June 6, 1896. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
491 
pains in laying the foundations, but in many cases they are liable 
to fail just when they have attained to their most serviceable size. 
Sometimes this is due to faulty stocks, stem canker, gumming, and 
in others to certain local conditions that do not suit stone fruits of 
any kind, and not unfrequently the mischief might be traceable to 
over-pruning at the nurseries. In our climate the trees ought 
really to be prepared against warm walls, and in not a much-enriched 
soil, but as this cannot be profitably undertaken on a large scale by 
nurserymen, gardeners should train their own trees. Many years 
ago, Mr. W. Taylor, when at Longleat, initiated the plan of starting 
with maidens against the open walls, running them up quickly and 
making no attempt to form them into great spreading trees. 
Hitherto the Peach and Nectarine trees against the same walls had 
proved very disappointing. Whether or not Mr. Taylor anticipated 
that his smaller quickly grown trees would last longer than those 
previously planted had done I am unable to say, but am under the 
impression that he made up his mind that their lives would be 
“ short and merry.” Be this as it may, the fact yet remains that 
very few, if any, of those trees have died, and I can remember them 
for fifteen years, while the crops produced have been exceptionally 
heavy and good. 
What would have been said, not so very many years ago, of 
trees only twice pruned producing two dozen fruits and upwards ? 
Yet I can point to several trees planted as maidens in March, 1894, 
that are now carrying this number of fruit, some of the earliest 
already commencing their final swelling. Before the season is 
over some of these trees will cover a roof area of 12 feet square, 
but at what size and when would they have fruited so freely if we 
had not laid in sub-lateral growths freely ? Those maidens were 
all extra strong and well matured, and were reserved with a clear 
stem of 2 feet in order to bring the head of the future tree to the 
roof trellis at once. This season the stronger growths are again 
forming side shoots, and the best placed of these will be saved, so 
that if all goes on well we shall have a roof nearly covered with 
fruiting wood, and almost a full crop of fruit. 
Mr. Challis has done well at Wilton in this direction. We are 
“ going one better.” If strong maidens are cut hard back, or say 
to within 4 inches to the stock, the growths resulting ought to be, 
and usually are, so vigorous that they must be allowed to divide, 
and even sub-divide, freely, and in a good position in a heated 
house the third breaks ought really to ripen sufficiently well to 
fruit the following year. Even maidens growing quite in the open 
will branch and mature sufficiently to flower the following spring. 
Recently I was shown some strong healthy trees against sunny 
open walls that had not nearly covered their allotted space, and 
asked how to treat the leading growths. These latter were branch¬ 
ing freely, and I had no hesitation in advising a retention of a few 
well placed for laying-in, and the removal of the rest. The lead¬ 
ing growths have, as a rule, abundance of room, and so also have 
the shoots laid in from them, and it will be a very sunless summer 
indeed if the latter fail to mature properly. Occasionally one or 
two first-formed growths take too strong a lead, and unless checked 
a lop-sided tree may be the result. Instead of reserving these to 
their full length, cut them back at once to where the wood is firm. 
This will largely divert the sap to parts of the tree more in need 
of it, and the two or three shoots that are soon put forth by the 
pruned growths will never be so strong as the parent growths, and 
are more likely to fruit than are the rank growths not summer 
pruned. Sappy shoots would in many cases have been removed 
with advantage, those with a, little experience detecting them 
before they are many inches long. If a growth is wanted from 
near where they start, the timely removal of extra strong central 
shoots would have been the means of starting a less vigorous shoot 
from one of the outside wood buds. 
I am aware that there is nothing very novel in this, and am 
equally well aware that many readers of the Journal of Horticulture 
are still inclined to move a little too cautiously in the matter of 
training Peach and Nectarine trees.—W. Iggulden. 
Odontoglossum Pescatorei La Perfection. 
Very beautiful indeed were the many Odontoglossums staged 
at the recent Temple show, and the form of Pescatorei, shown 
by Mr. Ch. Vuylsteke, and named La Perfection (fig. 89) was 
amongst the foremost as regards quality. The flower was of 
exceptionally good form, the ground colour being white very 
delicately suffused rose in a few places. The spots, deep rosy 
purple in colour, greatly enhanced the general effect of this hand¬ 
some form, which received an award of merit. 
Epipendrum polybulbous. 
Many of the smaller growing and flowering species belonging 
to this genus are in rather bad odour with growers, and it is true 
that some of them are weedy in appearance and very indistinct and 
unattractive in colouring. The present species is, however, well 
worthy of a place in representative collections, and especially on 
account of its free-flowering character. A small plant I saw 
growing in a hanging basket was crowded with small, starry, violet 
purple and white flowers. 
The plant is small and creeping in habit, the rhizomes being 
sparingly set with tiny pseudo-bulbs, each bearing a pair of very 
FIG. 89. —ODONTOGLOSSUM PESCATOREI LA PERFECTION. 
small leaves. It thrives well apparently near the door in the 
Cattleya house, and on account of its habit it must be pegged down 
to the surface of the compost. It has been a long time in cultiva¬ 
tion, and appears to be a widely distributed plant in and around 
Mexico, probably also Jamaica, for I be.ieve Mr. H. W. Ward of 
Longford Castle imported it from there some time ago, but whether 
collected wild or from a botanic garden I am not sure. 
Stimulants for Orchids. 
The practice of using manures of various kinds for Orchids is 
a subject that has been freely discussed from time to time in the 
horticultural press, and naturally divergent opinions are held by 
cultivators. That the practice is right, when all other details are 
carried out satisfactorily, there is no denying, but it is very easy to 
run to extremes, especially with the epiphytal section. 
When writing of Dendrobium nobile recently “ B. W.” advised 
the use of loam in the compost, bones being mixed with it, and 
liquid manure also applied. No doubt “B. W.” has had good 
results by these means, or he would not advise them for others ; 
but I cannot think it would be advisable, or even safe, for beginners 
in Orchid culture to use liquid manure with such a stimulating 
compost, nor is it necessary if cultural skill is brought to bear. It 
is quite possible to grow D. nobile magnificently without any of 
these seemingly fertilising ingredients. 
For all the medium-growing Dendrobiums, for Cattleyas, or any 
of the general run of pseudo-bulbous epiphytal Orchids I am 
convinced that an atmosphere more or less strongly charged with 
ammonia is decidedly more beneficial than the use of stimulants 
of any kinds at the roots. Strong-growing kinds there are, such as 
Cymbidiums, Phaius, Zygopetalum Mackavj, Pcristerias, Anguloas 
and others that are better—both in the size of the pseudo-bulbs 
and number of flowers—for the application of some concentrated 
fertiliser, and probably such plants as Oncidium Marshallianum or 
macranthum may be benefited by a little when carrying a heavy 
inflorescence, but with the species in question and similar kinds, I 
am of opinion it is time and money wasted to use them to any 
extent. 
