1873.] NEW ORCHIDS IN FLOWER. 295 



that it shall have an aspect due south is open to question. It is a 

 well-known fact that late springs are more generally followed by heavy 

 crops of fruits than are very early ones, and for the simple reason that 

 the blossom, being later, escapes the late spring frosts ; and also 

 that fruit-trees that are not so early exposed to the morning sun, 

 on that account are not so susceptible of injury from frosts. 

 These two circumstances would suggest that the aspect of walled gardens 

 should be south-west, instead of due south. This would prevent so 

 early an exposure to sun after frost in the case of the greater portion 

 of the walls at least. Moreover, they would get the full sun for a 

 longer time in the after-part of the day, and more especially in late 

 summer and autumn, when sun is most required to ripen the fruit and 

 mature the wood for another year's crop. It is certainly of importance 

 that trees that cannot be thoroughly protected should not be too 

 forward in early spring, should not be exposed early to full sun after a 

 pinching frost, and that they should be well ripened in autumn ; and 

 the aspect most likely to assist in this must be of great consequence, and 

 a subject worthy of discussion. 



NEW OKCHIDS IN FLOWER. 



Beautiful as the Orchids in our collections undoubtedly are, we are 

 continually meeting with or receiving fresh introductions that eclipse 

 them in beauty and novelty. In this paper we propose to notice 

 two or three of the most effective Orchids that have flowered this 

 season. 



.^Irides crassifolium. — This is a free-growing and robust species, of 

 dwarf habit, and has just flowered with F. B. Dodgeson, Esq., Black- 

 burn, an enthusiastic collector of orchidaceous plants. It was first 

 exhibited at the show of the Blackburn Horticultural Society, May 

 28th of the present year. It is one of Messrs Law's introductions, 

 and has been greatly admired by all Orchid fanciers who have had an 

 opportunity of seeing it. Its leaves are from 5 to 9 inches long, and 

 are of great substance, the youngest being slightly tinged with brown, 

 and dotted with purplish brown at the base. The flower-spike is 

 slender and pendulous, bearing in the specimen alluded to twenty fine 

 flowers, similar in form to those of A. (falcatum) Larpenta3, but larger, 

 and of a much deeper colour. The sepals, petals, and middle lobe of 

 the lips are of a deep, rich, amethyst-purple tint, shading into white 

 at the base of the segments. The lateral lobes of the lip are of a pale 

 lilac, mottled with rosy purple. The flower-spike is about 14 to 16 



