198 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
November 25, 1893. 
believing in the old maxim, ‘ If a thing is worth 
doing it is worth doing well.' The best of the old 
trees will be replanted and encouraged to make free 
growth in another part of the garden, and the others 
will be cut up and burnt. I do not advocate the 
abolition of Apple trees simply because they are old. 
We have had more satisfactory returns from some 
old trees than young ones, but if a tree is both old 
and a worthless variety the fire is the best place for 
it. We are planting the young trees at a little more 
than 10 ft. apart. In trenching every bit of old 
wood or root is grubbed up and thrown out—an 
important matter if we wish to keep the roots healthy 
and free from fungus. I always find it a good plan, 
when coarse growth is produced in either young or 
old trees, to dig round them and remove thick roots, 
directing the fibres to the surface and placing there 
good soil for them to take hold of, the result is 
generally good fruiting wood and not much super¬ 
fluous growth to cut away. 
We have, during the last twelve years, lifted 
every Apple tree in the garden under thirty years 
old, some of them twice or three times, and re¬ 
planted them as already described. This is the best 
time of the year for the operation. We have a 
collection of nearly 400 varieties. Many are almost 
worthless, but it is well to have a few representative 
collections about, it gives intending planters an 
opportunity of selecting the best and avoiding the 
worst. I do not believe in too small a selection, 
because if we make a plantation of, say, only six 
reputed good varieties, in some seasons there will be 
a failure as regards crop. We have an instance this 
year. We have more trees of Blenheim Orauge, 
Cox's Orange, and Ribston Pippins, but we have 
less fruit of these varieties than almost any other. 
The varieties which have carried the heaviest crops 
this year are Lord Derby, Bismarck, Bramley's 
Seedling, New Hawthornden, Lane's Prince Albert, 
Wellington, Wealthy, Sturmer Pippin, and King of 
the Pippins. Most of these are reliable varieties, 
and are suitable for anyone about to plant in a small 
way. In addition I have a list here of select varieties 
of the different kinds of fruit trees suitable for grow¬ 
ing in this neighbourhood, and any member who 
wishes may have a copy. 
" Thinning the fruit is also an important matter. 
It costs but little more to produce fine fruits than it 
does small trashy ones, and the return is far more 
satisfactory. As to gathering and storing Apples, I 
have frequently seen in gardens excellent Apple 
culture, but very imperfect rooms in which to store 
the fruit. In some places the Apples have to be 
carried to the house and stored in a spare room, or 
cellar, where the cook helps herself, of course always 
selecting the largest, having but little knowledge of 
the variety or the season of ripening. If a gardener is 
capable of selecting suitable varieties, and cultivating 
them satisfactorily,surelyit is equallyas important that 
they should be under his charge when stored, and it 
should be his duty to make them spread over as long 
a period as possible. An amateur who cultivated 
his own should learn sufficient of the character of 
his Apples and the seasons, to know when they are 
fit for use. If Apples are to be kept for any length 
of time, it is necessary to have a good fruit room. 
We built a new one some nine years ago, in which 
we have had three seasons' Apples at the same time. 
It is a span-roof, having hollow walls and a large 
sky-light on each side for admitting light when 
necessary, and for ventilation we have inner doors 
of lattice work at one end, and two openings at the 
other, covered with perforated zinc. We like to have 
a current of air through the room for a short time after 
the storing, and then it is closed up and kept dark 
and at as cool and uniform a temperature as possible. 
Sometimes towards Christmas, owing to dampness, 
fungus would make an appearance if something was 
not done to prevent it, and that would impart a most 
disagreeable taste to the Apples. The best and 
surest preventive method I know, and one that has 
been practised for many years at ‘ My Garden,' is 
to put a red-hot cinder in four small flo ver pots 
about once a week, and place on each a piece of 
sulphur about the size of a hazel-nut. We are 
never troubled with fungus. The fruit should be 
gathered when the Apples come readily from the 
tree, and carried to the fruit-room, where, if space 
permits, they should be placed in single layers on 
the stages. They can then be easily looked over, 
and any faulty ones removed. It is a mistake to 
place the fruit on hay or straw. The Fruit Com¬ 
mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society has fre¬ 
quently to examine and taste fine-looking fruits 
which are absolutely spoilt by having been packed 
in hay. Very often an unpleasant flavour is 
transmitted to the fruit through being placed on 
straw. 
