386 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  24,  1895. 
Sussex  the  Lowfield  Nurseries  are  in  Surrey,  though  not  far  from 
the  border  line  that  separates  the  two  counties.  Mr.  Cheal,  sen., 
the  estimable  nonogenarian — a  most  gentle,  loveable  character,  now 
ripening  for  the  harvest — established  a  quiet  local  business  and  an 
honoured  name  ;  his  sons  developed  this  business  under  prudent 
guidance,  and  have  made  it  what  it  now  is — one  of  the  leading 
provincial  nurseries  of  the  kingdom.  They  deserve  all  the  success 
they  have  won  so  fairly  and  so  well. 
Those  who  could  see  the  bleak  and  bare  Lowfield  Heath  not  so 
many  years  ago,  and  see  it  now,  would  not  be  led  to  think  that 
England  is  going  down  the  hill,  but  up  it.  The  value  of  the  once 
treeless  tract  of  flat,  cold,  and  stubborn  land  must  have  been  raised 
enormously  by  the  art  of  cultivation.  It  has  been  warmed  by 
draining,  ameliorated  by  deep,  thorough,  intelligent  working,  and 
made  to  answer  the  purpose  so  well  to  which  it  is  now  devoted. 
Treeless  no  longer,  but,  to  coin  a  term,  tree-full.  No  longer  an 
open  expanse  of  grass  and  grain,  or  whatever  may  have  been 
grown,  but  a  series  of  avenues  and  enclosures,  the  large  compart¬ 
ments  being  bounded  by  narrow  trim  hedges  some  10  or  more  feet 
high,  and  this  over  scores  of  acres.  Within  these  sheltering  living 
walls  are  trees  for  use  and  for  ornament  of  almost  all  imaginable 
kinds  grown  in  this  country.  Flowers,  too,  in  great  profusion, 
but  among  these  Dahlias  enforced  their  ascendancy  at  the  time  by 
their  numbers,  stateliness,  and  beauty.  Acres  of  them  in  the 
different  types,  but  more  particularly  those  of  a  decorative 
character,  of  which  so  many  leading  forms  originated  there,  told 
of  the  public  taste  and  demand  in  this  particular  line  of  garden 
adornment.  Dahlias  of  every  shape  and  colour  of  bloom,  and 
stature  of  plant,  from  the  pigmies  to  the  giants,  make  the  nur¬ 
series  brilliant  in  their  season,  and  many  an  exhibition,  national  and 
provincial,  brilliant,  too.  But  the  flowers  must  be  left  for  a  glance 
at  the  fruit. 
Mr.  Joseph  Cheal  is  an  authority  on  hardy  fruit.  He  has 
written  a  book  about  it,  and  a  very  good  book  too.  In  this  he 
notes  the  “  tens  of  thousands  of  bushels  of  Apples,  handsome  in 
appearance,  regular  in  size,  and  uniform  in  quality  ”  that  are 
imported  into  this  country,  and  goes  on  to  say  “  the  people  will  be 
sure  to  buy  such  samples  until  we  can  supply  them  with  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  better  fruit  at  home.”  Truer  words  were  never 
uttered,  and  they  go  to  the  very  root  of  the  whole  matter  of 
competition  in  production  ;  and  if  this  country  is  to  succeed  in  the 
contest,  fruit,  as  Mr.  Cheal  says,  “  must  be  cultivated,  not  allowed 
simply  to  grow''  It  is  a  fact  that  for  generations  Apple  trees  have 
been  allowed  to  linger  far  too  long,  until  their  products  could  not 
possibly  find  a  sale,  when  the  better  samples  from  “  cultivated  ” 
trees  came  within  the  reach  of  purchasers.  The  produce  of 
exhausted  trees  in  inferior  varieties  will  fall  lower  and  lower  as 
time  goes  on.  This  is  as  certain  as  barbarianism  must  yield  to 
civilisation.  But  as  in  the  past,  so  in  the  future,  some  people  will 
go  on  in  the  old,  haphazard  way,  losing  and  grumbling,  while  others 
will  gain  by  their  skill  in  cultivation  and  methods  of  disposal  of 
their  wares. 
