December 10, 1885. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
517 
The Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed on 
"the motion of Sir John Lubbock to inquire into the desirability of estab¬ 
lishing a Forest School in England, recently took the evidence of 
Mr. W. G. Pedder, Revenue Secretary of the India Office, who stated that 
a Forestal Department was authorised in Bombay in 1846. About that 
time the revenue of the Indian forests was £40,080. Since then it had 
risen to a gross revenue of nearly £1,000,000, and a nett revenue of over 
£400,000, and that, he considered, was undoubtedly due to the increased 
education of forest officials. Instructors were obtained from France and 
Germany, but latterly chiefly from France, because it was found that the 
woodlands of England and Scotland were not so well managed as to 
enable the managers to give instruction, 
The cultivation of the Cocoa-nut Palm, says “ Forestry,’’ 
is the most remunerative branch of American farming. The trees do not 
produce much fruit until they are ten years old ; but afterwards they 
continue prolific for nearly a century, and the yearly yield of each is 
worth, on the average, 16s. in New York. In the extreme south of 
Florida an enterprising native of New Jersey has planted 200,000 Palms. 
Land, labour, and trees have cost him only £20,000 ; and he expects, in 
two or three years’ time, to be earning a clear £120,000 annually, or 650 
per cent, interest on his invested capital. The prospect is a seductive 
one , but lest British fathers with younger sons should dream of sending 
their hopefuls to grow Cocoa Palms in Florida, we may as well add that 
in the northern hemisphere the valuable nut can only be cultivated near 
the sea, and south of lat. 27°, and that the New Jersey speculator, with 
commendable prudence, has bought up the only tract of land in the United 
States that is exactly suitable for the purpose. 
It appears that The New York Chrysanthemum Show 
recently held was an important exhibition, about 8000 cut blooms and 400 
plants being shown. Messrs. Hallock and Thorpe secured a large propor¬ 
tion of the prizes, and the plants sold by auction after the Show realised 
3000 dollars. 
Mr. Joseph Mallender sends the following summary of 
meteorological observations at Hodsock Priory, Worksop, Notts 
Mean temperature of the month, 41-7°; maximum on the 28th, 57-4°; 
minimum on the 17th, 19-9°. Maximum in the sun on the 28th, 90 9° ; 
minimum on the grass on the 17th, 15-5°. Mean temperature of air 
at 9 A.M., 40'4°; mean temperature of the soil 1 foot deep, 43-3°. 
Nights below 32° in shade, six; on grass, thirteen. Total duration of 
sunshine in the month, thirty-six hours, or 14 per cent, of the possible 
duration; we had seventeen sunless days. Total rainfall, 1-96 inch; 
maximum fall in twenty-four hours on the 24th, 0 24 inch. Rain fell on 
fourteen days. Average velocity of wind, 8 3 miles per hour; velocity 
exceeded 400 miles on three days, fell short of 100 on nine days. Sun¬ 
shine was very deficient, and was only two-thirds of the average for the 
last five years. We stored a lot of good ice on the 20th, I have never 
taken ice so early before. 
Ihe December number of the Botanical Magazine gives plates 
cf the following plants Aloe Bainesi, which Mr. J. G. Baker charac¬ 
terises as “ distinctly and decidedly the finest of all the 150 different 
kinds of Alee.” A plant has been grown at Kew for twenty years, but 
has not yet flowered, the plate having been prepared from materials supplied 
by Professor MacOwan. It is a Cape species, reaching a height of 40 or 
60 feet and bearing a large head of rosy flowers. 
In plate 6849 is given a representation of a Chilian tree, 
Rhaphithamnus cyanocarpus, a member of the Yerbenacese family, 
and has already passed under three other generic names—Cetharexylon, 
Duranta, and Poeppigia. It forms a tree 15 to 20 feet high, densely 
branched, slightly spiny, with small ovate bright green leaves, and bears 
numerous small tubular white and blue flowers, which are followed by 
bright blue fruits. It is rather pretty and is hardy in Cornwall, but 
requires to be grown in a cool house in more northern districts. Rhodo¬ 
dendron javanicum var. tubiflora, from Sumatra, has larger paler flowers 
than the type, but is not equal in beauty to many of the hybrids raised in 
England. 
A pretty but not imposing Orchid is Pogonia pulchella 
from Hong Kong. It is one of the most recent discoveries of Mr. Charles 
I ord, the Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens in that island, another 
Orchid also having been added to the list under the elegant name of 
rydagzynia nuda. Sir. Joseph Hooker states that the Pogonia “was 
first brought to Mr. Ford in 1878 by an officer's servant, who found it on 
the coast of the south side of the island of Hong Kong. It was planted 
in the gardens, and flowered in 1879 ; tubers sent by Mr. Ford to Kew 
in 1883, and which he procured on the Lofan mountains on the coast 
opposite to Hong Kong. It flowered at Kew in April, 1885.” The plant 
is dwarf with small round whitish tubers, from which arise the slender 
scapes of drooping flowers, the lip crimson and white, and the sepals and 
petals narrow, greenish brown. The leaves are pretty, veined with white 
on the upper surface, shaded with dark green, and reddish beneath. Two 
Asiatic Crocuses, Korolkowi and Aerius, are also figured, the former 
yellow, and the latter purplish. 
