28 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 9, 1899 
against or among the branches very little breaking, 
or other damage occurs. The baskets should be 
lined with soft hay. When upon the ladder, the 
basket may then be borne upon the left arm. This 
leaves both hands free although limited. There is 
aho an instrument for drawing the centremost or 
farthest reaching branches toward oue while engaged 
on the ladder. This is the orchardists crook. In 
shape it is like a small-headed shepberd’s-crook. It 
has also a moveable 11 catch,” or sliding piece of 
wood. This allows one to draw ia an outward 
twig by the hook end, and during ihe time needed to 
take off the fruits, the "catch” grips or is placed 
over another branch, so that the fruit branch is held 
in place steadily. Then for shaking the very tallest 
branches on old orchard trees we use a long supple 
rod. Its length is about 18 ft. ; and there is an iron 
hook at the top end. With this one can go over a 
great deal of ground ia a short time. Where fruits 
are to be kept for a day or two in the baskets, tissue 
paper is the best material to lay between the layers. 
About the storing, most of us now know what con¬ 
stitutes a good fruit store-room. It must not be 
damp, nor yet excessively dry. Darkness is bene¬ 
ficial, at least, to a degree ; and a uniform tempera¬ 
ture should be maintained. The fruits should be 
laid plainly on the boards forming the stages. These 
should be smooth, but not absolutely close. Air 
must be wafted freely through them. All of one 
variety will certainly be kept in one part. When 
storing, it will be of advantage to keep those first to 
be used, nearest to hand. The fruit shelves must 
constantly be watched, and any bad fruits at once 
removed. Use those of the cooking Apples first, 
which may be ripening. The general temperature 
for a store-room'should be from 40° to 50°. Some 
varieties of Pears, however, may not attain to per¬ 
fection under so cool conditions. For them, there 
should be a warmer division, or they may be placed 
in a stove or other heated house a few days before 
they are required for use. 
Miscellaneous Work and preparations on hand 
at this time will be the getting ready a quantity of 
loam and mixed composis for planting trees at the 
end of this month or early in October. Grapes in 
houses, or indeed all fruits that are valuable and 
likely to be attacked by wasps, should be bagged 
over with muslin. The land for new plantations of 
fruits must be at once prepared. Plant Strawberries 
ii moist weather, and dress the Strawberry beds. 
Wall trees should once more be looked over. Cut 
away old Raspberry canes to allow the young shoots 
freedom for development. Remove and stop all 
useless growth from Vines and Peach trees indoors. 
Thin and stop the shoots of Figs. A mulch may be 
given to late fruiting Raspbirries and Blackberries. 
The old fruiting wood may at once be cut from 
Peach and Nectarine trees, whose crops have been 
gathered. All old prunings I would recommend to 
be burned. This is the most effectual way of de¬ 
stroying pestilential germs which may be about the 
same. Peach and any other trees should be syringed 
as often as possible, so long as there is no harm to 
accrue from scorching. Apricots and Plums trees, 
after having the crops removed, should be spurred 
back to one leaf The extension shoots should, how¬ 
ever, be left and made somewhat more secure. — 
J. H. D. 
->s —- 
The Orcftid Brower’s Calendar. 
Dendrobiums. — There are three cardinal points to 
be observed in the culture of this beautiful genus, 
and they are plenty of heat and moisture when 
making their growth, and a good season of rest 
when it is completed. It is not necessary to have 
a specially designed structure to grow them io, for 
some of the best results have been obtained when 
grown with a mixed lot of stove plants, indeed, 
for the bigibbum section no better place could be 
selected than a house where Crotons are grown 
and very little or no shade is used. When the 
growths aie made up, which is the case now with 
a great many, they should be removed to somewhat 
cooler quarters. This obviates their again starting 
into growth, which is undesirable, as it tends to 
weaken them, besides spoiling the crop of flowers. 
