92 THE FLORIST. 



admired. Though but a faint idea is given of its beauties in our 

 illustration, still it will form a charming addition to the embellish- 

 ments of our i)rcsent volume. 



" With respect to the Cattleya spectabilis : we received a small 

 parcel of Orchids from Brazil in the spring of 1849, amongst which 

 were some Cattleyas having the appearance of Marginata ; many of 

 these flowered as such. This being stronger in growth, evidently 

 appeared different, and flowered in June, when it was exhibited at 

 Chiswick ; it seems to be an extraordinarily fine variety of Marginata. 

 We find it grows btst upon a rough block of wood in a temperature 

 of from 50° to 60° in winter, and should then be kept moderately 

 dry, gradually increasing the moisture and heat to from 60° to 75° 

 in the summer." 



Many of our readers, we know, cultivate this curiously interesting 

 tribe of plants, and one of the number on reading this will well re- 

 member inoculating us with a taste for them, by presenting us with 

 a plant of Stanhopea grandiflora, accompanied with some disparaging 

 remarks upon growing "only Geraniums." The consequence of 

 that fatal gift has been the abandonment of the cultivation of Roses 

 in pots, after we had beaten every body and been well beaten in re- 

 turn ; their room being required by their more aristocratic neigh- 

 bours, who had swelled themselves out into an importance too great 

 for the little stove they had long been located in. Their present 

 habitation is growing too small for them, or rather they are growing 

 too large for it, in spite of the exercise of a liberal spirit in giving 

 to friends what otherwise must have been thrown away ; and our 

 fortitude must soon be exercised again in a resolute reduction of 

 numbers ; for now that our specimens of Cattleyas, Dendrobiums, 

 Epidendrums, Aerides, Saccolabiums, &c. &c. are fairly established, 

 they grow at a surprising rate. Some day we may perhaps give 

 our readers a little account of the Orchid mania which once pos- 

 sessed us, and which led us into a certain auction-room in Covent 

 Garden, where we should most gladly have been on Feb. 26th last, 

 had not prudence dictated our keeping on the other side of Temple 

 Bar. The following will give an idea of the sums realised by Mr. 

 Stephens for varieties, most of which are not in our collection. 



Dendrobium Devonianum, from 1/. to 2/. 25.; Ccelogyne macu- 

 lata, a new kind, with flowers as large as C. Wallichiana, white and 

 yellow, M'ith large blotches of crimson purple on the lip, from 21. to 

 3Z. ; the rare Dendrobium Cambridgeanum, from 21. to 3Z. ; a large 

 mass of Ccelogyne cristata, 5/. lOs. ; smaller examples of the same, 

 from 1/. to 5/. ; C. Wallichiana, from 21. \Qs. to 61. \0s. ; Dendro- 

 bium Farmerii, from 21. to 4/. IO5. ; D. Dalhousianum, from \l. \Ss. 

 to 21. 45.; D. Griflithianum, from 21. to 4/. IO5. ; D. Paxtonii, from 

 21. \0s. to 41. 55. ; D. Gibsonii, 1/. IO5. ; "a new species of Ccelo- 

 gyne," from 21. IO5. to 4/. ; ditto Cymbidium, from 1/. to 21. There 

 were in all 232 lots. 



