446 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 7, 1834. 
flowers are two pleasing shades of yellow, the lips darker than the 
sepals and petals. It is very free flowering, and should be treated 
the same as other deciduous species. Phalaenopses must be taken 
in hand as soon as the flowers are past. All decaying substances 
about them should be removed, and a little fresh moss given where 
necessary. The flower spikes need not be cut off if these are fresh, 
as some species produce young plants from those which are usually 
left on the parent plants for the first year. If roots are seen to be 
forming they can easily be brought to the surface of the pot or 
basket, and there fixed, to be separately potted the next spring, or 
they may be, if convenient, pegged to small pots containing crocks 
and a little moss, and cut off when rooting freely 
Strong healthy plants of Zygopetalum Mackayi, and Cymbidium 
Lowianum will be benefited by a light top-dressing of dried cow 
manure applied now, or the same assistance may be given in 
occasional doses of weak liquid manure. Thunias that are coming 
into flower, and have the pots full of roots, may also have a little 
manure water. These now need a light sunny position to ripen 
the stems and foliage. When this begins to fall less water will be 
needed, but nothing approaching a dry soil is advisable until all the 
leaves are off. Keep the sphagnum growing freely about Odonto- 
glossums ; this keeps the base of the bulbs cool, and assists the roots 
materially. Oncidiums macranthum and undulatum frequently 
push young roots above the surface of the compost. Cover these 
with a little moss to prevent slugs and other insects eating the 
fresh green points. See that all advancing growths have room 
to swell. The occasional removal of a spent pseudo-bulb, or tying 
back a sound one, will prevent crowded and misshapen pseudo-bulbs 
in large masses of Odontoglossums and other Orchids, Nothing in 
the way of litter of any kind must be allowed to remain in the 
houses ; empty pots, crocks, and other things all form harbour for 
slugs and woodlice, besides having an unsightly and slovenly 
appearance. Keep cool Orchids in houses or frames as near 60° as 
possible by day, at night 50° to 55°.—H, R. R. 
STORING APPLES. 
The storing of Apples provides a lesson many may learn and 
benefit by. What is our system of doing so at the present time ? 
A very poor one indeed ; as generally our “ storing ” consists of 
putting the small pittance we obtain from the dealer at the time of 
gathering in our pockets, then grumble and say fruit hardly pays for 
growing. Rightly so under the circumstances, for not only do 
our pockets suffer, but the trees as well, as very often fruit buds 
leave the trees with the fruit. 
Let U3 now see what might be done if we study the little word 
■“ store,” What an alteration we could make if we like in the state 
of affairs ! When the majority of our home-grown Apples are 
put in the market, one, two, and perhaps three shillings per bushel 
may be obtained for them ; in December, January, and until 
Apples come again prices go up to eight, ten, and twelve shillings a 
bushel. Who realises these prices ? It is our friends abroad who 
reap the golden harvest that any man could do if he has a good 
keeping variety in his garden, after studying the word “ store.” 
I think there will be several persons ready with the excuse, “ I have 
no storeroom.” This I contradict, as anyone who has a good Apple 
tree has an excellent storeroom too which Nature has provided for 
him, and one also that will answer his purpose far better than the 
so-called fruit room. 
I strongly advise all who have good keeping Apples to give the 
following method a trial during the forthcoming autumn. A few 
days before commencing to gather the late varieties fork up a 
well drained plot of ground so as to allow the air to penetrate, 
sweeten, and dry the soil. When selecting samples choose good 
sound fair-sized Apples, and only those that will keep sound in 
ordinary stores until Christmas or later. Place a layer of clean 
sweet straw 6 inches or more in thickness on the soil that has been 
previously loosened, and in circumference according to the number 
of Apples to be stored ; then place the fruit carefully in a round 
heap, with a sharp slope, and protect them from the rain for about 
a fortnight. Give all the air possible so as to allow them to 
perspire a little, then cover with more straw about 9 inches in 
thickness. Hay should never be used with Apples in a pit, as it 
goes musty. Round the bottom of the heap cut down with the 
spade 6 inches from the straw, so as to form a circle, and dig a 
trench outside the mark to cover the straw to the depth of 6 or 
9 inches, beating firmly to let off rain. The storeroom is then 
complete. When taking the fruit away from the pit, wipe the 
mould off with a cloth, and the result will be Apples far superior 
to any imported varieties. 
This is a method that all may adopt, as the only item of 
expense is the straw, and it is no fancy but practical advice as the 
following will show. In November, 1892, I brought a bushel of 
different samples of Apples from Botley to give the method a trial. 
