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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Apfil  23,  1896. 
NATURAL  BALANCES. 
Now  and  again,  under  some  progressive  phases  of  culture,  we 
are  reminded,  disagreeably  reminded,  of  the  presence  of  certain 
latent  retaliatory  powers,  which,  though  long  tolerant  of  persuasion, 
may  speedily  resent  being  unduly  forced.  In  our  parching  thirst 
for  perfection  some  invisible  natural  law  has,  mayhap,  been 
infringed,  and  one  or  other  of  those  safeguards  the  beneficent 
Mother  can  on  occasion  employ  relieves  the  strain  imposed  by  a 
too  aggressive  hand.  Comprehensively  viewing  this  question — 
which  is,  at  least,  of  some  importance — it  is  not  difficult  to  note  a 
variety  of  means  employed  to  this  end  ;  but  it  is  harder  to  see,  or 
to  acknowledge,  that  present  disappointment  may  yield  future 
benefit. 
There  are  a  hundred  things  ready  to  point  a  moral  on  the  case 
in  question  from  such  divergent  factors  as  climatic  interference  to 
the  more  avoidable,  or  controllable,  agencies  which  may  be  called 
upon  to  preserve  the  balance  of  nature  when  too  heavy  a  demand 
is  made  upon  the  credit  side  by  overcropping.  Obviously,  the  text 
covers  an  area  embracing  much  more  than  fruit,  but  it  is  to  fruit 
only,  and  principally  hardy  fruits,  these  brief  thoughts  are  con¬ 
cerned  with,  for  this  appears  to  be  a  leading  question  of  the  times 
— the  gardening  times,  and  will  probably  remain  so  till  the  end  of 
the  chapter. 
Overcropping  is  capable  of  various  definitions.  In  the  general 
acceptation  of  the  term  it,  of  course,  means  more  than  an  average 
crop,  but  in  others  it  may  be  considerably  under,  and  even  then 
result  in  a  heavier  overdraft  by  reason  of  constitutional  debility  or 
inadequate  sustenance.  This  phase  of  the  question — feeding — has 
been  so  prominently  and  persistently  treated  on  in  these  pages 
by  those  better  qualified  to  do  so  that  a  passing  notice  is  sufficient 
here,  yet  from  its  pre-eminently  vital  importance  it  will  not,  it  is 
hoped,  be  allowed  to  lapse.  The  question  here  presented  is  how 
far  we  can  physically  control  or  equalise  our  annual  returns, 
which  are  apt  to  show  such  fluctuating  balances.  Whether  these 
are  or  are  not  unavoidable,  they  are  certainly  unsatisfactory. 
In  the  first  place  we  may  note  occasional  phenomenal  crops, 
when  both  quantity  and  quality  are  conspicuous,  directly  traceable 
to  an  exceptionally  favourable  season  from  start  to  finish,  indirectly 
to  a  strong  reserve  fund  previously  accumulated.  Such  an 
apparently  happy  state  of  things  appears  to  be  the  climax  of  the 
fruit  grower’s  desire  ;  or,  from  a  superficial  view,  will  be  the  con¬ 
clusion  arrived  at.  Quantity  and  high  quality  can  leave  but  little, 
or,  indeed,  nothing  to  be  desired  (with  prices  we  are  not  now 
dealing).  Well  and  good  ;  but  as  the  year  of  fatness  is  invariably 
followed  by  one  or  more  lean  seasons  it  behoves  us  to  pause  and 
consider  how  far  we  are  responsible  for  this  pawning  of  the  future 
to  supply  the  present.  Taking  into  account,  and  perhaps  we  seldom 
do  take  into  account,  the  heavy  tax  placed  by  horticulture  on 
Nature  in  any  or  all  of  our  popular  fruits,  with  their  various 
improvements  ;  each  of  which,  so  far  as  the  produce  is  concerned, 
generally  means  an  additional  burden  to  the  bearer  ;  it  is  easier 
to  realise  what  the  consequences  may  be  even  in  those  instances 
where  the  ministering  hand  readily  supplies  the  sinews  of  war,  if 
the  same  hand  withholds  the  wholesome  and  necessary  correction. 
