April £6, 18S8. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
337 
some suggest the Phoenicians introduced this tree from Greece. 
Not only did the Druids pay reverence to the Apple, but the old 
bards also esteemed the present of a branch of Apple blossom so 
fortunate an omen that it was their chosen reward for success in 
song. The fact was noticed that the parasitic Mistletoe grew on 
the Apple in preference to other trees, and as there was a special 
value attached to the plant when it was found upon the Oak, with 
the object of obtaining it there the Apples were set near Oak woods. 
They were ignorant of the method of producing Mistletoe plants 
by simply pressing the berries upon the bark of some suitable tree. 
The festival of this sacred shrub is reckoned to have been held 
about the 10th of March, the anniversary being kept as their New 
Year’s Day also. 
We have remarked that the Britons knew how to make hedges. 
Probably they often chose for this purpose the Yew and the Holly, 
the former on account of its dense growth, the latter because of its 
prickliness ; both are indigenous species. The Yew was planted by 
them on spots where worship was performed, and the abundance of 
Yews in Wales, the last retreat of the ancient Britons, shows that 
it was regarded by them with reverence, or at least by their priests 
and bards. Probably the old name signifies “ever-living,'’ and 
they used it as a symbol of immortality, even as the Greeks and 
Romans did the Cypress. And the tough wood of the Yew was 
found serviceable for weapons or implements. By some means the 
Bntons acquired great faith in the medicinal qualities of Rue, and 
they grew this plant, having somehow obtained it from its habitat 
in the south of Europe. The Druids said it was only to be touched 
'with the hand when young. When the greenish yellow flowers 
appeared it was to be carefully cut without grasping it. One vii-tue 
attributed by them to the Rue was a power to strengthen the siglit, 
valuable therefore to the hunter or warrior. How they made use 
of it we cannot tell, but in later days people supposed that the Rue, 
or Herb of Grace, yielded its benefits to those who sniffed at the 
flowers and foliage. Hence has arisen a funny mistake, as some 
'writers have called it a “ nose-herb,” meaning that its effects could 
be obtained through the nose. The supposition has been made 
that people made nosegays of it for the pleasure of smelling it, 
which would have been an odd fancy, as the odour is decidedly 
oppressive, almost disagreeable. 
Of the Woad, a plant the Britons largely employed as a dye, 
they may have found an abundance growing wild, though in our 
day it is scarce. They understood how to obtain three distinct 
•colours from this plant ; and it is probable they sought m the 
spring, all round the southern coast, the wild Seakale (Crambe 
maritima), though they did not cultivate it, cutting off the young 
stalks close to the crown of the root, just as people do now.— 
J. R. S. C. 
RIVINA HUMILIS. 
The clusters of rich scarlet berries which this greenhouse perennial 
iproduce so freely during the winter months render it a very useful and 
•effective plant for furnishing purposes. It is of very easy culture, 
^eeds sown now in th' ordinary way and placed in heat will soon germi¬ 
nate. Prick the seedlings out about 2 inches apart in a pan filled with 
light sandy soil, return them to heat, water and shade from sunshine 
until the roots have taken to the soil. Subsequently place the plants 
into 3-ineh, and again in 4.^-inch pots as soon as they require more room 
at the roots. Stopping the plants a few times to make them branch, 
and giving water at the roots when necessary, growing-them on in a 
tframe during the summer.—II. W. 
FERTILISATION OF EARLY PEACHES. 
Youk correspondent, Mr. J. B. Biding, seems to question the good 
cesults of the practice which it is my duty to see carried out under the 
■direction of the head gardener with whom I serve, and who tells me he 
bas practised it for a number of years in different localities, and never 
yet failed to secure a good set of fruit. I had never before seen such 
■simple means used in early houses, and was rather surprised on being 
told the course to be pursued. Now 1 can safely say, were 1 acting 
upon my own responsibility and having suitable structures with trees in 
good health (which is, without doubt, very essential to perfect ferti¬ 
lisation, whatever be the means applied), I should not hesitate in 
adopting the same treatment. It is, I believe, a recognised fact that 
small-flowered varieties usually set their fruit much more freely than 
large-flowered ones. It so happens that out of the seven trees in our 
early house five are large-flowered, and they set quite as freely as 
the others. Tbe trees are in good condition, producing abundance of 
strong well-develoised flowers, which made the house quite a sight at the 
time. The houses are constructed in accordance with the usual style of 
fruit houses—viz., lean-to’s facing south, and stand in a light open 
position. We very rarely fail to have the temperature at 50° on a 
morning with a little ventilation at the front ventilators, difticult as it 
may appear to your correspondent, without having recourse to e.xeessive 
firing. 
