December 24, 1904. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
1041 
Cypripedium Rolfci superbum. 
By the courtesy of Francis Wellesley, Esq., Westfield 
Common, Woking, we are now in a position to give an illus¬ 
tration of this remarkably beautiful hybrid from the painting 
of it executed for him. As previously remarked by us, the 
parentage of this grand hybrid was C. bellatulum x rothschild- 
ianum, and this will give a clue to the great length of the 
petals and the very pronounced spots, blotches, and other 
markings which are arranged in lines along the venation. 
The dorsal sepal is triangular, moderately large, and 
heavily veined over the entire surface by the union of the 
crimson-purple markings. The petals are declinate, 3^ in. 
long and superbly blotched with dark maroon-purple, uniting 
in lines that traverse their length ami width. The Up is 
creamy white, finely spotted and mottled with rich purple 
along the veins and between them, but only on the front of 
this structure. The staminoide is covered with velvety 
purple hairs, thus causing it to form a conspicuous object in 
the centre of the flower. 
It will thus be seen that the pollen parent has modified 
the progeny in the great length of the petals and the character 
of the venation, which make this variety not only the finest 
of this strain of hybrids, but in the opinion of some it is the 
finest hvbrid that bellatulum (as one of the parents) has 
given, with the exception, perhaps, of F. K. Sander, which 
excels in point of size. An Award of Merit was accorded it 
by the Boval Horticultural Society on the 29th ult., as 
recorded on page 986. 
Pruning. 
Considering the important bearing which pruning lias on the 
cultivation of all kinds of fruits, it is an art that cannot be too 
well learned. I will therefore endeavour in this article to give 
a few hints which I hope may prove useful to some, at least, of 
the readers of The Gardening World. To begin, then, with 
tools, the knife will be found suitable for almost all kinds of 
pruning ; a small garden saw should also be kept, as it is often 
useful for cutting wood that is too large for the knife. Some 
people also recommend secateurs ; in fact, some have a sort of 
mania for them, but seeing the damage to the trees which their 
use entails, it surprises me that they are used at all, at least 
on the choicer fruits, such as the Peach, Apricot, Cherry, and 
the like. It should always be borne in mind that a clean cut 
is essential in all kinds of pruning, but the secateurs do not cut 
clean ; they simply mutilate. 
I will deal with trained trees first, commencing with 
Peaches and Nectarines. These carry their fruit on the pre¬ 
vious year’s growth, and therefore the operator should first 
look carefully over the tree, cutting out any dead or barren 
wood, at the same time taking care not to cut recklessly, after 
which the tree should be taken from the wall and nailed or tied 
afresh. It will then be seen what further cutting out is re¬ 
quired. There can be no fixed rule laid down as regards dis¬ 
tance, but the shoots should be laid in as nearly as possible 
3 in. apart. 
Apricots.— As these are stronger growing subjects they re¬ 
quire more room, say, about 5 in. between the main branches} 
Cypripedium Rolfki supekbum. 
