THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 28, 1860. 
non 
Ot>U 
about easily; but with a little watchful care they may be traced 
to their hiding-places and destroyed. 
The lied Spider is a tiny enemy, feeding upon the young 
leaves and turning them yellow. It may be kept under by 
washing the flues or hot-water pipes with sulphur water. Ere quent 
sponging is also a preventive, and also a free use of the syringe 
on affected plants. 
These are all the insects that I need mention as being destruc¬ 
tive to orchideous plants, though sometimes the green fly will 
attack the young leaves and flowering-shoots. They are, however, 
easily got rid of by Tobacco smoke ; only be careful in burning 
it that it never burst out into a flame. 
Pbopagation. —My essay on the points of culture would 
scarcely be complete without a few -words on how to propagate 
them. The epiphytal species may be increased by passing a 
knife through the rhizoma, or rootstock. At the base ot each 
leaf or pseudo-bulb there is generally an incipient bud ; this bud, 
when the rhizoma is cut in two, will swell, and finally pioduce 
a shoot. The cut may be left where it is till the first p-eudo- 
bulb is perfected ; then, at the time of potting, the cut part with 
its new young shoot may be separated from the parent plac.t and 
potted in the usual way. Terrestrial Orchids are of two k nds— 
namely, such as are herbaceous, as, for instance, the Cypripe- 
diums, and such as are bulbous like the Dletia. The first may 
be divided into moderate-sized sections, and thus make good 
plants at once. When potted, the second may be increase d by 
detaching at potting time one or more small tubers, potting these 
iuto small pots for a season, and increasing the size of the pots 
year by year as they advance in size. T. Appleby. 
FRUITS and FRUIT TREES of GREAT BRITAIN. 
( Continued from page 353, Veil. XXIII.) 
No. XXVIII. —Doyenne d’Ete Peae. 
Synonymes. —Doyenne de Juillet; Duchesse de Berri d'Ele; 
Jolivet; Boi Jolimont. 
This is one of the seedlings of Van lions , which has for a 
considerable number of years been in cultivation, but only to a 
limited extent. It is one of the best of all the very early 
varieties, and comes iuto use about the middle of July when the 
seasons are favourable. This year it was not ripe till the first 
week in August; but even then it was considerably earlier than 
any other variety growing in the same collection. 
The fruit is slightly fragrant, below the medium size, roundish, 
and Bergamot-shaped, and even in its outline. ■ —~ 
Shin smooth and shining ; on the shaded side and about the 
stalk, or on any part that is shaded, it is citron yellow when fully 
ripe ; but at the time when the fruit should be gathered it is 
greenish yellow. On the side exposed to the sun it is covered 
with dull red, which gradually fades into the yellow ground. 
Eye open and partially closed with small acute segments, which 
sometimes overlap each other and give the eye a distorted 
appearance. 
Stalk three-quarters of an inch long, stout, and rather fleshy, 
particularly at the base, and inserted in a slight depression. 
Flesh yellowish, half melting, very juicy, sw'eet, and pleasantly 
flavoured. 
An excellent early Pear, ripe in the middle of July. It should 
be gathered before it becomes yellow, and wiien it begins to 
assume a yellowish-green colour, otherwise it is mealy and insipid. 
It never rots at the core. 
The tree is an excellent bearer, quite hardy, and forms a hand¬ 
some pyramid. It bears well as a standard, and would be a good 
variety for market purposes, both on account of its earliness, and 
the fine appearance of the fruit.—H. 
THE SEASON. 
Following up Mr. Robson’s ample and interesting notes in 
your number of the 14th, I offer the following brief notes from 
this northern region. 
The spring months w-ere marked by nothing particular, save 
an excessive rainfall. We had less of violent winds than usual, 
and no late frosts. All half-hardy things were put out in the 
early part of May, but the w'eather since has been so ungenial 
that they have done but little good. My weather-table for June 
is made up of three phrases—cloudy, stormy, rain. In that 
month the gauge registered the unprecedented quantity of 
5-465 inches. Last season, during the same month, not one 
drop. During July we had less boisterous weather, with but 
little sunshine, however, and a rainfall of 2 360. August has 
half passed in the same way-, the fall to the time I write (17th) 
being 1'660, and a violent gale from the S.E. with rain is now 
raging like a November blast. 
Large fruits are a plentiful crop in the neighbourhood, but 
the quality will doubtless prove indifferent and late. 
Small fruits .—Gooseberries and Currants most abundant, but 
only just gathered. Raspberries scarce. Straw-berries a plenti¬ 
ful crop here ; but on heavier soils not so. The flavour in all 
cases insipid. Elton Pine particularly heavy crop, and in use 
simultaneously with Keens' Seedling and Black Prince. 
In the vegetable department Potatoes are a capital crop, and 
though rumours are rife as to the appearance of disease further 
north, there is no appearance of it here; and the steadily down¬ 
ward tendency of prices inclines me to Clink such reports are 
propagated by the speculators. Early sorts are a huge crop on 
our light soils ; I never saw such a yield of Kidneys, having 
gathered eighteen to twenty-four large tubers at a stem. I find 
the Walnut-leaved Kidney more prolific and better matured than 
the common Ashleaf; but of the latter it should be remembered 
much depends on the strain. Lemon Kidneys did well this 
season, though worthless last. I have a large patch of Dalma- 
hoys, a famous cropper, aud as yet not the slightest trace of 
disease. They will lift in about ten days. 
Peas have been luxuriant, but the pods badly filled. Veitch's 
Perfection and Strathmore Eero, put side by side, have grown 
like a grove of Poplars, and both promise to bear well, and seem 
uncommonly like each other. [No.—E ds.] 
Carrots a superb crop here, but indifferent elsewhere. 
Cabbage and all the Brassiea tribe have suffered much from 
the aphis, many of the plants being literally eaten alive, and the 
hearts of many more completely destroyed. Is there no remedy 
for this pest ? would dipping the young plants in tobacco water, 
or Gishurst, or a soot-and-lime puddle be of any probable benefit ? 
Turnips a famous crop in every direction. I must ask those who 
wish to see a perfect garden Turnip, to try some Finland Yellow 
next season (it cannot be got for love or money now). It has a 
very dwarf top, a beautiful glossy, clean skin, and a top without 
any thick shoulder, but going away right from the bulb —the 
Turnip for small gardens. 
In tire flower garden, Roses have been the greatest or rather 
the only success, except annuals, which with me have done well. 
Linum grandiflorv.m I found came best sown in the open ground, 
and from a seed a year old. Crimson Candytuft makes a nice 
centre for a bed with a variegated edging. Ditto Tom Thumb 
Nasturtium. And Saponaria calabrica is indispensable to every 
flower garden. I find this annual perpetuates itself from seed 
at the foot of a wall, and comes into flower in April. The only 
decent things among bedding plants are old pot Verbenas and 
Geraniums, &c., turned out to clover in the borders. I vote for 
autumn-struck cuttings as our only chance of making a quick 
display in this ticklish climate.—J. M., Eeathbank, Forfarshire. 