They were pitted as above mentioned, and taken from the pit the 
first week in March. The varieties tried were Wellington, 
Hambledon Deux Ans, Autumn Pearmain, and Winter Pearmain. 
The samples of Autumn Pearmain were a little specked with decay, 
but the other three were as sound as when pitted, and admired by 
all who saw them. I had two samples of Wellington in my pocket 
the first week in June. 
Sir Henry Jenkyns’ gardener at Botley has carried out another 
trial, mostly with old varieties, including Hambledon Deux Ans, 
Sturmer Pippin, Norfolk Beefing, French Crab, and Wellington. 
How is it that the latter named variety was not included in the list 
of varieties given in the pamphlet, “Fruits for Cottagers,” and 
sent out by the Royal Horticultural Society ? I consider it one of the 
best and most profitable varieties in cultivation. I enclose samples, 
which have been forwarded to me from this trial, not selected for 
the purpose, but merely to show me that the trial has been a great 
success from every point of view. All the varieties named kept 
sound with the exception of Wellington, which unfortunately was in 
contact with a bad keeping variety, and these were slightly damaged. 
This proves that only good keeping varieties should be used for 
this purpose. The result of this will be, I hope, a still larger trial 
next year. 
If the readers of the Journal of Horticulture will only adopt 
this method, and give it a fair trial, I have not the least doubt 
these few lines will prove of great assistance to the neglected 
Apple industry of Great Britain, and my efforts will not have been 
in vain.—W. Palmer, F.R.H.S. 
[The samples sent were in excellent condition, especially 
Sturmer Pippin, Norfolk Beefing, French Crab, and Hambledon 
Deux Ans. A fruit of the first-named variety was cut, and the 
flavour was found to be scarcely affected, but an unnamed Apple 
(Wyken Pippin) tasted decidedly “earthy.” Samples of Wellington 
that had been stored as recommended by our correspondent were 
quite sound, while a fruit of the same variety kept in an ordinary 
sitting-room was much withered.] 
DECORATIVE BRITISH FERNS. 
The Spleenworts. 
{Continued from page 318.) 
Undoubtedly the most popular Spleenwort or Asplenium is an 
exotic one—A. bulbiferum, a favourite with the trade, because it prac¬ 
tically propagates itself, the fronds bearing little plants all over them. 
So proliferous indeed is it that these little ones very often may be 
found to bear a second generation while still depending upon the 
parent frond for support. Taken off and pricked into the soil they at 
once go ahead, and speedily form saleable plants. Now it is a most 
curious fact in connection with our theme of varietal Ferns that though 
this Fern, as a market one, must have been raised literally by millions, 
not a single sub-variety has ever made its appearance, due, as I imagine, 
to its being always raised as described instead of from the spores, which 
it nevertheless freely produces. Since, however, the powers of repro¬ 
duction, if abnormally fertile in one way, are apt to make up for it in 
another, the spores of this may not easily germinate—at any rate, we 
are not aware that it figures in any way as a “ stray,” as do some of 
the Gymnogrammas and Adiantums, which often form the weeds of the 
fernery. 
Another strange fact is that though the whole genus of Asplenium 
—a very large one—is peculiarly constant and free from variation as 
regards the exotics, most of our British species have sported into very 
distinct forms in a wild state, and it is precisely this general constancy 
which to my mind is a chief argument against the classification of the 
Lady Fern, one of the most variable of all species, as an Asplenium, as 
is done by our chief botanists on account of a slight resemblance in 
the fructification. 
No genus possibly ranges through so wide a series of form and size 
as this. In the one direction we have magnificent specimens of the 
Bird’s-nest Fern (Asplenium nidus avis), with broad simple fronds 
5 feet high and a foot across, ranged shuttlecock fashion round a central 
crown, and at the opposite extreme figures our diminutive native Asple¬ 
nium septentrionale, which strongly resembles a small tuft of grass. 
All our native species, however, are of comparatively small size, ranging 
from the one just cited to fine specimens of the Black Maidenhair 
Spleenworts (Asplenium adiantum nigrum), with fronds over a foot in 
length. 
Our British Asplenia are no less than nine in number, constituting 
a very fair quota of some forty-four native species all tolL These are 
—1, the Green Spleenwort (A. viride) ; 2, the Maidenhair Spleenwort 
(A. trichomanes) ; 3, the Forked Spleenwort (A. septentrionale) ; 4, the 
Sea Spleenwort (A. marinum); 5, the Alternate-leaved Spleenwort 
(A. germanicum) ; 6, the Wall Rue (A. ruta muraria) ; 7, the Black 
Maidenhair Spleenwort (A. adiantum nigrum) ; 8, the Smooth Rock 
