496 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



be introduced into every collection as one of the best and freest of all 

 Cypripedes. C. sedeni, described before in these pages, is still flower- 

 ing, as also is C. Ashburtonise, a seedling raised by Mr Cross, gardener 

 to Lady Ashburton, after whom it is named. It is the result of a cross 

 between C. barbatum and the old free-flowering C. insigne. Its 

 flowers are very ornamental, and the plant inherits the constitutional 

 vigour of its parents. In addition to those already named as having 

 been flowered in the Royal Exotic Nursery at Chelsea, we may men- 

 tion the following: — Calanthe Veitchii, C. dominiana, Cattleya hybrida, 

 C. quinquecolor, C. Sidneiana, Phajus irroratus, Anoectochilus Dominii, 

 brides hybridum, Cypripedium Dominianum, Cattleya Pilcheri, C. 

 devoniensis, C. Dominiana, and C. manglesii. 



These results are satisfactory from a floricultural point of view, but 

 they have served a higher purpose. Hybridisation and grafting are 

 two of the great powders that the botanists of the future will rely on 

 for determining the natural affinities supposed to exist between genera 

 and species. The result obtained by poring over dead plants, crushed 

 out of all the similitudes of life, health, and beauty, by drying, is 

 mere guess work when compared with the demonstrative processes to 

 which we have here alluded. In saying this much it is of course 

 understood that systematic botany, or classification, is as yet in its 

 infancy, and plants are placed in proximity and order according to 

 the size, form, number, and arrangement of their parts only ; but we 

 hope to see the time when there shall be a closer bond of union be- 

 tween the gardener and the botanist, when the theory of the one shaU 

 be demonstrated either as correct or otherwise by the practical experi- 

 ments and observations of the other, and then we may expect real 

 good to follow for horticulture. I say this because the gardener has 

 better opportunities of studying the life, health, and functions of a 

 plant than the generality of botanists so called ; and the physiology 

 of a plant deserves due consideration before it is placed in a system 

 along with plants which merely agree with it, as above stated, in 

 number, form, and disposition of their component parts. 



F. W. BURBRIDGE. 



HINTS FOR AMATEURS.— SEPTEMBER. 



Whatever is to be done to improve the fruit-garden should have 

 attention as early as possible. Moss-covered branches are great evils ; 

 scraping and washing with lime-water or brine will destroy the 

 pest. Painting fruit-bushes with lime and soot does much to keep 

 off bullfinches and insects. Soil taken from round the collars of 

 Gooseberry and Currant bushes, and replaced with other material 



