on the trees, disentangling 
the roots at the sides of the ball with a fork, and cutting back any 
straggling or thick ones. Drain the pots thoroughly and ram the 
soil firmly, leaving space proportionate to the size of the pots for 
holding water and top-dressings. Trees that do not require a shift 
need only have the drainage rectified and be surface dressed, or the 
old drainage may be cleared away, a few inches from the base 
removed, the roots shortened back, and fresh drainage and soil 
given, using good fibrous loam, old mortar rubbish, and road scrap¬ 
ings, as advised for the borders, with a fifth part of well-decayed 
manure and a pint per bushel of Thomas’ phosphate powder, 
removing also the loose surface soil and supplying rich material. 
If the trees are not in pots, bushes or pyramids should be lifted 
when the leaves commence falling, have their roots trimmed, and 
be potted firmly, allowing them to become established in the pots 
before subjecting them to forcing. The trees should be stood on a 
hard bottom, impervious to worms, and surrounded with ashes to 
the rim, covering the pots with litter upon the approach of frost. 
If the growths are not well ripened the heads should be protected 
in severe weather, or they may be wintered in an orchard house, 
in which they should be grown in preparation for forcing. The 
trees should have a good watering after potting or having the roots 
interfered with.—G. A. 
THOUGHTS ON TOMATOES. 
I have been much interested in the recent notes on Tomatoes 
which have appeared in your columns. Year by year some of the 
newer varieties are grown alongside of true and tested friends, 
and subsequently retained or discarded. This year nearly half my 
plants were Challenger, both in houses and outside. I am very 
well satisfied with this Tomato, and consider it a real acquisition. 
It is a strong grower and free fruiter, and I found it very good 
indeed for pot culture. I think that I found it the best of all 
for pots, although Chemin (a French variety) ran it close, and 
was indeed in many plants indistinguishable from Challenger, yet 
the latter has beaten the other varieties in weight of produce. 
Alluding to the similarity of these two, I may say that I sold plants 
to a gardener of each, and he afterwards complained that I had 
only supplied him with one, and he wanted to know whether it was 
Chemin or Challenger. Growing them side by side I also failed 
to perceive any difference in some plants ; the fruit of Chemin is 
on some plants flatter, whereas in many cases it is exactly similar 
to Challenger. I grew Chemin last year from seed supplied by 
Messrs. Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co., and was well satisfied with it, 
and those raised this year were from the same packet of seed. 
The growth of the two varieties is also similar. 
Prelude, I see, is described by Mr. G. M'Dougall as of two 
colours, and I may state that although I have always saved seed 
from the red I have occasionally found a plant with pink fruit. The 
same thing has occurred with other varieties. With great regret 
I have determined to discard Prelude. A better setter and cropper 
I never knew, but the weight off each plant did not realise as great 
a profit as in the case of others. If Mr. M‘Dougall has secured 
a cross with a larger variety (preferably a good type of the Old 
Red), I have no doubt it will turn out a success. I think it was 
last year that I advocated this cross in your columns. 
Ponderosa, I see, was submitted to the Fruit Committee by 
Mr. R. Owen of Maidenhead, but was passed on account of its 
“ dingy crimson ” colour. I grew this variety last year and found 
several plants carrying red fruit, so I saved the seed of some, and 
this year, with the exception of two plants, all bore red fruit. I 
have taken the liberty to send Mr. Owen a medium-sized fruit. I 
do not know what his experience of it is as a cropper, but I have this 
year found it far freer in fruiting than last year, and the weight of 
produce has made it profitable. Earlier in the season I had plenty 
of fruits weighing 12 and 14 ozs. each. In the United States I see 
Messrs. Henderson of New York (from whom I obtained the seed) 
have in their seed list letters from correspondents mentioning such 
weights as from 2 lbs. to 3 lbs. for a single fruit. I have no doubt 
very heavy fruits could be grown here, but my aim is for medium¬ 
sized fruit, five or six to the pound, which I find far more saleable. 
A Guernsey market variety which is dwarf in growth and fruitful 
I find as profitable as most, but too many of the fruits are ill¬ 
shaped. 
I forgot to mention that Challenger does not succeed outdoors 
with me in one very important particular. Nearly every fruit 
cracks round the top and decay soon commences. Had it not 
been for this I should have found it a suitable variety, for it 
fruits freely. 
Early Ruby, an American variety, I find to be exceedingly 
useful both outside and in. It is early, carries a heavy crop of 
medium-sized fruit, and is also a very moderate grower, so that a 
more desirable variety for outdoor work and unheated houses I do 
not know. I have a narrow lean-to with a west aspect planted 
with this Tomato, and the fruit hangs in regular ropes. Outside 
also it is carrying a heavy crop. This and Laxton’s Open Air I 
find to be the only two varieties that I can always depend upon to 
carry a crop outside. It is risky to depend upon any others 
entirely, although I never fail to try a few other varieties. Early 
Ruby must not be confounded with Holborn Ruby, which I do 
not know, and it is not ruby coloured but red, for which reason I 
think a more desirable name might have been found.—H. S. Easty. 
Odontoglossum bictonense. 
This old Odontoglossum is not very frequently met with, but 
is well worthy of a place on account of its period of blooming, its 
free flowering, and the attractive appearance of the flowers. These 
vary somewhat in colour ; a form now blooming in Messrs. Laing’s 
nursery (where the Orchids are in admirable condition) has the tri¬ 
angular lip almost pure white, and the sepals and petals light brown, 
or so thickly dotted with brown as to hide any ground colour there 
may be. But in all its forms it is a graceful and pleasing little 
plant. 
Rodriguezia secunda. 
Few Orchids are more easily grown than this, and as it can be 
readily imported in good condition it is also a cheap plant. It is 
very dwarf, growing from 6 to 8 inches high. The spikes are 
slightly pendulous, and the flowers are produced throughout Sep¬ 
tember, thus making the plant a welcome addition to the Orchid 
house when flowers are somewhat scarce. It was introduced from 
Trinidad in 1820. The genus was named in honour of Emanuel 
Rodriguez, an eminent Spanish botanist and chemist. The pseudo¬ 
bulbs are oval in shape, and short ; the leaves lanceolate, leathery, 
keeled ; the spikes are about 8 inches long, and carry fifteen to 
twenty dark rose-coloured flowers. Although arranged on each 
side of the rachis, the flowers all rise to the upper side, and open at 
the same level. The petals are ovate, obtuse, and the lip is slightly 
reflexed. If grown in baskets, in peat and sphagnum, and suspended 
near the glass in a stove temperature, given plenty of moisture 
while growing, and never allowed to get quite dry, it will flourish. 