With the head gardener’s permission I have sent a shoot cut from 
one of the trees in a later house for the Editor’s inspection, on which 
the fruit is set, but not thinned. This is, of course, no criteriori as 
regards the early trees, still the same means are adopted for fertilising. 
I am thoroughly convinced that it is quite possible to get a first class 
set of fruit without resorting to such tedious operations as many do. 
Could Mr. Riding see the trees, I think he would also be convinced.— 
S. T. C. 
[The example is highly satisfactory, out of twenty blossoms the 
setting of only two being doubtful. ] 
ORCHID3 AT MOUNT VIEW. 
In' the Odontoglossum house at Mount View, Sheffield, the 
residence of D. Ward, Esq., J.P., there are not less than 150 strong 
spikes of 0. Alexandrae and its varieties in a forward stage of 
development. One now flowering for the first time, and which had 
been imported and sold as 0. Alexandra of the ordinary type, is a 
beautiful and very distinct hybrid, apparently between that and 
0. triumphans or luteo-purpureum. In this house several plant-s 
of the small but pretty O. (Erstedi in 4-inch pans are covered with 
flowers, having about fifty on each plant, three from each pseudo¬ 
bulb, and in some cases two on one spike. About twenty plants of 
Sophronitis grandiflora in small pots are very bright and densely 
flowered. In a warmer house are fifty vigorous and strong plants 
of 0. vexillarium throwing abundant flower spikes. On one plant 
in a 6-inch pot we counted nine spikes. Some plants of Oncidium 
Marshallianum in baskets were very showy in the same house with 
large branching spikes of about thirty flowers each. 
In another large stove is a very beautiful display of flowers of 
Cattleya citrina, C. intermedia amethystina, a fine variety; 
Ddndrobium Wardianum, a grand display from closely pruned 
plants, eighty flowers on a plant ; D. albo-sanguineum, several plants 
flowering freely. In this house also are large numbers of plants of 
Cattleya Mossise, C. Mendelli, C. gigas, and C. Skinneri, with Lselia 
purpurata, all in vigorous health and throwing quite a forest of 
sheaths. In another cool house some twenty or more plants of 
Oncidium concolor are gay with abundant flowers, as also in still 
another warmer house are Dendrobiums thyrsiflorum, Schroderi, 
and chrysotoxum, with the singular and pretty Utricularia montana 
in baskets. 
ODONTOGLOSSUM EOEZLI. 
Such a display of this fine Orchid as is rarely seen is now 
provided in the Phaltenopsis house at Mount View, Sheffield, the 
residence of D. Ward, Esq., J.P. The plants, which number thirty, 
are all in the most robust health and vigour, and are covered with 
numerous strong spikes of their large and beautiful flow'ers, amongst 
which there is considerable variation in form, colouring, and in 
size. Some varieties have more or less large and brightly coloured 
purple blotches at the base of each petal, whilst others are almost 
pure white throughout, except a light orange shading over the 
centre of the lip. We measured a flower of one of these latter 
varieties, and found it to be 4 inches in diameter and 2 inches 
across the lip. On the same plant the leaves measured 18 inches in 
length and 1:^ inch in breadth, the pseudo-bulb from which these 
leaves sprang being Sj- inches in length, and carrying four flower 
spikes each with four flowers, this growth also being typical of 
those throughout the whole collection. A plant in a 6-inch pot 
was carrying eight flower spikes, and scarcely a spot or blemish is 
to be seen upon the foliage of any plant. We noticed also that 
new breaks were forming two, and in some cases three, from each 
flowering growth. Mr. Page (the head gardener) is one of the most 
skilful Orchid cultivators, as the large collection at Mount View by 
the vigour and fine condition of the plants abundantly testifies, but 
in nothing is his skill more strikingly exemplified than in his 
culture of O. Roezli, which he grows the year round in the 
Phaltenopsis house.—W. K. W. 
ORCHIDS AT BURFORD LODGE. 
LInder the management of Mr. W. Bickerstaffe, with an 
efficient staff of assistants, the Orchids in the collection of Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P., still maintain their high character as 
one of the leading collections in this country. Order and cleanli¬ 
ness are at all times ob.servable in the houses ; in fact it would seem 
almost impossible to make improvement in that respect in any part 
of this well-kept garden. The floors, stages, pots and plants are all a 
