November 10, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
165 
the woods round about. I believe as “R. D.” seems 
to think—that we must look elsewhere for an ex¬ 
planation.— B. Stevens, Boston, Northumberland. 
-- 
THE NEW NORTHERN 
GREENING- APPLE. 
Ik his interesting and instructive paper on Profitable 
Fruit Farming, read at the late Crystal Palace Fruit 
Conference (see p. 114), Mr. John Wright called 
attention to the merits of two Nottinghamshire Apples 
—Bramley’s Seedling and the new Northern Greening 
—both of which, as marketing varieties, are destined 
to be extensively planted beyond the borders of the 
county in which they are at present best known. Of 
the new Northern Greening we are to-day enabled to 
give an illustration, prepared from specimens received 
from Messrs. J. R. Pearson & Sons, of Chilwell, who are 
propagating it extensively, and so far as we know, were 
the first to exhibit it at the Apple Congress held at 
Chiswick in 1883, though of its origin or history 
beyond this we know nothing. The fruits are of 
medium size, the smaller ones nearly round, and the 
largest oblate or 
much flattened. 
The eye is of 
medium size, 
closed, and set in 
a shallow or 
moderately deep, 
evenly rounded 
cavity. The stalk 
varies from J in. 
to J in. in length, 
and is moderately 
stout, but often 
characterised by 
a fleshy swelling 
at its attachment 
with the tree, and 
inserted in a nar¬ 
row, moderately 
deep cavity, partly 
filled up by a 
fleshy swelling or 
ingrowth on one 
side. The skin 
is of a bright 
glossy green on 
the shaded side, 
with a few small 
scattered pale 
brown spots, 
brownish red on 
the sunny side, 
marked with 
broken stripes of 
darker red and 
pale brown spots 
surrounded with 
red. 
The shoots are 
moderately vigor¬ 
ous and densely 
downy or felted 
when young, 
Ultimately be¬ 
coming nearly 
glabrous. The 
leaves are of 
medium size, oval or ovate-oval, cuspidate, and doubly 
serrated. It is a vigorous grower, and makes a 
handsome, compact tree as it attains age. The 
Messrs. Pearson write : “We consider it by far the 
best late Apple in cultivation. It is a very heavy 
bearer, the fruits will keep sound till June, and are of 
good culinary quality ; in fact we do not know of any 
fault that can be laid to its charge.” 
-■*$<-- 
RIOCARTON, MIDLOTHIAN. 
Within easy distance of the Scotch capital, this 
interesting and ancient family seat is so embosomed 
amongst tall trees as to be unnoticeable by the visitor 
till close upon it. Riccarton is the residence of Sir 
James Gibson Craig, Bart., who has collected together a 
large number of the most beautiful and interesting 
trees, of which we shall speak anon. Part of the old 
baronial residence still forming a portion of the modern 
mansion is dated 1621—a fact which speaks of the 
antiquity of the place. It is built of fine massive 
blocks of white freestone, no doubt obtained from the 
noted quarries in the vicinity of Edinburgh. Another 
interesting and historical fact, speaking from a horti¬ 
cultural standpoint, is that Fuchsia Riccartoni, which 
is now scattered over the length and breadth of the 
land, and in some places—as in the Isle of Man—has 
attained enormous proportions, was raised at Riccarton. 
It was reared and flowered under glass, where, how¬ 
ever, it scarcely attracted any notice till some neigh¬ 
bouring gardener grew it out of doors, when it soon 
exhibited its real value. 
The kitchen garden and the glass structures are 
situated at some distance from the house, and in 
September the vineries contained some fine samples 
of Muscat of Alexandria, Gros Colmar, Resin de Calabre, 
and Alicante Grapes, the bunches and berries of the 
latter being very finely finished. Mr. McDougall, 
the gardener, also succeeds very well with Peaches, 
three fruits in some cases weighing 2 lbs. Tuberous 
Begonias and table decorative subjects are some of the 
plants that receive special attention in the houses, 
while Stocks, Asters and hardy herbaceous plants 
occupy the borders. 
The summer flower garden occupies a narrow valley 
surrounded with woods and choice ornamental trees. 
The New Northern Greening Apple. 
The beds are laid out on the grassy slopes, but par¬ 
ticularly on the sunny side of the valley, and viewed 
from the opposite side had a most striking effect, owing 
to the floriferous nature of the occupants, while the 
foliage subjects, such as Ricinus Gibsoni and Centaurea 
ragusina com pacta, afforded a beautiful contrast. A 
yellow-flowered annual Chrysanthemum named C. 
algeriense, filling a large bed, was very conspicuous. 
