542 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
r December 13, 1888. 
described as having a closed perianth ; an error corrected in the 
“ Genera Plantarum,” where, however, the lip is described as erect. 
H. bidentata was discovered by Cuming in Western Colombia 
and Panama, and subsequently found by (Ersted in Nicaragua. 
The plant was procured for F. A. Pliilbrick, Esq., Q.C., in 1887, 
and flowered in the Royal Gardens in June of the present year. 
Description.— Stem tufted, G to 8 inches high, stout, branched, 
formed of fusiform many-grooved internodes 1 to 2 inches long, 
clothed when young with appressed subacute sheaths. Leaves in 
pairs in the terminal internodes, coriaceous, 2 to 4 inches long by a 
quarter of an inch broad, spreading, linear, obtusely two-fid at the 
apex, channelled above, keeled beneath, dark green. Flowers in 
shortly pedicelled few-flowered racemes from between the leaves ; 
pedicels half an inch long, clothed with ovate-acute sheaths ; bracts 
lanceolate, shorter than the pedicels, which are about half an inch 
long. Flowers sub-erect; lip anticous. Perianth an inch in 
diameter, spreading, scarlet. Sepals ovate-oblong, obtuse. Petals 
rather smaller. Lip about as long as the sepals, linear-oblong, 
sharply deflexed from the claw, which is adnate to the face of the 
column, sides straight, apex obtusely triangular, disk smooth, base 
fleshy. Column short, side lobes reaching a little above the level 
of the anther, oblong, obtuse, obtusely two-toothed on the anterior 
margin. Anther four-celled, depressed ; pollinia four, sub-globose, 
with slender stalks that are attached to a viscous mass. 
FACTS ABOUT PEARS. 
As a rule the crops of Pears were comparatively light, and the 
size of the fruit was also below the average. Owing to the small 
amount of sunshine we were favoured with this year, many, doubt¬ 
less, anticipated a late period of ripening, and it was also thought 
the quality of numerous varieties would be very inferior ; but in 
addition to Pears ripening very much in due course, the quality is 
surprisingly good, in fact it was never better as far as my experience 
goes. Frequently the smaller fruits are uneatable, or, at any 
rate, of very poor quality, but this season all are alike good, quite 
the smallest being juicy and sweet, or very much as the larger 
fruit are found to be. From, this it would appear that we are 
very apt to form erroneous opinions as to the necessity of so 
much solar heat for this class of fruit, though it may be much 
more of it is necessary for the thorough ripening of the wood 
than we had this year. Much the finest Pears are grown on the 
Channel Islands and in France, but fine as these are they are 
rarely so good in quality as the comparatively small fruit grown in 
this country, and this is another confirmation of my theory that, as 
a rule, Pear trees do not generally get nearly enough moisture at the 
roots. During a hot summer or in dry hot positions the fruits 
attain their greatest size, but only those well developed are of good 
quality, the smaller produce being sour and dry. Those wonder¬ 
ful Chaumontels grown in Jersey, and largely distributed thoughout 
this country are rarely fit to eat. They form a showy dish on the 
dining table, but of the dozens I have tasted not one has been 
fit to eat till the cook has taken them in hand, yet we have 
had quite small Chaumontels of fairly good quality and compara¬ 
tively small. Doyenne du Comice and Glou Morceau ripened in 
this district have proved superior in quality to very fine samples 
imported. On the whole, therefore, it is very evident we may 
easily overrate the value as far as quality is concerned of extra fine 
fruit. 
A certain amount of heat no doubt is necessary to aid in the 
maturation of the crops, but, as I have tried to demonstrate, lack of 
quality is more often due to poverty at the roots than a deficiency 
of sunshine. All the while the trees produce plenty of fairly strong 
lateral growth, many cultivators rest contented and do not think of 
applying either solid or liquid manure, or even clearwater till there 
are signs of a collapse. Much restricted trees may form abundance 
of growth and yet stand in great need of assistance at the roots. 
If better treated in this respect the trees would, providing frosts 
did not prevent it, produce annual rather than biennial or triennial 
crops of fruit. Not only are the trees unduly weakened by the 
production of a fairly heavy crop of fruit, and thereby rendered 
incapable of performing the same functions in the next season, but 
much of the fruit obtained is also of second rate quality. In the 
garden under my charge there is a long sunny wall well furnished 
by a great variety of cordon trained Pear trees. When I first 
undertook their management it was thought that many of the 
varieties were quite worthless, as not more than a dozen out of the 
fifty varieties grown ever produced fruit fit to eat. All the trees 
were imported from France, and it was supposed the majority of 
them required more heat to bring them to perfection than our 
uncertain climate affords. An experienced fruit grower with whom 
I talked over the matter suggested that, as the trees must not be 
either rooted out or re-grafted, the best thing that could be done 
was to give the roots good solid manure. About this time of the 
year they were lightly bared to a distance of 4 feet from the wall, 
a thick dressing of partially decayed farmyard manure being then 
disposed over them, and the surface soil returned to its old position. 
