434 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
December  8,  1818. 
the  printers.  We  observe  that  Cox’s  Pomona  is  described  as  a 
Yorkshire  Apple.”  It  was  raised  by  Mr.  Cox  at  Colnbrook  Lawn, 
1  lough,  Bucks,  who  also  raised  Cox’s  Orange  Pippin,  and  we  are  glad 
to  hear  that  both  succeed  well  in  East  Yorkshire.] 
Cattleya  bicolor. 
To  some  forms  of  this  pretty  species  the  specific  name  is  not 
applicable,  as  there  arc  three  distinct  colours  in  it.  The  sepals  and  petals 
are  a  brownish  or  olive  green,  the  most  of  the  lip  maroon,  but  with 
a  broad  and  well  defined  margin  of  yellow  or  white.  It  is  a  very 
interesting  species,  quite  distinct  from  the  labiata  groups  and  most  of 
the  tall-growing  kinds.  The  shape  of  the  blossoms  is  different  from 
that  of  any  other,  and  the  labellum,  instead  of  enfolding  the  column 
as  is  usual  in  the  genus,  is  entirely  below  it. 
It  has  been  frequently  imported,  often  in  large  masses,  but  has 
never  become  as  popular  as  one  might  wish,  for  during  the  dull  autumn 
mouths  any  Orchid  with  a  bit  of  bright  colouring  is  doubly 
acceptable.  In  habit  it  is  like  a  weak  C.  guttata,  but  taller  and  with 
smaller  stems,  each  of  these  being  furnished  with  a  pair  of  deep  green 
leathery  leaves,  from  betiveen  which  the  flower  spikes  issue.  It  is  a 
free  rooting  and  fairly  vigorous  plant  when  healthy,  and  no  great 
difficulty  will  be  found  in  its  cultivation.  The  usual  Cattleya  house 
temperature  suits  it  well,  and  the  plants  may  be  grown  in  equal  parts 
of  rough  peat  fibre  and  sphagnum  moss,  a  plentiful  sprinkling  of 
broken  crocks  and  charcoal  being  added  to  insure  porosity. 
The  plants  may  be  repotted  at  any  time  during  spring,  the  most 
suitable  period  being  when  the  young  growths  begin  to  emit  roots. 
This -will  not  be  the  same  time  always,  and  individual  plants  will  vary 
in  time  of  starting  and  flowering,  so  it  is  necessary  to  watch  them 
somewhat  closely.  Erequent  disturbance  is  wrong;  but  it  is  a  still 
worse  mistake  to  allow  the  roots  to  get  into  sour  and  close  compost* 
this  being  cither  hard  and  solid  when  dry,  or  close  and  waterlogged 
when  watered,  both  conditions  being  inimical.  It  is  difficult  to 
bring  plants  back  to  a  healthy  state  when  they  have  been  allowed 
to  get  into  this  condition. 
Still,  the  sooner  it  is  gone  about  the  better,  for  the  longer  they 
remain  in  this  unsuitable  material  the  weaker  they  become, °and'  the 
more  they  suffer  when  disturbance  takes  place.  Healthy,  vigorous, 
and  well-rooted  plants  take  no  harm  from  being  disturbed,  as  they 
have  the  pseudo-bulbs  plump,  and  can  stand  being  kept  a  little  dry 
afterwards;  but  when  these  are  shrivelled  for  a  start,  the  compost  is 
apt  to  get  too  heavily  watered,  and  this  soon  makes  it  as  bad  as 
ever  again.  Take  out  all  decayed  material  and  dead  roots,  but  retain 
all  that  are  likely  to  push  into  action.  Finish  the  potting  compost  a 
little  above  the  rims  of  the  pots,  and  clip  off  all  ragged  ends  to 
give  a  neat  appearance. 
As  hinted  above,  rather  less  moisture  than  usual  is  advisable  after 
repotting,  but  the  roots  soon  push  into  the  new  compost,  and  then  a 
fuff  supply  may  be  given,  as  new  peat  dries  more  rapidly  than  old. 
