March  30,  1899. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
251 
very  similar  to  this  one,  the  description  genf-rally  tallies  with  them, 
but  there  are  differences,  as  will  be  noted.  The  next  on  the  list  was 
also  raised  bv  the  San’s  successful  hybridist,  who  in  this  instance  used 
C.  Trianae  as  the  seed  parent. 
L.  Digbyano-'l’iianae  was  exhibited  before  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  in  1897,  when  a  first-class  certificate  was  deservedly  awarded 
by  the  Orchid  Committee.  This  is  an  even  more  beautiful  plant  than 
the  last,  having  more  colour,  though  of  course  its  general  character¬ 
istics  are  similar.  Then  in  April  of  last  year  Messrs.  Veitch  exlfihited 
a  third,  L.  Thorntoni,  though  this  pretty  plant  was  not  raised  in  the 
first  instance  in  their  nursery,  but  by  T.  W.  Thornton,  Esq.,  after 
whom  it  was  named.  It  is  not  equal  to  any  of  the  vreceding,  still  a 
lovely  plant,  its  second  parent  being  the  summer-flowering  Cattleya 
Gaskel’iana.  The  fringed  lip  is  again  beautifully  reproduced,  but  the 
colour  is  less  bright. 
A  very  beautiful  plant  is  Lselia  Digbyano-purpurata,  the  parentage 
being  represented  in  the  name.  This,  though  showing  its  affinity  to 
L.  Rigbyana,  has  not  the  same  deli  htfiil  appearance  as  the  rest,  the 
influence  of  the  strong-growing  Lselia  being  apparently  too  much  for 
the  weaker  one.  In  shape  it  resembles  L.  purpurata,  and  the  lip  is 
light  purple  in  front  with  a  very  narrow  fringe  only.  And  now  the 
latest  addition  is  from  quite  a  different  source,  having  been  exhibited 
at  the  Drill  Hall  on  March  14th  by  Mons.  Chas.  Maron  of  Brunoy, 
France.  The  beautilul  C.  Mendeli  has  been  used  here  in  conjunction 
with  Laelia  Digbyana,  and  very  pleasing  indeed  is  the  result. 
The  radiating  lines  of  yellow  so  prominent  in  C.  Mendeli  are 
reproduced,  and  there  is  something  about  the  white  frilling  at  the 
upper  part  of  the  tip  that  reminds  one  of  this  fine  species.  A  great 
many  other  species  have  been  used  as  seed  parents,  and  in  more  than 
one  large  establishment  seedlings  in  various  stages  of  development  can 
be  seen.  Of  these,  of  course  nothing  can  as  yet  be  said,  but  the 
present  day  custom  of  using  only  the  finest  types  of  each  species  for 
hybridising  purposes  will  have  its  effect,  and  we  may  look  forward  to 
their  flowering  with  interest  at  least,  and  a  considerable  amount  of 
confidence. 
DeNDROUIUM  WIGAN.E. 
This  is  one  of  the  finest  of  hybrid  Dendrubiums,  and  a  lovely  form 
of  it  was  that  shown  at  the  Drill  Hall  on  March  14ih  by  Sir  Trevor 
Lawrence.  Many  of  the  forms  recently  flowert-d  have  shown  a  certain 
amount  of  yellow  in  the  ground  colour,  but  none  that  I  have  seen  have 
been  so  fine  as  this  chaste  form,  which  was  named  D.  VV.  xantho- 
chilum.  A  remarkable  point  about  this  hybrid  is  that  it  was  raised 
by  Sir  F.  Wigan,  Sir  Trevor  Lawrence,  and  by  Messrs.  Veitch  &  Sons, 
Ltd.,  at,  or  about  the  same  time,  and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  all  con¬ 
cerned  that  it  was  only  once  named.  It  is  the  result  of  crossing 
D.  nobile  and  D.  signatum,  and  first  flowered  iu  1896. 
ANGR.ECUM  CITRATUM. 
Though  very  small  in  comparison  with  such  giants  as  A.  eburneum 
and  A.  sesquipedale,  this  is  a  very  pretty  and  chaste  plant.  It  takes 
its  name  from  the  colour  of  its  flowers,  which  when  growing  in  a  state 
of  nature  are  pale  citron  yellow,  so  we  are  told.  Under  cultivation 
this  ci'lour  wholly  disappears,  or  at  most  is  only  a  cloudy  white. 
Looking  at  a  number  of  plants  of  it  in  full  flower  recently,  I  could  not 
find  a  trace  of  yellow  on  the  sepals  or  petals,  so  the  name  is  rather 
misleading.  The  racemes  are  olten  18  inches  or  more  in  length,  so 
make  a  pretty  .'-how  when  in  flower. 
The  culture  of  A.  citratum  is  not  difficult  when  plenty  of  heat  and 
atmospheric  moisture  is  at  command.  Being  of  small  stature  the 
plants  are  not  at  home  in  large  roomy  receptacles;  they  like  being 
pinched  as  it  were  for  room,  and  the  best  thing  to  use  is  the  small 
wire  baskets  about  4  inches  across  for  single-stemnred  plants.  Two 
or  three  large  lumps  of  charcoal  may  be  placed  in  the  bottom  of  each, 
and  a  little  more  mixed  with  clean  freshly  gathered  sphagnum  moss 
for  compo.st.  Fix  the  plants  firmly,  using  a  few  strands  of  matting  if 
necessary,  though  this  will  be  seldom.  Water  must  be  freely  given 
all  the  year  round,  and  light  sprayings  overhead  serve  to  keep  the 
(ilants  healthy  and  free  of  insects.  It  is  a  native  of  Madagascar, 
discovered  there  early  in  the  present  century  by  M.  du  Petit  Thouars. 