A marked improvement was manifested in the weight and quality 
of the crops in the following season, and this was maintained for 
several summers after. A repetition of this treatmemt in the early 
part of December, 188G, has served to sustain this improvement. 
If we fail to obtain a good crop every season it is not now the 
trees’ fault, as most of them annually form plenty of fruit buds, 
and the failures are due either to the depredations of birds or the 
effects of frost. 
Well-established fruit trees rarely get so much manure as they 
really stand in need of. In many instances they are planted m 
rich loamy soil, and while this retains a portion of its fertility the 
crops are usually satisfactory. Vegetables, on the contrary, are 
frequently treated to more manure than is good for them, and 
if the fruit trees are rooting near they receive the benefit accord¬ 
ingly of what was not intended for them. Instead, therefore, of 
poisoning the ground with so much manure, which only results in 
the production of rank, strongly flavoured crops, it would be much 
more to the purpose if some of the manure was applied to the fruit 
trees. Those which stand in the greatest need of manure are the 
wall trees on raised or much-exposed borders. No crops ought to 
be grown closer than 3 feet from the walls, and it would be very 
much better for the trees if they were allowed at least another 
foot of clear undisturbed root-run. In any case all should receive 
an occasional surfacing of solid manure applied just below the 
surface rather than being either forked in or laid on the surface 
where much of its fertility would be wasted ; and well-established 
trees pay for the application of liberal supplies of liquid manure 
both during the winter and when the roots are active. A good food 
supply, coupled with abundance of moisture, keeps the roots near 
the surface, encourages productiveness, and insures the formation 
of valuable crops of fruit. It does not follow that because I re¬ 
commend this treatment for trees in full bearing that it is also good 
for vigorous young specimens. These sometimes require checking 
at the roots in order to cause fruitfulness, but it is not wise to wait 
till they become stunted (a by no means rare occurrence in tbe case 
of severely root-pruned trees) before applying the manure. If 
solid manure is scarce plenty of leaf soil will be found a good 
substitute. — W. Iggulden. 
CHRYSANTHEMUM BLOOMS DAMPING-. 
I feel I may say a few words in regard to this subject—viz., Chrys¬ 
anthemum blooms damping. In the first place, I fully agree with your 
correspondent, Mr. Hopkins, that over-feeding is the cause of tbe trouble 
to a great extent, although I am fully of opinion that the atmosphere 
has something to do with it. I grew about 300 plants this season, and 
disbudded to four blooms on a plant, which I may say were very strong 
and healthy, and was looking forward to having about 1000 good flowers 
entirely for exhibition purposes. All went well till they were about 
three parts expanded, and feeding discontinued, when, on examining the 
plants one morning, I was grieved to see about half a dozen blooms of 
the Queen family—notably Lord Alcester and Golden Empress—which 
were about three parts unfolded, covered with a quantity of little brown, 
spots, as Mr. Molyneux styles it in his valuable treatise, resembling dust. 
I immediately gave more ventilation, thinking tilers might be a lack of 
it, and also warmed the pipes. Next morning I was still further grieved 
to see quite half the blooms affected with the same complaint, and a day 
or so after nearly every plant more or less was on a fair way to destruc¬ 
tion. Suffice it to say that out of my 1000 blooms as expected I only cut 
about 200 really worth anything. The principal manure the plants were 
fed with was sheep’s dung, with an occasional dose or two of sulphate of 
ammonia, about twice a week during October. I may say that about 
half a dozen of the plants were hardly fed at all, and with them damp¬ 
ing was not the least visible, nor was it with about 50 plants which were 
not disbudded, and which were merely fed with sheep manure three or 
four times during the season. This season, as all Chrysanthemum 
growers will agree, has been a deplorable one for the “Queen of 
Autumn ” flowers, and I am firmly persuaded the continual wet weather 
had a great deal to do with damping, the overcharged sappy stems never 
being fairly ripened. In conclusion, I will just say that as regards sul¬ 
phate of ammonia, I intend to have very little to do with it in the 
future, believing it to be a very dangerous and damp-causing manure. 
Hoping to hear further correspondence on this subject.—C. Simpson, 