All  through  the  growing  season  the  moisture  should  be  kept  up, 
and  light  dewings  must  bo  given  at  all  times  when  the  young 
growth  is  not  of  a  cup  shape,  this  being  formed  by  the  advancing 
leaves  on  the  apex  of  growth.  The  growth  finished  and  the  flowers 
past,  a  gradual  lessening  of  the  water  supply  may  be  allowed.  This 
is  partly  on  account  of  the  decreased  need  of  the  plant,  but  also 
owing  to  the  increased  moisture  in  the  external  atmosphere  at  this  end 
of  the  year. 
At  no-  time  must  the  growth  be  allowed  to  shrivel  for  want  of 
root  moisture,  but  only  enough  to  prevent  this  need  be  given  during 
the  dark  days.  A  thorough  cleaning  annually  should  be  afforded,  the 
best  time  being  directly  after  flowering.  This  must  be  repeated  if 
insects  are  seen  on  the  leaves  or  stems,  one  of  the  most  frequent  to 
attack  this  species  bjing  white  scale.  C.  bicolor  is  by  no  means  a 
new  plant,  having  been  more  or  less  grown  in  collections  since  1838, 
when  it  was  sent  home  to  Messrs.  Loddiges  of  Hackney  by  their 
collector  in  Brazil.  It  has  also  been  sent  home  with  0.  Loddigesi,  and 
others  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Rio  de  Janeiro.— H.  R  R. 
IRISH  NOTES— GRAFTING  APPLES. 
Even  if  Ireland  is  described  carefully  there  are  few  Englishmen 
who  can  realise  what  Ireland  is  realty  like,  and  it  is  not  my  province 
at  the  present  time  to  attempt  a  description  of  any  portion  of  that 
country. 
Some  Englishmen  who  visit  the  Sister  Isle  the  first  time  look  only 
at  one  side  of  the  shield,  and  do  not  understand  that  even  the  western 
counties  are  capable  of  gigantic  developnent.  On  this  matter  I  may 
have  more  to  say  on  some  future  occasion,  and  only  intend  in  this 
paper  to  state  some  facts  about  fruit  growing  in  the  county  of 
Roscommon. 
I  have  a  photograph  of  an  Apple  tree,  handed  to  me  by  my  friend 
Mr.  W.  Sayer,  taken  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  The  Oaklands,  Boyle,  of 
one  of  his  Apple  trees,  but  unfortunately  the  photograph  is  not  clear 
enough  for  figuring  in  the  pages  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture.  We 
may  pas3  this  particular  tree  by  saying  that  it  was  grafted  with 
Bramley’s  Seedling  in  1895,  and  carried  16  pecks  of  fine  fruit  this 
year,  some  of  the  Apples  weighing  22  ozs.  Fruit  grown  in  the 
neighbourhood  has  been  forwarded  to  you,  and  I  am  informed  Mr. 
Smith’s  fruit  was  even  larger  and  better  coloured. 
This  orchard  of  which  I  am  writing  came  into  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Smith  in  the  year  1894.  It  consisted  of  3  acres,  and  contained 
about  140  trees.  These  trees  were  about  eighty  years  of  age,  badly 
cankered,  and  covered  from  base  to  top  with  lichen  and  common 
mosses.  They  were  picturesque  in  the  extreme  from  the  artist’s 
point  of  view — indeed  to  all  except  those  who  love  to  see  clean,  strong, 
healthy  trees  that  will  bear  fine  well  coloured  fruit,  This  orchard 
now  consists  of  230  trees.  Some  are  grown  against  walls  which 
Mr.  Smith  has  built  since  he  came  into  possession;  some  are  Apples, 
others  Plums,  and  although  I  have  nothing  but  praise  for  Mr.  Smith 
and  the  efforts  he  has  put  forward,  his  wall  training  is  largely  open  to 
improvement. 