CANKER IN FRUIT TREES. 
I AM well acquainted with the fact that almost every writer is against 
me in my conviction that insects are the cause of canker. Only one that 
I remember has favoured the same line as myself, and that was Mr. 
Harrison Weir, who had not actually seen the insects, but had cured his 
specimens of canker on the supposition that insects were the cause of it. 
I beg very respectfully to say that it does not matter who is against me, 
because what I write I have proved by observation and practical experi¬ 
ments. If I disagree from others it is with the best motive—viz., to 
determine the real cause of canker and its cure for the benefit of all. It 
is laid down for us that it is a disease. I contend that it is no more a 
disease than is the bite of a dog, causing injury. Insects eating the bark 
may always be found by careful examination on or near the spot where 
canker commences. 
I am much obliged to “ Entomologist ” for his note. I ask him, if he 
still remembers it, whether the piece of wood sent had the appearance of 
having passed into a “sickly condition” except at the identical spot 
attacked f I have examined the tree for another specimen, but I cannot 
find one. It was a piece from a Cobham tree, where it is rare to find 
canker. And here allow me to recommend any reader who is not 
acquainted with this Apple to make acquaintance by procuring it. With 
me itis far before Blenheim Pippin for cropping, early bearing, appearance, 
and flavour, and as it is of the Blenheim type it readily sells for Blen¬ 
heims, and commands a good price consequently. 
In my opinion trees are brought into a sickly condition by having to 
support—unknown to an ordinary observer—th usands of minute insects 
in large trees, and canker follows. I could give details of interesting 
specimens of cankered wood placed under the microscope for the benefit 
of fruit-growers, who were astonished by the revelations. I enclose 
another small specimen of Pear tree wood showing the commencement of 
the so-called disease, where the insects may be seen. This is from a 
vigorous healthy tree, a standard in my orchard, where no one would 
think of canker without close examination. The small tree referred to 
page 376 was, I admit, a bad specimen to send, but being useless I thought 
it would answer my purpose. The other piece of wood before referred 
to was a crown-grafted tree where no ligature was used, so that that was 
not the cause of canker, and I have other specimens to bear me out. 
In reply to “ Lathyrus,” page 426,1 have referred to “ Entomologist’s ” 
note, but fail to find that he has “ contradicted ” me. I have never said 
a word against the “necessary preparation for the roots.” I can keep 
Lord Suffield as free from canker as Keswick Codlin so far, and from 
late experience I do not think it more prone to canker than others, apart 
from the transference of insect life. I could give many instances bearing 
me out, but it would take too much space. I am a great believer and user 
of liquid manure for fruit trees, and I do not say a word against root- 
pruning where necessary. I shall be pleased to see what “ Thinker ” has 
to say, quite independent of anything I have written.—J. Hiam. 
[A correspondent reminds us that Mr. Hiam has'not stated his method 
of preventing canker in fruit trees, or, in other words, of destroying the 
insects that he believes are the origin of the evil.] 
PRUNING DENDROBIUM NOBILE. 
Mr. Peinsep, at page 495, draws attention to the above subject, 
which is a most interesting one ; and though it has been a debated ques¬ 
tion for some time, it remains debatable, the specimens exhibited by Mr. 
Prinsep at Kensington last May notwithstanding. I had the pleasure of 
seeing the excellent wood engraving in the Journal of one of the speci¬ 
mens, and was greatly pleased with it; but it also reminded me that I 
had seen other illustrations of the same kind of plants, and the thought 
occurred to me that however good an example of cultural skill, under the 
special and unusual conditions mentioned, the plant was as exhibited 
by Mr. Prinsep, yet the others appear to be finer and more floriferom 
specimens, and those, I suppose, were grown in the old-fashioned way. 
To prevent any misapprehension, I will say at once that I am in favour 
of old and ugly pseudo-bulbs being cut away, provided they are also use¬ 
less, under any ordinary cultural conditions ; but up to the present time I 
submit that the evidence adduced has only shown that under very favour¬ 
able conditions these old pseudo-bulbs may be dispensed with. There are 
hundreds of cases throughout the country where the satisfactory condi¬ 
tions of growth under the control of Mr. Prinsep and of Mr. Simpson of 
Wortley are absent, and it is highly important to know whether the 
pruning system could be advantageously followed in such cases. It would 
also be interesting to know whether the plants grown and treated as Mr. 
