November 25, 1893. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
197 
that we have already reaped our harvest, for the 
season is nearly over. 
Many cultivators are still slow to believe that the 
recent importations are really the old autumn 
flowering Cattleya, on account of the great variation 
it presents. They forget that the old plants were 
derived by the division of one or a few pieces, and 
do not allow that latitude for variation which they 
recfdily accord to the spring flowering forms of the 
species. All are delighted, however, with any fine 
new variety or good form that may turn up amongst 
APPLES: THEIR CULTURE AND USES. 
At the last meeting of the Croydon Gardeners’ and 
Amateurs’ Mutual Improvement Society, Mr. W. G. 
Cummins, gardener to A. H. Smee, Esq., The 
Grange, Hackbridge, read the following paper on the. 
above subject, for which he was awarded the Society’s 
Certificate:—"It is my intention to deal with the 
culture of the Apple, as practised in the gardens 
under my charge. Years ago, the garden, was nothing 
but a peaty bog, and the natural soil so poor that it 
would not produce a Cabbage, much less a decent 
rows of fruits trees and enriched with farm yard dung. 
We make the new soil higher than the surrounding 
ground, and plant the trees on a small mound, as it 
were. The fibres are carefully spread out on the 
surface and covered with good soil and decayed dung. 
We like to procure Apple trees about two years old, 
and plant them in rows lo ft. apart, the trees being 
5 ft. apart in the row. When this is done, we throw 
out a trench right down to the gravel, and about 
two-and-a-half or three feet wide, filling up again 
with such a mixture as I have already described. 
plants flowering for the first time. l\Iany such have 
appeared, until, in fact, they are almost as plentiful 
as in some of the spring flowering and plentiful 
sorts. We are indebted to Messrs. J. Veitch & 
Sons, Chelsea, for this opportunity of giving an 
illustration taken from a plant of the old or original 
importation. The two bracts characteristic of 
the flower spike of the autumn flowering plant are 
here very well displayed. Cultivators will have 
little difficulty in reconciling their plants of recent 
importation with the flower here portrayed. 
Vines and Vine Culture. The best book on Grapes. By 
Archibald F. Barron, Superintendent of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society’s Garden, Chiswick. Secretary of the Fruit 
Committee.—A New and Cheaper Edition, Revised and 
Enlarged. Demy 8vo, Handsomely Bound in cloth. Price, 
5s.; post free, 5s. 3d. Publisher, Gardening World, i, 
Clement’s Inn, Strand, London, W.C. 
Apple,but by draining and cultivating, things have been 
changed. Still we have many difficulties to contend 
with. Perhaps the worst is the shallowness of the 
soil. In many parts of the garden we cannot dig 
down more than 18 inches before we come to wet, 
inferior gravel, and water. The plan we pursue in 
planting Apple trees is—first, to dig out a hole 4 ft. 
wide, wheel away the subsoil, and break up the 
gravel, then place a quantity of brick rubbish on 
this, which answers two purposes, viz., acting as 
drainage, and absorbing the moisture in winter, and 
giving off that moisture again for the benefit 
of the tree in dry weather. On the brick 
rubbish we place weeds or layers of turf, and in fill¬ 
ing in the hole use a mixture of sweet loam, lime 
rubbish, burnt garden refuse; and the best of the 
original soil. The remainder is spread between the 
" In November, 1890, we planted a lot of bush trees, 
and they have made splendid growth, and produced 
many fine fruits. As the branches are touching 
each other we are now preparing other stations, and 
lifting every other tree, which will give those 
remaining plenty of room. We have an Apple tree 
walk, which is 146 yards long, containing fifty-two 
trees on each side. Many of these are worn out, 
owing to severe pruning (which is absolutely 
necessary when many are grown so closely together, 
the distance apart being barely 8 ft.) We com¬ 
menced trenching at one end, down to the gravel, 
taking out a trench 4 ft. by 3 ft., and filling up again 
with brick rubbish and soil as before. It takes much 
time to do the work thoroughly, but for two years 
afterwards scarcely any pruning is necessary. We 
consider we are amply repaid for the time and labour. 