A  Note  on  Dendrobiums. 
There  are  few  more  popular  genera  of  Orchk’s  than  Dendrobium, 
and  none  more  beautiful.  If  a  grower  were  tied  to  one  house  of  Orchids, 
those  to  be  of  one  genu.s,  he  would  probably  get  more  beautiful  plants 
and  more  variety  out  of  it  by  growing  them  than  by  growing  aijy 
other.  The  lovely  golden  tint  of  the  evergreen  kinds,  like  D.  dcnsi- 
florum  and  others ;  the  showy  hybrids  raised  from  our  old  friend 
D.  nobile,  D.  aureum,  and  many  others  ;  the  lovely  D.  phalsenopsis, 
and  others  of  the  New  Guinea  kinds,  to  say  nothing  of  the  ui'ist 
tiopular  class  of  all  the  long-stemmed  deciduous  groups,  of  which 
I).  Devonianum,  1).  Pierardi,  and  D.  Waniianum  are  well-known 
examples.  Of  quaint  and  fanciful  forms  there  are  plenty,  such,  for 
instance,  as  1).  taurinum,  D.  stratiotes,  and  others,  and  although  they 
lack  to  some  extent  the  grace  and  elegance  of  the  deciduous  kinds,  there 
are  chaste  and  fine  flowers  among  the  nigro-hirsute  groups. — H.  R.  R. 
FARM  ORCHARDS— IMPORTS  AND  PRICES  OF 
APPLES. 
We  take  the  following  extract  from  a  paper  read  at  a  farmers 
club  by  Mr.  Spencer  U.  Pickering,  F.R.S.,  Director  of  the  Duke  of 
Bedfi’rd’s  Experimental  Fruit  Farm  at  Woburn.  As  might  be 
exfiected,  the  paper,  which  was  read  by  Mr.  Pickering  at  a  recent 
meeting  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  was  of  a  different 
character,  and  from  what  we  hear,  it  appears  to  have  been  too 
scientific  to  meet  the  approval  of  some  of  the  audience.  However  that 
may  be,  there  is  evidently  a  practical  side  in  the  mind  of  the  scientist, 
for  this  is  what  he  said  to  the  farmers : — 
“I  am  not  aware,  of  the  conditions  under  which  the  old  farm 
orchards  were  originally  planted,  but  the  conditions  under  which  they 
are  now  generally  renewed  are  the  most  unfavourable  which  could  ne 
devised.  To  plant  a  young  tree  in  ground  which  is  probably  exhausted 
by  having  supfiorted  a  simiLir  crop  for  a  century  or  more,  in  ground 
still  being  drained  of  whatever  gi'od  it  contains  by  the  spreading  roots 
of  large  neighbouring  trees,  is,  to  say  the  least,  unfair  treatment.  In 
addition  to  this,  dead  wood,  both  above  and  below  the  surfece,  abounds, 
and  affords  a  supply  of  every  parasite  which  is  likely  to  injure  a  tree, 
Fig.  61.— La3lio-Cattleya  Ernesti  Princess  Olga. 
and  the  young  trees  can  rarely  obtain  a  proper  supply  of  light  and  aii 
through  the  network  of  branches  of  the  older  ones ;  while,  even  if 
properly  secured  to  stakes  and  sufficiently  protected  from  the  onslaught 
of  the  farm  stock,  the  trees  too  often  come  to  grief  through  the  fall  of 
rotten  branches  from  their  old  neighbours. 
“  When  advocating  a  little  more  attention  to  orchards  we  are 
always  met  with  the  stock  objections  of  low  prices,  foreign  ci.mpetition, 
and  high  railway  rates;  these  are,  I  fear,  generally  urged  rather  as 
excuses  for  not  making  exertions,  than  as  valid  reasons  against  fruit¬ 
growing.  In  the  case  of  soft  fruits  there  certainly  are  occasional  gluts, 
when  it  does  not  pay  to  gather  or  market  ordinary  orchard  produce,  hut 
with  Apples,  good  fruit  of  good  varietie.s,  when  prop-rly  marketed, 
wll  always  pay  for  carriage  and  yield  a  good  return.  I  need  only 
quote  mv  own  experience  in  Bedfordshire.  In  years  of  plenty  Apples 
are  hawked  about  the  country  at  Is.  6d.  to  Is.  a  bushel,  having  been 
obtained  from  farm  orchards  where  the  grower  probably  did  not 
receive  more  than  a  quarter  of  these  prices  for  them  ;  yet  at  the  same 
time  we  can  send  properly  grown  Apples  to  Covent  Garden  and 
obtain  a  return  of  4s,  to  83.  per  bushel,  sufficient  to  pay  carriage  and 
all  other  charges,  leaving  a  substantial  profit  for  the  grower.  Foreign 
competition  scarcely  affects  soft  fruits  at  all  at  pre.sent,  and  with  the 
hardier  fruits  its  effects  are  but  small,  owing  to  the  bulk  of  such  fruit 
arriving  in  the  market  after  the  English  fruit  has  for  the  most  jiart 
been  disposed  of. 
“  The  enormous  quantities  of  Apples  which  are  now  imported  into 
England  from  abroad  have,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  had  but  little 
effect  on  tho  average  prices  realised.  The  public  taste  for  fruit  seems 
to  be  eminently  capable  of  cultivation,  and  the  market  for  fruit  is 
consequently  a  very  expansive  one.  I  have  attempted  to  obtain 
accurate  statistics  as  to  the  amount  of  the  importations  and  the 