“ The late Mr. Alfred Smee has said in his book, 
' My (harden ':—■ The Apple is perhaps the most 
useful of all fruits, and is appreciated by birds and 
beasts as well as man. My bulfinch loves his slice of 
Apple,my horse thanks me by many little signs for the 
gift of an Apple,and my cows delight to be offered one. 
The pigs and the chickens and the geese all run to seize 
the windfalls as they drop.’ What was true in Mr. 
Smee’s time is also true now. Perhaps the finches 
have rather worse manners, for they do not wait to 
be offered a slice, but help themselves—generally to 
the very best samples—unless we protect them with 
nets or muslin bags. There is ro doubt that the 
Apple is the most useful of all our British fruits. 
Apples may be cooked in a hundred ways, and in all 
are healthful and nutritious. The smallest Apple, 
Siberian Crab, makes excellent jelly, others are used 
in cider making, chutney, preserves, mincemeat, and 
pleasant summer drinks, &c. The windfalls need 
never be wasted, for they may be pared, cored, and 
cut into slices and hung on strings to dry, and kept 
till fruit is scarce, when they may be steeped in water 
and used for making puddings or pies. There can be 
no doubt that a large quantity of Apples has been 
wasted this year which might have been saved had 
they been dried or evaporated. We want system, 
those who send to market selecting only the best for 
the purpose, and drying or evaporating the rest. The 
prices all round would then be more satisfactory. If 
it pays the foreigner to dry and send over his 
Normandy Pippins or his Newtown Pippins, it ought 
to be cheaper for us to prevent waste and dry our 
own Apples. What we require is a fruit evaporator 
in the various districts. The owner could either 
purchase his neighbours’ surplus Apples, or 
evaporate them at so much per bushel. Much mere 
might be added to this paper on Apples, including 
the methods of training, summer and winter pruning, 
insect pests, &c., but these matters have been ably 
dealt with by others at these meetings, so f have en¬ 
deavoured to limit this to planting the tree, storing 
the fruit, with various methods of using the Apple 
or food.” 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS, 
The undermentioned Orchids received awards 
according to merit, at the meeting of the Royal 
Horticultural Society on the 14th inst; 
Laelio-Cattleya Statteriana. 
As the name indicates, this is a bigeneric hybrid, of 
which Laelia Perinii was the seed bearer and 
Cattleya labiata the pollen parent. The sepals and 
flat, elliptic petals are of a warm rose. The latter 
take up a similar position to that assumed by the 
seed parent, but are much broader as might have 
been expected. The lip has a narrow, pale purple 
tube, widened upwards to the mouth ; the lamina is 
much larger than that of Laelia Perinii, retuse, 
slightly crisped at the edges as are the side lobes, 
and of a rich purple. The throat is white and ex¬ 
tending as it does on to the base of the lamina, 
makes the flower more conspicuous than it otherwise 
would be, and the interior is striped with purple. 
The stalked elliptic pseudo-bulbs are 2 in. to 3 in. long. 
First-class Certificate. The exhibitors were Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons. 
Cypripedium southgatense superbum. . 
All who know Orchids or like Cypripediums must 
acknowledge this to be a handsome hybrid. It was 
obtained from C. bellatulum crossed with C. 
Harrisianum, itself a hybrid. The upper sepal is 
roundly cuspidate suffused with purple and having 
crimson veins, and netted, so that very little of the 
white ground is really shown. The oblong petals 
are heavily blotched with crimson on a white 
ground. The lip is white and suffused with purple 
in front and slightly so elsewhere along the veins. 
First-class Certificate. Thos. Statter, Esq. (gar¬ 
dener, Mr. R. Johnson), Stand Hall, Manchester, 
was the exhibitor. 
Cypripedium Swinburnei Stand Hall var. 
