24 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jiinnary 12, 1883. 
cases is surprising. A variety called nana is well adapted for 
lawns, hut one of the best is erecta viridis, which is quite a model, so 
regulaily columnar is it in shape, and the shade of green is so 
bright and distinct that it is at once noticed amongst many others. 
Other well marked types are afforded by the Irish Yew, the 
golden Taxus baccata elegantissima, the bold Thujopsis dolabrata^ 
the Umbrella Pine, Sciadopitys verticillata, and the Maidenhair 
Tree, Salisburia adiantifolia, which aid in diversifying a collection 
surprisingly. There are few Pines that look well in a small space, 
but Pinus contorta, P. Bungeana, P. Cembra, and P. parviflora are 
amongst those best suited for the purpose.— Arbor. 
THE PEAR SEASON. 
The two outstanding features are the extra fine quality of the 
fruit and the abnormally early ripening of all the varieties. Only two 
sorts have this season failed to ripen well here, the one Triomphe 
de Jodoigne, the other Van Mons Leon Leclerc. It is seldom 
indeed that the latter is good, and we fully expected this year 
would have seen it of good quality. The former has been good in 
the district, on much heavier soil than ours. The best flavoured 
Pears have been Dr. Hogg, Winter Nelis, and Knight’s Monarch. 
We had no fruit of Seckle this season, and Josephine de Malines 
was of deficient quality compared with the two named above. Dr. 
Hogg is, of course, an early Pear, but a very commendable one. 
Winter Nelis is so well known that it hardly requires any further 
word in its favour. It is our favourite variety here ; a pity that 
it should be so uncertain in its time of ripening. We had a very 
large quantity this year, and could not keep the latest beyond the 
last month of 1887, while last year we had it good in April, and it 
was the new year before it began to ripen. Knight’s Monarch is a 
much firmer fleshed variety, not so juicy, but to some tastes prefer¬ 
able to the above. The fruit lasts for a long time, as only a few 
ripen together. When growing it requires to be well thinned at an 
early stage, as the tree very often sets much too large a crop. Of 
the larger sorts, Williams’ Bon Chretien, Souvenir du Congres, 
Beurre d’Amanlis, Flemish Beauty, Beurre Bachelier, Hacon’s 
Incomparable, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Marie Louise, Easter 
Beurrci, and Beurre Ranee gave the most satisfaction. 
Williams’ Bon Chretien on a standard finished a grand crop, 
which had been thinned very freely. Flavour very musky, and to 
some palates on that account disagreeable. Wall fruit in compari¬ 
son was not so good, though larger. Beurre d’Amanlis and 
Flemish Beauty were both very good, the latter being quite 
beautifully marked with red on the sunny side. Beurre Bachelier, 
though wanting in the luscious flavour of the richest kinds, was 
very pleasing and refreshing, and suited some tastes. It is much in 
the way of Napoleon, though very much larger. The tree, more¬ 
over never fails to bear a crop. Incomparable was one of our 
best autumn sorts. Louise Bonne otf a standard also good. 
Marie Louise fine as usual, but very quickly past. Easter Beurr4 
is often only fit for kitchen use here, but this season it was really 
fine, the best of the fruit from a west wall having developed a 
bright flush on the exposed side, which rendered them of great 
value for big desserts. The best flavoured fruit, however, was 
grown on standard trees which carried large crops well thinned 
out. Towards autumn the branches were borne down by the 
weight of fruit, and for many weeks these trees formed very 
pleasing decorative objects. 
Beurre Ranee is at present in use. Some seasons it fails to 
ripen, and most often it is March to April before it is fit for table. 
In other gardens in this neighbourhood it is past, so that we are 
rather late with it. The fruit has this season developed very 
highly that peculiar gritty melting flesh for which it is held in re¬ 
pute. Glou Mor 9 eau is not yet quite ripe, and we shall give it the 
benefit of a little heat to ripen any we may require for home con¬ 
sumption, as this is one of the varieties which is improved con¬ 
siderably by ripening in a warm atmosphere. 
Other good Pears of the year were Thompson’s, a luscious, but 
not very large Pear ; Duchesse d’Angouleme ; Olivier des Serres, very 
fine ; Fondante d’Antomne ; and Crassane, the latter much better 
than usual. The same remark applies to Nec Plus Meuris, which 
is still in the fruit room. Pitmaston Duchess was also good. 