The  first  crop  that  Mr.  Smith  took  from  the  old,  practically  worn- 
out  orchard  realised  the  sum  of  £4  10s.  He  therefore  decided  to  eithei* 
do  away  with  the  orchard  or  improve  it.  In  the  autumn  of  1894  he 
bought  109  young  trees  of  Bramley’s  Seedling  and  planted  them.  In 
the  April  of  1895  ho  cut  down  to  within  3  or  4  feet  of  the  ground  130 
old  trees.  There  was  a  cry  amongst  the  neighbours  that  he  had 
ruined  the  orchard  and  spoiling  the  country,  but  Mr.  Smith  passed 
through  it  all  with  equanimity,  for  he  could  see  further  ahead  than 
the  alarmists. 
The  130  trees  were  crown-grafted  with  1700  scions  of  Bramley’s 
Seedling.  Nearly  all  grew,  and  there  is  no  mistaking  the  clean, 
healthy  growth,  of  the  sturdy  and  powerful-leaved  variety  on  these 
various  stocks.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  from  Mr.  Smith 
what  the  varieties  were  before  the  trees  were  cut  down,  and  what 
induced  him  to  change  the  trees  into  Bramley’s?  Did  he  take  the 
hint  from  Rockingham  ?  or  did  he  know  Bramley’s  on  the  wet,  cold- 
clay  of  Nottinghamshire  ? 
It  strikes  me  very  forcibly  that  Bramley’s  Seedling  was  planted  in- 
Ireland  before  it  became  very  generally  known  in  England.  There 
are  trees  in  Ireland  much  older  than  I  expected  to  find,  and  I  hope 
before  I  write  again  to  find  out  how  long  this  variety  has  been  planted- 
at  Rockingham,  which  is  perhaps  three  miles  from  Mr.  Smith’s  place, 
though  only,  perhaps,  one  mile  outside  the  domain  of  that  celebrated 
establishment. 
To  return  to  Mr.  Smith’s  orchard.  All,  or  nearly  all  the  trees, 
have  carried  fine  fruit  this  year,  many  of  them  yielding  practically 
a3  much  fruit  as  the  tree  to  which  I  have  alluded.  Those  trees 
that  made  very  luxuriant  growths  did  not  bear  so  well ;  perhaps 
the  stock,  or  the  intermediate  portion  between  the  stock  and  scion, 
might  account  for  this.  Who  can  tell  ?  The  whole  of  the  trees 
throughout  that  have  been  worked  with  Bramley’s  look  promising  for 
another  year.  They  are  clean,  healthy,  and  full  of  fruit  buds.  Mr. 
Smith  estimates  that  the  orchard  will  be  worth  £100  per  year.  I 
believe  it  will,  and  more.  Mr.  Smith  says  the  fruit  of  the  tree  to 
which  I  have  alluded  would  realise  about  12s,  in  Boyle.  I  have  every 
reason  to  believe  it  would  fetch  considerably  more.  My  friend,  Mr. 
Sayer,  was  selling,  from  Rockingham,  fruit  that  had  fallen,  for  16s. 
per  hundredweight — the  same  variety. 
Mr.  Smith  is  trying  if  fruit  farming  will  pay  in  Ireland,  and  his 
efforts  are  most  commendable.  He  does  all  the  grafting  and  pruuing 
himself,  so  that  the  expenditure  is  not  large.  This  being  the  first  year 
the  trees  bore  fruit,  they  realised  more  than  would  have  been  obtained 
from  them  in  the  form  of  inferior  fruit  over  the  period  when  ho  com¬ 
menced  these  experiments,  while  the  future  is  now  full  of  promise.  A 
local  nurseryman  laughed  at  Mr.  Smith  when  he  commenced  grafting, 
and  said  it  was  the  “  wildest  thing  he  ever  heard  of.”  It  is  Mr. 
Smith’s  turn  to  laugh  now.  He  has  succeeded  beyond  expectations. 
None  of  his  fruit  has  been  sold  yet,  and  good  prices  can  be  obtained 
after  Christmas.  I  understand  the  Apples  will  keep  well  in  Ireland 
until  April. 
The  orchard  at  Oaklands  is  an  object  lesson  of  ~o  mean  value,  and 