Nature  has,  of  course,  her  own  arbitrary  methods  of  accom¬ 
plishing  those  ends,  which  seldom  meet  with  our  approval ;  hence, 
to  circumvent  these,  a  perpetual  warfare  is  waged  against  them. 
Seeing  how  much  we  are  able  to  accomplish  by  various  means 
which  may  be  termed  high  culture,  there  yet  remains  the  exercise 
of  those  controlling  powers  which  may  be  termed  sound  culture — 
a  system  which  prolongs  the  powers  and  endurance  of  our 
permanent  fruit-bearers  over  many  seasons,  and  allows  them  to 
have  a  reserve  of  strength  and  vigour  to  cope  with  the  unkindly 
influences  to  which  they  are  so  frequently  subjected.  Looking 
back  to  that  glorious  summer  of  1893  with  its  phenomenal  fruit 
crop  (I  speak  from  local  experience  and  personal  knowledge  only), 
the  question  is  opened  up  how  often,  under  similar  favourable 
atmospheric  conditions,  would,  or  could,  similar  results  be  obtained  ? 
— that  is,  of  consecutive  annual  recurrence.  Scarcely  to  the 
second  year,  I  think,  unless  prompt  and  timely  measures  of  relief 
were  given  ere  the  strain  was  felt. 
I  do  not  think  that  in  our  day  we,  in  this  economic  phase  of 
gardening,  are  likely  to  be  governed  by  sentiment,  only  so  far  as 
that  is  governed  by  public  opinion,  so  there  may  be  instances  in 
which  working  the  willing  horse  to  death  meets  with  approval, 
because  it  pays  best  to  do  so.  But  it  is  a  policy  which  will,  I 
think,  seldom  commend  itself  in  private  gardens.  In  these,  with 
that  willing  worker  the  Grape  Vine  for  instance,  a  short  life  and 
a  merry  one  is  hardly  the  desideratum.  We  not  infrequently  see, 
or  hear,  or  read  of  such  examples  as  appear  to  be  marvellous — 
marvellous  in  their  powers  of  endurance,  and  perhaps  in  their  long 
suffering.  Where  this  pays  best  that,  of  course,  settles  the  matter 
locally.  So  far  as  Grape  growing  is  concerned,  and  relevant  to 
private  gardens,  which,  may  be  asked,  is  the  safest  and  most  satis¬ 
factory  method  of  cropping  ?  There  are  few  gardens  in  which 
little  or  any  allowance  is  made  for  partial  failures,  so  far  as  fruit 
culture  under  glass  is  concerned,  though  some  there  are  where 
these  may  be  covered  by  a  more  liberal  margin  of  means.  The 
happiest  system  appears  to  me  that  in  which  undercropping  rather 
than  overcropping  is  carried  out. 
In  illustration  of  this,  one  instance  may  be  quoted  of  a  famous 
old  garden  visited  some  years  ago,  where  the  superb  condition  of 
the  Vines  was  not  only  remarkable  but  also  the  low  pressure,  as 
evidenced  by  the  restrictions  placed  on  the  crop.  Each  robust 
rod  (each  separate  Vine)  was  carrying  about  a  dozen  bunches  of 
medium  weight,  containing  all  the  points  which  constitute  perfec¬ 
tion.  These  Vines  in  the  aggregate  afforded  the  highest  possible 
of  satisfactory  impressions — the  impression  of  reserve  strength. 
In  fact,  they  held  the  relative  position  that  a  happy  well  fed  worker 
does  to  some  poor  victim  of  the  sweating  system.  To  point  the 
moral  further,  it  may  be  added  that  all  the  fruit  bearers,  indoors 
and  outdoors,  were  treated  on  parallel  lines.  I  thought  then,  as  I 
think  now,  that  the  balance  was  on  the  right  side  ;  and,  moreover, 
it  is  from  such  places  as  this,  in  my  experience  at  least,  that  we 
receive  those  good  reports  which  appear  so  unaccountable  when 
published  contemporaneously  with  the  black  list  of  a  bad  season. 