The best place, perhaps, for resting Dendrobiums, 
is the greenhouse, but some means should be 
adopted so that the plants do not suffer from the 
too radical change from a high and moist stove 
temperature to the dry and airy one of the green¬ 
house. I recommend that the plants be syringed 
overhead for a day or two, and lightly shaded dur¬ 
ing very bright sunshine. Under such conditions 
the pseudobulbs will soon harden up and can be 
gradually exposed to all the light and air generally 
afforded greenhouse plants Here they may remain 
until the dark, dull days of autumn set in, when 
they should be removed to warmer quarters. 
Cool House— If the advice given in these notes 
a few weeks back to get all the material ready 
has taken effect, the work of repotting can, and 
ought to be, carried out with all dispatch. 
There are some plants, of course, that are io 
spike and cannot be touched very well, but the 
majority have made sufficient growth to admit of 
the work being done to the advantage of the plants, 
for they are just commencing to make new roots 
and are able to take hold of the new material at 
once. 
Odovtoglossum harryanum.— There is no get¬ 
ting away from the fact that this Odontoglot is 
more difficult to keep in good condition than are 
most of the others. That it is one of the finest 
things for hybridising purposes the seedlings raised 
from it plainly show. We have several plants, 
which we have had for years, and although some or 
other of them flower annually they do not succeed 
like O. crispum. We find they cannot stand quite 
such a low temperature during the winter months, 
and should, therefore, be placed in the intermediate 
house during very severe weather. 
Oncidium tigrinum.— Look out for the spikes 
coming up in the young grow,hs, as slugs are very 
fond of them, and will find them before you do if you 
are not sharp.— S'. C. 
<n» ■ - ■ — ■arjg g»»'- ——— 
PLANTS RECENTLY CERTIFICATED. 
The awards mentioned hereunder were made by the 
Royal Horticultural Society on the 29th ult. 
Orchid Committee. 
Cypripedium Captain Holford, Nov. hyb .— The 
parents of this hybrid were C. superbiens (female) 
and C. hirsutissimum (male). The dorsal sepal is 
large, suborbicular, with faint green veins and 
marked or mottled all over with black spots on a 
nearly white ground. The declining petals are 
oblong-spathulate, broad, white in the lower two- 
thirds, soft rosy-purple in the upper third, and 
spotted all over with crimson. The lip is large, and 
brownish-purple. The leaves are light green, faintly 
netted with darker green, (\ward of Merit.) 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd , Chelsea. 
Floral Committee. 
Robinia Pseudacacia inermis alba variegata.— 
The leaves of this variety only differ from the 
ordinary type in being freely variegated with silvery- 
white. (A.ward of Merit.) Messrs. Thos. Cripps & 
Sons, Tunbridge Wells. 
Canna, Beaute Poitevine, is a variety which 
bears a strong truss of large individual blooms, 
stout, and of a rich vermilion-crimson colour. 
(Award of Merit.) Messrs. Thos. S. Ware, Ltd., 
Tottenham. 
Cactus Dahlia, Mrs. Stephenson-Clarke — 
Here we have a variety with a beautiful combination 
of colours. The centres of the blooms are a lovely 
shade of yellow, which stretches up the petals, the 
tips of which are, however, clothed in crimson. 
(Award of Merit.) Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons, 
Crawley. 
Cactus Dahlia, Mrs J. H. Luscombe.— Petals 
finely twisted, revolute, and of a pale lavender-peach 
hue; a colour quite distinct, and much admired. 
(Award of Merit.) Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons, 
Crawley. 
Gladiolus James H. Veitch —This variety is of 
the gandavensis type, very open, large, of great sub¬ 
stance in the petal, and strong in the spike. The 
colour is difficult to accurately describe, but some¬ 
what cerise or pink-crimson, with a broad white 
beam on the lower petals. It is very handsome. 
(Award of Merit.) Messrs. J. Veffch & Sons, Ltd , 
Chelsea. 
Polygonum baldschuanicum. —This is a plant 
sure to be more liberally planted as a lawn or 
shrubbery, bushy climber. It bears great showers 
of small, white flowers, and has oval, acuminate 
leaves. Messrs. Barr & Sons, King Street, Covent 
Garden. 