Passe Colmar not so good, and Beurr(i Diel fine in appearance but 
bad. 
Altogether the Pear season has been one of the very best. It 
has been, moreover, a good educational season, as it has shown some 
sorts to he so entirely unsuited, if not altogether worthless, that we 
can have slight hesitation in removing and replacing them with 
other and better kinds, and it has further enabled us to decide to 
allow some kinds which were all but condemned to remain a while 
longer. But above all tbe season has shown in a well marked 
manner that with Pears, as with other things, strict selection is the 
thing that pays. 
The prospect for another season is most glowing. Those who 
have failed to thin out shoots and weakly spurs in the past should 
freely thin now. It is not so good a time as when the foliage is on 
the trees, but it is always a safe and p.aying practice to cut clean 
away weakly spurs which never can bear fruit, and which merely 
produce small foliage of no use to the tree, and certainly of much 
harm to the stronger and healthier leaves, which would do much 
better work if the small were out of the way altogether. One per¬ 
fectly developed bud is worth a hundred of the kind that may be 
seen in very many gardens throughout the country. The former 
will come to fruit, the latter never. Nor is it certain that too many 
goed buds are an unmixed good. I thinned a large number of very 
promising buds out last year, and though the amount of blossom! 
was in consequence apparently deficient, that which was left was of 
good quality and did not fail to set freely, and I imagine the .more: 
freely because of its comparative scarcity.— East Lothian. 
DENDROBIUMS. 
Mr. Iggulden gives excellent advice on the culture of these 
beautiful Orchids, but he does not seem quite successful with 
Dendrobium Falconeri. I would advise him to try it on the 
stem of Lomaria gibba. If he has one about 1 foot long it 
would be ample for a fair-sized plant. A strong wire can be 
pushed through and turned to hang it up by. I have on several 
occasions seen it very fine treated in this way. Once several years 
ago I saw a splendid specimen at a Reading Spring Show. It was 
carrying, if I remember rightly, about 150 of its lovely flowers, 
and was growing on a Lomaria stem. The plant was, I believe-, 
grown by a doctor, whose man informed me that it made its- 
growth in a small Cucumber house, and was well rested in a vinery 
till its buds began to show, when it was put back into a warm 
house till in flower ; treatment which evidently suited it.— 
C. Page. 
CYPKIPEDIUM SCHOMBURGKIANUM. 
This Cypripedium is not a new species, but it is so long since it 
was first found, and is now so rai’e, that it is practically as interesting 
as a fresh discovery. There are many other Orchids that were 
found by the earlier collectors and have been recorded in botanical 
works which are now lost to cultivation, and their re-introduction 
would be as welcome to many as novelties. Cypripedium Schom- 
burgkianum was found by the traveller whose name it bears. Dr- 
Richard Schomburgk, as long ago as 1842, but if any efforts were 
made to import plants to this country they were unsuccessful and 
no living plants reached cultivators here. Recently, however, it has 
been rediscovered, and a large healthy plant with over 100 growths 
was sold at one of the London auction rooms last week. The 
highest bid was 21 guineas, and the purchaser was Mr. Measures of 
Camberwell, who has thus added another treasure to his valuable 
collection. The growth and foliage resemble C. Pearcei, also known 
as Cypripedium or Selenipedium caricinum, but I hsive seen no 
description of the flowers beyond the fact that they are said to be 
fragrant.—C. 
VANDA TRICOLOR. 
I NOTED “ W. L.’s ” remarks as to the flowering freak of the 
above, and may mention that one plant flowered strongly twice last 
season in May and September, continuing in bloom for two months, 
at the latter period some of the spikes having as many as fifteen 
blooms on them.— Dom Spiro Spero. 
HABENARIA JIILITARIS. 
That the terrestrial Orchids from temperate climates are 
neglected by cultivators has long been apparent, but it was 
brought to my mind very forcibly when I saw this brightly 
coloured Habenaria at one of the London sale rooms last year. 
Only one plant was entered there in flower, and that a small one, 
but it attracted as much attention as some more valuable and 
showy Orchids on the same occasion. A good proportion of the 
orchidists who attended on that day made its acquaintance for the 
first time, for though known to botanists for some years it is very 
rare in cultivation. A plant flowered at Mr. B. S. Williams’ 
nursery. Upper Holloway, in the autumn of 188G for the first time 