Ornamental Trees. 
To examine the trees, however, was an irresistible 
attraction. Leading to the house is a noble avenue of 
giant Beeches that meet overhead, forming a dense 
canopy ; while in the immediate vicinity of the house 
there were equally aged and patriarchal specimens of 
Sycamores, best known in Scotland as Planes, also 
Oaks, Scotch Pines, and Sweet Chestnuts. Owing to 
the unusual lateness of the season and the latitude of 
the place, the latter were still abundantly laden with 
their slender, graceful, and attractive flower spikes in 
the last week of September. 
In the bottom of the valley running through the flower 
garden was a huge clump of Berberis vulgaris, heavily 
laden with its bright red berries, which made it a 
conspicuous object, even at a distance. Other 
deciduous trees in the vicinity are Prunus Pissardi, 
Acer colchicum, with bronzy foliage, Carya amara, 
30 ft. high, as well as fine bushes of Spiraja discolor 
arisefolia and Deutzia crenata flore pleno, 10 ft. high. 
The noble owner of the place has recently been making 
considerable plantations of ornamental trees alongside 
one of the drives, including many species of Oak, 
Hawthorn, Pines, Limes and others, showing that the 
old love is still unabated. 
The Conifers constitute, however, without doubt the 
most valuable and interesting collection of ornamental 
trees and shrubs, and is the richest in species. In the 
enumeration given below it will be seen that the col¬ 
lection is a select one, and does great credit to this 
northern latitude. A tree of Abies nobilis, about 
18 ft. in height, bore about a dozen cones of large size, 
while another, about 50 ft. in height, was loaded with 
cones ; and from evidence which we had elsewhere in 
the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, the season has been 
by no means unpropitious for the production of cones. 
The variable Abies concolor, known under various 
aliases, such as A. Parsonsi and A. lasiocarpa, runs up 
to a height of 
40 ft. in fine 
condition. Two 
fine specimens of 
Tsuga Albertiana, 
with long droop¬ 
ing branches, and 
laden with mini- 
ature cones, 
measure 60 ft. in 
height. The trees 
here, as well as 
those at Drop- 
more, Bucks, are 
much more sym¬ 
metrically pyra¬ 
midal than are 
those of T. cana¬ 
densis, the com¬ 
mon Hemlock 
Spruce. The 
Pinsapo Silver Fir 
(Abies pinsapo) 
stands about 30 ft. 
high. 
A very uncom¬ 
mon tree com¬ 
paratively is Ar- 
throtaxus sela- 
ginoides, with 
curious, stout, 
cord-like branches 
which owe their 
appearance to the 
short leaves being 
adnate to the 
shoots. The tree 
is about 12 ft. 
high, is bearing 
cones freely 
amongst the upper 
branches, and is, 
of course, ever¬ 
green. There is 
also a smaller 
specimen of the 
golden variety, 
A. s. aurea. The Cryptomerias seem to thrive wonder¬ 
fully at Riccarton, where we noticed two specimens of 
C. japonica about 40 ft. in height, also another 50 ft. 
high, and one of C. elegans 10 ft. high, which is of a 
fine bronzy colour. C. spiralis is a variety of C. 
japonica, with the leaves spirally twisted round the 
branches. The Retinosporas are represented by R. 
plumosa aurea, R. squarrosa Yeitchii, and a fine 
specimen of R. lycopodioides, about 7 ft. in height. 
Beautiful trees are the golden Chinese Juniper (Juniperus 
chinensis aurea) ; another variety, with the branches 
tipped with white—namely, J. c. alba variegata ; also 
J. recurva, 10 ft. high ; its dwarf variety, J. r. nana, 
about 18 ins. high ; and J. excelsa, 18 ft. high, which 
is of a fine silvery or glaucous colour. 
One of the first specimens of the Mammoth Tree of 
California (Sequoia gigantea) that came to this country 
was planted at Riccarton in 1855 ; but, like the old 
Araucaria imbricata at Kew, it has not made so satis¬ 
factory a growth as younger trees close by. It is closely 
surrounded by other trees, originally no doubt for the 
purpose of protection, and is interesting on account of 
its age. Its congener, the Red "Wood Tree (Sequoia 