In this we have a hybrid, one of the parents of which 
was C. Argus Moensi. The leaves are lightly 
marbled with dark green. The upper sepal is 
obovate-elliptic, light green and spotted with deep 
purple along the course of the veins except the 
upper third which is white. The oblong, blunt 
petals are heavily spotted with crimson-purple on a 
greenish ground, while the upper third is rosy- 
brown and unspotted. The lip is a rich shining 
brown. On the whole the flowers are handsome. 
Award of Merit. The exhibitor was T. Statter, 
Esq. 
Cyppipedium Leeanum James Hamilton. 
The upper sepal is nearly round and white with a 
purple midrib and a small green blotch at the very 
base. The petals are oblong, blunt, incurved, 
purple on the upper longitudinal half, wavy on that 
edge, and yellow, finely spotted on the lower half. 
The lip is of a shining purple-brown with a yellow 
rim. The staminode is pale purple with a white 
edge. It is a handsome subvariety of the C. Lee¬ 
anum type. Award of Merit. The exhibitors were 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albans. 
Cypripedium Ashworthae. 
This hybrid is said to be obtained from C. Leeinum 
superbum crossed with C. selligerum majus, both 
being hybrids. The upper sepal is roundly obovate, 
re volute at the sides near the base, where it is green 
and spotted with purple in lines ; the midrib also is 
purple, but the rest is pure white. The pale brown 
petals are wavy at the upper edge, and dark along 
the midrib. The lip is of a rich shining brown with 
a yellow rim round the mouth. Award of Merit. 
The exhibitor was E. Ashworth, Esq. (gardener, Mr. 
W. Holbrook), Harefield, Cheshire. 
Stanhopea Lowii. 
The large, concave, reflexed sepals are of a pale 
creamy-yellow; the petals are flatter but similar in 
colour, with a few minute purple dots, and are like¬ 
wise broad for a Stanhopea. The lip is a large and 
curious looking organ and of a shining ivory-white 
except in the interior of the large, globular, hollow 
base which is heavily spotted with deep purple in lines; 
on each side of this cavity is a tooth. The middle por¬ 
tion has two bold ridges ; and the terminal lobe is tri¬ 
angular and blunt, but without the large horns 
which are usually so conspicuous in the species of 
Stanhopea. The long, arching column has a 
greenish midrib and broad, transparent wings in its 
upper half. S. Amesiana differs from this in having 
white sepals and petals, and in being almost devoid 
of purple in the interior of the hollow base of the lip. 
Award of Merit. The exhibitors were Messrs. Hugh 
Low & Co., Clapton. 
Pleione maculata alba. 
The flowers of this beautiful variety are wholly pure 
white with exception of a pale lemon tint on the lip. 
This colour is due to the hairs which are arranged in 
lines as in Coelogyne cristata, but they are paler 
even than in C. c. Lemoniana. The typical Pleione 
maculata has bars of crimson-purple on the lip. An 
Award of Merit was accorded it when shown by 
Messrs, W. L. Lewis & Co., Southgate. 
Odontoglossum Londesboroughianum. 
We have in flower here, at the present time, a fine 
old plant of Odont. Londesboroughianum carrying 
a spike between 4 and 5 ft. long, producing twenty- 
five flowers, sixteen of which are fully expanded. 
Although somewhat difficult to flower, it is, neverthe¬ 
less, a fine Mexican species, and flowering as it does 
during these dull months of the year makes it doubly 
valuable. It is undoubtedly too well known to the 
Orchid-loving public to need further description, 
and is well portaied in the Orchid Album, plate 82.— 
Harry Bailey, The Briars, Reigate. 
-- 
CHRYSANTHEMUM 
SHOWS. 
New York. 
According to the opinion of local experts who have 
attended the New York shows for some years, and 
my own observations of last year, the late show in 
New York was a long way ahead of anything seen in 
that city. The change of venue from Madison 
Square Gardens to the Grand Central Palace on 
Forty-third and Lexington Avenue, also proved 
beneficial both to the management and the exhibi¬ 
tors, the general lay out of the exhibition being more 
artistic, with the greater possibilities of making a 
good display. The entries were above the average, 
and the same may be said for the quality also. 
The system of showing the blooms on long stems, 
6 in. to 12 in., in a vase, when they are not too 
heavy, shows the flowers off well, and I have never 