The following new varieties of Dahlias received 
First-class Certificates from the National Dahlia 
Society. They were shown and certifica'ed at this 
society’s show held at the Crystal Palace on Friday 
and Saturday, Sept. 1st and 2nd : — 
Cactus Dahlias. 
Elsie. —In this we have a very beautiful and large 
variety. The colour is lavender-peach, with a glow 
of orange-yellow towards the base of the petals. 
Messrs. Burrell & Co., Cambridge. 
Emperor has large, very graceful, mauve blooms, 
well borne on good strong stalks. Messrs. Keynes, 
Williams & Co., Salisbury. 
Mr. J. J. Crowe is a fine yellow variety. The 
inner surface of the twisted, revolute petals, is 
softly shaded with white. Messrs. Keynes, 
Williams & Co. 
Innovation is a variety with a good stiff stem, 
and a lovely formed bloom. The centre is of a 
crimson-pink, and the tips piuky- white. Messrs. 
Keynes, Williams & Co. 
Mayor Tuppenney. —The blooms of this variety 
have very fine revolute petals, loosely arranged, and 
of good size. The colour is orange-red. Mr. James 
Stredwick, St. Leonards-on-Sea. 
Major Weston is rather stouter than the fore¬ 
going, but otherwise resembles it. The colour is a 
deep rich crimson. Mr. Stredwick. 
Mrs. Sanders is a brilliant sulphur-yellow variety 
of very graceful build. Mr. Stredwick. 
Uncle Tom is broader and stouter than the 
variety named Night, but is otherwise like it. Mr. 
Stredwick. 
Augustus Hare is a very charming form, having 
extremely fine petals, which are somewhat incurved. 
The colour is faint orange-scarlet. Mr. Stredwick. 
"Green's White” is rather a closely packed 
variety, but large and fine. It is a capital addition 
to the list of pure white Cactus Dahlias. Mr. John 
Green, Dereham. 
Zephyr makes rather a unique colour, somewhat 
lavender-pink, and altogether a nice variety. Mr. 
John Green. 
William Treseder has soft peachy-white blooms 
of no great size, but very graceful. Mr. Wm. 
Treseder, The Nurseries, Cardiff. 
Single Dahlias. 
Girlie. —This is abroadPicotee-edged variety,rather 
uncommon and very fine. The central beam of 
each petal is of a dull white, or creamy hue with a 
broad edge of crimson. Miss Girdlestone. 
Flame.—T his may be described as a lovely 
tricolor variety of good form, strength, substance, 
and brilliancy of colouring. Messrs. J. Cheal & 
Sons, Crawley. 
--»s»- 
• PRUNING. 
Mr. Brotherstone, of Tinninghame, Prestonkirk, 
East Lothian, read a piper on "Pruning, Why, 
When, and How To ? ” before a meeting of the 
Fellows of the R.H S. at their fortnightly meeting in 
the Drill Hill, Westminster, on August 15th. Mr. 
Marshall, chairman of the floral committee, presided 
over a very full attendance. 
Mr. Brotherstone in the first instance, said that 
though there are many opinions on how to prune and 
the why and wherefor of the same, it was a subject 
nowadays fairly well understood. It used to be that 
men grew timber and pruned with great saws. They 
allowed their trees to run away instead of getting 
them at once into good bearing condition. Discuss¬ 
ing his own question, "What do we prune for ? ” the 
lecturer gave a concise answer. " We prune to get 
size and quality of fruit; to get plenty of it aud to 
modify growth, and secondly for the effect of laying 
the basis for fruitfulness from good lines indicated in 
the early pruning. For espalier and wall trees it is 
imperative that during the first few years they be 
severely pruned. No good foundation will originate 
otherwise. Rather set a few years apart and do 
without fruit, than crop and cripple the trees before 
they develope form and habit. Unless growth is 
thrown back upon itself, as it were, and the primary 
shoots plumped up, we cannot expect a tree with 
much vigour. A shoot if shortened one third of its 
length will be vigorous and fruitful in proportion to 
the amount of its reduction. The measure of the 