Possibly  this  wholesome  restraint  placed  on  Nature  has  farther 
reaching  influences  than  appears  at  first  sight.  Showers  and  sheets 
of  snowy  blossom  in  early  spring  are  very  pretty ,  very  poetic  ;  but, 
as  we  too  well  know,  may  prove  to  be  very  delusive  so  far  as  the 
fruit  is  concerned,  so  vast  is  the  discrepancy  between  the  promise 
and  the  performance.  Less  promise  and  more  performance  would 
suit  us  infinitely  better.  It  would,  indeed,  be  hard  to  extract  a 
moral  from  this  unless  we  can,  as  I  think  we  may,  allow  that 
Nature  is,  to  some  extent,  reduced  from  this  spasmodic  cropping  to 
something  nearer  to  a  system,  drawn  on  a  line  between  the  heavy 
feast  and  the  long  fast,  by  a  rigorous  curtailment  of  the  abundance 
when  that  occurs. 
Means  to  this  end  are  not  solely  confined  to  thinning  the  fruit, 
though  in  most  cases  it  may  be  the  principal  agent  employed. 
With  some  varieties  cultivated  in  some  places  on  a  large  scale  that 
may,  indeed,  be  practically  out  of  the  question.  Judicious  thinning 
of  the  branches,  with  the  removal  of  weak,  superfluous  growth,  as 
well  as  a  considerable  reduction  of  fruit  spurs,  where  these  are 
crowded,  may  at  least  help  to  check  exuberance  on  the  one  hand, 
and  carry  forward  some  stores  of  energy  to  indifferent  seasons, 
making  up  that  deficit  so  keenly  felt. — A  Worker. 
Dendrobium  Clio,  Tyntesfield  Variety. 
At  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  held  in 
the  Drill  Hall,  on  the  7th  in»t.,  Mr.  T.  Stafford,  gardener  to  Fred 
Hardy,  Esq.,  Ashton- on-Mersey,  staged  a  small  collection  of  Den- 
drobiums,  including  the  one  represented  by  the  woodcut  (fig.  62) 
and  named  D.  Clio,  Tyntesfield  variety,  to  which  the  Orchid  Com¬ 
mittee  awarded  a  first-class  certificate.  The  variety  is  an  extremely 
beautiful  one  and  attracted,  as  in  fact  do  all  the  Orchids  from  the 
same  source,  a  considerable  amount  of  attention.  The  elegant 
flowers  are  comparatively  large,  with  long  rather  narrow  sepals 
and  petals  which  are  clear  rose  in  colour.  The  lip  is  a  splendid 
feature  of  the  flower,  being  rich  rose  on  the  outer  portion  with  a 
large  rich  brownish  crimson  blotch  towards  the  throat.  There 
were  several  Orchids  staged  at  this  rifceeting,  all  of  more  than 
ordinary  merit,  but  few  attracted  more  attention  or  elicited  more 
expressions  of  admiration  than  did  this  charming  addition  to  an 
already  beautiful  family. 
Lycastes. 
The  Lycastes  form  a  very  useful  and  beautiful  genus  that 
commends  itself  to  beginners  in  Orchid  culture  or  account  of  the 
ease  with  which  they  may  be  propagated  or  grown.  There  is 
hardly  a  species  contained  in  it  that  the  veriest  tyro  could  not,  if 
he  were  so  minded,  be  successful  with,  while  one  or  two  at  least 
are  standard  Orchids  that  the  most  select  collection  should  not  lack. 
The  genus  was  founded  by  Dr.  Lindley,  most  of  the  species  being 
previously  known  and  described  as  Maxillarias,  to  which  they 
are  closely  related.  All  are  natives  of  various  parts  of  tropical 
America,  but  as  many  are  found  at  considerable  elevations  they  may 
with  advantage  be  treated  as  cool  house  plants.  The  blossoms 
