1879.] HARDY FRUITS. Ill 



is the extraordinary duration of bloom, which lasts fully three 

 months, and sometimes still longer. Being a native of Australia, it 

 does not require a high temperature at any time, very little skill 

 being required to grow it to perfection. Mr Bull has a splendid 

 display of this grand mid-winter flowering Orchid. 



Calanthe Sedenii, exhibited by the Messrs Yeitch on 19th November, 

 is a hybrid raised by that firm, and is the result of a cross between 

 C. vestita and C. Veitchii. It is of vigorous growth, the spike 

 strong and gracefully curved j and the flowers, larger and richer than 

 any of the species, are of a deep rose, tinged with magenta, increasing 

 in intensity as they age to a still deeper tinge, and margined with 

 white in the throat. With this variety, Messrs Veitch exhibited 

 spikes of C. Veitchii, and the contrast afforded abundant proof of 

 the decided superiority of C. Sedenii, and which may be fairly con- 

 sidered a great acquisition to this extremely useful class of plants. 



Lselia anceps alba is a nearly pure white var., the only exception 

 being a yellow blotch in the throat. The flower in other respects 

 closely resembles L. anceps, but the pseudo-bulbs and leaves are 

 smaller. It is a native of Mexico, and plants of it were found grow- 

 ing on precipitous rocks at an altitude of 8000 feet above the sea- 

 level, where, as can be imagined, the cold is oftentimes intense. It 

 might not inaptly be termed one of the coolest of cool Orchids ; it 

 certainly is one of the brightest gems to be found under this classi- 

 fication. A Southern Correspondent. 



HARDY FRUITS. 



The ground in which fruit-trees are growing might, with advantage, 

 be tested as to the state of its drainage. This remark may apply 

 more to orchards than gardens : the coating of moss over the bark 

 of so many trees, and the stunted wood, with dead and dying points, 

 seen in so many orchards, show clearly where the fault is. After 

 floods, one may notice how long the water is in disappearing from 

 the surface, and how difficult it is to perform the work of pruning dur- 

 ing the winter months by the quagmire-like soil of the orchard. It 

 is labour well spent to drain such places, and it can be done without 

 materially damaging the roots — drains running across the ground 

 about 20 to 25 yards apart, emptying themselves with a fall into a main 

 drain, which should descend to ground of a lower level, running clear 

 from the roots of all trees. We had to deal with an orchard and planta- 

 tion some time ago, which were ruined by allowing ditches to become 

 stopped ; the trees have been dying for years, when a little alteration 

 of the ditches would have saved them. 