Like  the  rest  of  their  friends  and  purveyors  of  fruit  trees,  the 
Messrs.  Cheal  foresaw  that  the  quick  production  of  the  most 
approved  varieties  would  best  meet  popular  demands,  and  at  the 
outset  gave  attention  to  the  influence  of  stocks,  and  by  far  the 
greater  majority  of  the  forest  of  fruit  trees  grown  by  them  are  on 
approved  dwarf  stocks,  which  incite  healthy  growth  with  early 
productiveness.  The  greater  number  of  the  trees  so  raised  are  in 
the  ordinary  free  bush  form  in  the  most  useful  recognised 
varieties.  These  and  cordon  trees  are  in  the  greatest  demand,  as 
may  be  seen  by  the  provision  made  to  meet  it ;  but  there  are  for 
various  gardens,  also  for  orchard  purposes,  other  kinds — in  fact,  all 
kinds,  low  and  lofty,  trained  and  free,  as  well  as  a  long  list  of 
varieties — represented  by  few  or  many  trees  according  to  require¬ 
ments.  Without  giving  a  string  of  names,  it  must  suffice  io  say 
that  all  are  grown  by  skilful  hands  under  the  trained  eyes  of 
watchful  chiefs,  and,  as  one  of  these  quietly  observed  in  response 
to  a  word  of  praise  on  the  excellence  of  the  trees,  he  “  thought 
there  was  not  much  the  matter  with  them.”  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
growing  trees  is  much  the  same  as  growing  fruit,  and  it  cannot 
long  pay  anyone  to  grow  either  if  there  is  “much  the  matter” 
with  the  samples.  It  is  satisfactory  to  know  that  there  are  no 
better  fruit  trees  in  the  world  than  those  which  are  grown  by 
British  nurserymen  who  give  special  attention  to  and  have  won 
for  themselves  fame  in  this  department  ;  and  the  trees  are  grown 
so  well  and  sold  so  cheaply,  also  true  to  name,  that  it  is  foolish  for 
inexperienced  persons  to  lose  valuable  time  in  attempts  to  raise 
their  own.  They  might  about  as  well  try  to  make  their  own  boots. 
But  though  there  is  no  intention  to  dwell  on  varieties  just  one 
Apple  must  be  named  as  in.separable  from  a  remarkable  example 
of  early  productiveness.  It  is  not  often  that  the  writer  of  these 
lines  is  surprised  by  feats  in  cultivation,  or  anything  of  that  kind. 
He  has  seen  rather  too  much  in  his  peregrinations  for  that  ;  but  he 
was  compelled  to  look  twice  and  thrice  at  a  notable  quarter  of  Bis¬ 
marck  Apples.  There  were,  in  fact,  three  sets  of  the  same  Apple 
on  three  different  stocks,  and  the  difference  was  most  striking. 
The  trees  on  the  English  Paradise  presented  a  remarkable  sight. 
They  were  only  of  two  seasons’  growth  from  the  bud,  yet  were 
bearing  magnificent  fruit,  this  looking  like  a  glowing  mass  as  the 
trees  were  planted  in  the  ordinary  nursery  fashion.  A  request  was 
made  that  the  fruit  be  counted  and  weighed.  This  will  no  doubt 
be  done,  if  it  has  not  been  done  already.  Something  was  done, 
however,  in  the  way  of  a  forecast  made  about  a  month  ago,  and  it 
is  given,  so  that  we  may  perhaps  learn  in  the  course  of  time  how 
far  the  estimate  was  from  the  realisation.  The  estimate  of  the 
proprietors  is  as  follows  : — 
“  We  have  carefully  ascertained  the  number  of  Bismarck 
Apples  on  the  piece  of  ground  which  you  saw.  The  area  of  the 
ground  is  18|  rods,  and  there  are  on  the  piece  1011  trees,  carrying 
a  crop  of  5232  fruits.  We  have  measured  and  weighed  fruit  of 
the  average  size,  and  find  that  it  works  out  to  54  bushels  and 
2  gallons  for  the  piece,  and  this  at  per  acre  amounts  to  512  bushels. 
