24 THE PLANT WORLD 



raise a question in the mind of the uninitiated, for the preconceived 

 idea of an orchid is a flower invariably with an inflated pouch or a full 

 tubular lip. In its Brazilian home, this Oncidium has a flower scape 

 three feet long, bearing from eighty to ninety blooms, while in Central 

 Park the scape is about eighteen inches in length, with from thirty to 

 forty quite large flowers. 



Less interesting is a Lycaste of a uniform greenish-white colora- 

 tion, quite unlike its useful and beautiful relative, L. Skinneri The 

 five-inch flower scape bears a single waxy flower, from five to six inches 

 in diameter; its oblong-ovate sepals are white, tinged with rose, the 

 petals three inches long, broadly ovate, directed forward with acutely 

 reflexed tips, streaked and tinged with dark rose. The lateral lobes of 

 the leaf are truncate, the middle one oblong, recurved, with a fleshy, 

 tongue-shaped rose-purple appendage on the disc. 



Close by we find a native of Nex)aul, Coelogyne cristata. It boasts 

 sepals and petals of virgin purity ; a large patch of yellow ornaments 

 the lip, the veins of which are fringed with gold. The numerous fra- 

 grant flowers are borne in drooping racemes. The pseudo-bulbs are 

 oblong, shining and apple-green in color ; the leaves are thin, dark 

 green, and about nine inches long. It is strange that this inhabitant 

 of tropical climes should have a close relative in the beautiful little 

 Calypso of our own northern country. 



Only one blooming plant of Zygopetalum Mackayi has been exliib- 

 ited. It bears among the numerous leaves five erect flower scapes, each 

 over a foot long, with five or six large flowers, strikingly colored. The 

 sepals and petals are yellowish-green, blotched with chocolate, the 

 white lip streaked and mottled with purplish-blue. 



Many other beautiful orchids might be described, if space were 



only unlimited. 



New York City. 



Not only in Florida, but in California, orange orchards or gi"oves are 

 liable to injury from frost, and experiments of various kinds are being 

 made to protect them. At the famous Eiverside, in California, the 

 thermometer falls at times to freezing point. For protection, a grower 

 at that place constructed a hot-water boiler, at a cost of $200, to run 

 hot-water along open furrows. The water passed from the boiler at 85 

 degrees when the outside temperature was 32 degrees ; the earth at 666 

 feet from the boiler was found to be 36 degrees, and the vapor arising 

 from the warm earth protected the plants. — 3Ieehans Monthly. 



