232 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ OCTOBKE, 
I will not, however, venture an opinion on their treatment, as I have never 
grown them for exhibition, ancl should he thankful if some one who has 
had experience with them, would give a few hints on their culture. 
Antirrhinums might also he made to form an interesting feature at our 
summer exhibitions, if cultivated in pots, as suggested for Phloxes, care 
being bestowed to select the finest only, those having rich colours, and 
large flowers closely set on the spike. 
I trust the Committee of the Botanic Gardens here, may he induced to 
offer prizes for these subjects in pots at the exhibition to be held next 
summer in connection with the Royal Agricultural Society, so that Man¬ 
chester may have the honour of introducing the improved system. 
Winton, Manchester. John Walker. 
CONCERNING SPECK UPON APPLES. 
^hOMOLOGISTS in general, even those who have given but little at¬ 
tention to the keeping of Apples and Pears, are'too well conversant 
with the various forms of “ speck,” and with the great injury which 
accrues to fine specimens of fruit, consequent upon its appearance, 
however minute the speck may originally be. It is not my intention 
to advert to the subject in a physiological point of view, nor to discuss the 
question whether such appearances are due to inherent weakness, or general 
decrepitude in the tree itself, or, being simply superficial, are the result of 
the attacks of fungi which ultimately worm their way to the very core of 
the fruit. I am none the less convinced, however, that the disease—and 
it is nothing else—may be greatly mitigated, and in certain instances 
totally overcome. It cannot fail to have been observed, that unlike those in¬ 
stances in which the large blotched disfigurations, known as spot, have been 
formed, at or about the time of the formation of the fruit, and have grown 
and spread with it as it increases in size, the “ speck,” to which I especially 
refer, seldom makes its appearance until the fruit has attained its full pro¬ 
portions, mostly in fact after the lengthened and colder nights of early au¬ 
tumn have set in, and condensation has become so great as to envelope it 
throughout the night in a cold vapour bath. It is to this influence, in¬ 
tensified manyfold by wet dripping weather, that I attribute the origin of 
“ speck ”—originally so harmless in appearance, but ulteriorly causing the 
fruit to rot long before the close of its customary keeping period. 
Dumelow’s Seedling (Wellington), Cockle Pippin, and some other sorts 
are much affected by this disease, and it is to such varieties therefore that I 
would more especially refer, though the point remarked upon has direct 
application to most other late-keeping varieties. My advice is, that all 
such kinds should be picked and housed at the earliest possible moment, 
after they become sufficiently ripe, a period I need not remark which varies 