The  fruit,  however,  is  still  rapidly  swelling,  and  we  feel  sure  in  the 
course  of  another  week  or  two  the  increased  size  and  weight  will 
bring  up  the  quantity  to  near  on  600  bushels  the  acre.  The  fruit 
has  improved  wonderfully  in  size  and  colour  since  you  saw  them, 
and  to  see  them  in  an  early  morning  with  the  dew  on  them  is 
really  a  sight  of  marvellous  beauty.  We  have  tried  to  photograph 
them,  but  cannot  at  all  satisfy  ourselves  with  the  result.” 
We  sometimes  read  of  baby  shows  in  America.  If  our  enter¬ 
prising  transatlantic  friends  can  furnish  a  better  record  of  a  baby 
fruit  tree  show  than  the  one  on  Lowfield  Heath  they  had  better 
send  it  along.  They  do  wonderful  things  on  the  other  side,  but 
one  of  the  most  notable  is  in  moving  stolid  John  Bull  out  of  the 
old  tracks  and  learning  him  to  grow  his  own  Apples. — Inspector. 
The  Australian  Dendrobiums. 
As  is  well  known,  the  great  majority  of  this  genus  are  natives 
of  India,  China,  and  other  Asiatic  countries,  but  the  acquisition  of 
D.  Phalaenopsis,  the  most  noteworthy  of  recent  years,  has  been  the 
means  of  attracting  more  attention  to  the  comparatively  few  but 
fine  species  that  inhabit  Australasia.  Unfortunately,  several  of 
these  are  rather  difficult  to  establish,  or  more  correctly,  they  are 
tardy  of  starting  into  growth  after  they  arrive  in  this  country. 
To  take  the  species  named  above,  it  is  not  at  all  unusual  for  plants 
when  newly  imported  to  remain  dormant  for  months  after  their 
arrival,  but  patience  is  usually  rewarded  by  their  growing  strongly 
afterwards.  Then  the  plants  are  safe,  and  if  properly  treated 
are  in  a  fair  way  to  long-continued  health  and  a  bountiful  inflor¬ 
escence. 
Among  a  large  number  of  plants  purchased  some  two  years  ago, 
the  greater  number  produced  flower  spikes  before  any  signs  of  root 
or  growth  were  apparent,  and  although  this  would  seem  to  be 
injurious  to  them  they  subsequently  started  just  as  well  as  the 
others  that  did  not  flower.  It  would  appear  by  the  behaviour  of 
these  plants  that  the  basal  eyes  are  easily  injured  by  the  long 
drying  inseparable  from  the  process  of  importation,  and  the 
energies  of  the  plants  not  finding  an  outlet  in  that  direction  force 
out  the  embryonic  flower  spikes,  so  to  speak.  Happily  there  are 
also  growth  buds  in  an  undeveloped  state,  and,  favourable  con¬ 
ditions  existing,  these  eventually  break  and  become  the  means  of 
establishing  the  plants  ;  but  as  these  are  as  often  as  not  pushed 
from  the  centre  or  the  top  of  the  stems  it  is  not  advisable  to  place 
them  in  their  baskets  or  pans  until  the  shape  of  the  coming  plants 
can  be  seen.  Then  the  stems  may  be  cut  or  bent  as  may  seem  most 
desirable  to  make  a  good  specimen,  and  bring  the  base  of  the  new 
growths  in  juxtaposition  to  the  compost. 
There  is  no  better  holding  for  D.  Phatenopsis  than  a  thin  layer 
of  peat  fibre  and  sphagnum  placed  over  efficient  drainage  in  small 
suspending  pans.  The  small  twining  and  interlacing  roots  cannot 
enwrap  a  great  body  of  material,  or  even  penetrate  through  it  to 
the  sides  of  a  pot  or  pan  ;  but  in  the  manner  described  above  they 
are  sure  to  thrive,  other  conditions  being  suitable.  The  first  of 
these  is  a  strong  moist  heat  while  the  plants  are  making  their 
growth,  plenty  of  sunlight,  and  an  abundant  supply  of  water  to  the 
roots.  These  are  all  easily  obtainable  during  the  summer  months, 
and  the  late  tropical  autumn  weather  ought  not  to  be  without  its 
