324 THE GARDENER. [Jui.v 



THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 



The Ifoyal Botanic Gardens at Kew are always interesting, no matter what 

 particular season of the year we may select for a visit, but just now they are 

 sjjecially attractive, when every twig is set with emeralds, or bursting into ver- 

 nal freshness and beauty. There has been a deal written and said about a 

 National School of Horticulture, and here we find the nearest approach to that 

 desideratum at present existing in the British Islands. The young gardeners 

 employed at Kew possess facilities for acquiring knowledge not to be found in 

 any other establishment in Britain. It is, however, something more than a 

 training school for youthful horticulturists, it being one of the most popular 

 public gardens near the metropolis. Here rich and poor may ramble with 

 equal freedom over the fresh green turf — inhale the delicate odours of the 

 flowers — or listen to the feathered songsters that warble their sweet melodies in 

 nearly every tree. Here may the unlettered son of toil find agreeable relaxa- 

 tion and repose while gazing on the rare exotics of every clime ; here may we 

 all gain more or less knowledge according to the light that is within. 



Having an hour or two to spare, and being in the vicinity of the Gardens, 

 we thought we could not do better than look over the collections, noting down 

 the plants that most interest us for the benefit of our readers, many of whom 

 may not hav^e the opportunity of seeing for themselves. Entering by the Cum- 

 berland Gate we make our way to the Orchid-houses on the right. Here we 

 lind the curious little Dendrobium lingureforme in full flower. This pretty 

 species is a native of Australia, and bears twenty or thirty of its long-petalled 

 white flowers on a slender spike eight or nine inches long. It grows well on a 

 block, producing its fleshy foliage at short intervals along a creeping rhizome, 

 and healthy plants bear a profusion of delicate, fairy-like, scented blossoms. D. 

 lituiflorum is also flowering very freely, bearing an abundance of its deep 

 violet, jmrple, and white flowers. Another species of this beautiful genus, D. 

 secundum, bears lateral spikes of bright rosy flowers rather densely arranged, 

 and though it is very pretty, is scarcely showy enough to attract the notice of 

 amateur collectors. The same remarks apply with equal force to the dingy, 

 greenish-flowered D. macrostachyum. A nice little plant of the beautiful I). 

 Farmerii bears a solitary spike of white flowers delicately suffiised with pink 

 of the softest possible shade. Amongst the Odontoglots we find O. maculatum, 

 0. Pescatorei, 0. nebulosum, 0. cristatum, and 0. constrictum, in flower. 

 These plants are of the easiest possible culture, all they require being an open 

 well-drained compost of fibrous peat, moss, and sand, a layer of living sphag- 

 num moss on the pot-tops, and a plentiful supply of water when growing, which 

 is pretty nearly all the year round. They will luxuriate in a cool pit all the 

 summer months, with air on both day and night, due precautions being taken 

 to avoid cold draughts. Epidendrum bicornutum was also in flower, and is one 

 of the best species in this extensive genus. Its pseudo-bulbs vary from six 

 inches to about a foot in length, and are leafy towards the apex. The flowers 

 are borne on an erect terminal spike five or six inches high, and seven or eight 

 large flowers are borne on strong spikes. The flowers in shape remind one of 

 Eucharis amazonica, the sepals and petals being pure white. The dagger-shaped 

 lip is white, with a few purple dots near its bilobed crest. We saw this plant 

 flowering very profusely with Mr Jas. Anderson, at Meadowbank, about this 

 time last year, and consider it one of the finest Orchids grown. We now come 

 upon another batch of Dendrobes, which we will describe separately. D. ja- 

 ponicum bears its two or three flowered clusters on pale leafless bulbs about a 



