1885. 1 



.AND HORTICULTURIST. 



169 



your correspondent, John Murchie, and there are 

 to be seen some of the finest tlowered orchids, 

 comprising such kinds as Phalasnopsisgrandiflora, 

 Schilleriana, and amabiUs, Ccelogyne cristata, 

 and flaccida, Dendrobium nobile, Farmerii, 

 crassinode, albo sanguinea, and Paradianum, 

 Phajus grandifohus, Cyprepids, Laelias, Cattleyas, 

 Lycastes and Oncidiums, and lots of others too 

 numerous to mention ; all in the best of health, and 

 growing in a general collection of such plants as 

 Begonias of all kinds. Azaleas, Adiantums and 

 other ferns, Roses, and in fact all kinds of plants 

 found in a general collection of greenhouse plants. 

 Mr. Murchie is an enthusiast in the business, and 

 does not like to be outwitted in the culture of any- 

 thing. He especially loves Orchid culture and 

 having nothing but the houses where a general col- 

 lection of plants are grown to keep his favorites, has 

 studied the general laws governing vegetable life 

 and the requirements necessary for maintaining it 

 in a healthy condition. 



A temperature during winter of from 50° to 60° 

 as a minimum, having sufficient moisture at all 

 times, is suitable for the flowering of most kinds of 

 greenhouse plants and warm enough for a good 

 many of what are termed East Indian Orchids, re- 

 quiring a high, moist temperature during the time 

 they are making their growth, which is generally 

 done during summer, when a high temperature can 

 be kept up without the aid of much artificial heat. 

 At the same time plenty of ventilation being given, 

 thereby ripening their growths into perfection, and 

 making them in better condition for flowering 

 abundantly and enduring a somewhat adverse 

 treatment during a few winter months. 



Our warm summers give us a better opportunity 

 for thoroughly ripening Orchids of all kinds, 

 natives of warm regions, than they have in coun- 

 tries where the mean temperature is much lower 

 than with us. On the other hand, what is con- 

 sidered a greenhouse temperature during winter 

 with us, would in England be suitable for an 

 intermediate house. This to a large extent is why 

 we grow with success so many plants in our green- 

 houses, which are considered unsuitable for the 

 greenhouses in the old countries. 



Orchids of all kinds can now be bought at much 

 more reasonable prices than they could formerly. 

 Importers here now get them direct from their 

 native countries instead of getting them second- 

 handed from Europe ; which is not only the means 

 of giving us cheaper plants, but also of giving us a 

 chance of getting superior kinds than formerly, as 

 seldom did any new and extra kind find its way 



across the Atlantic so long as a poorer variety of 

 the same thing could be had to send. 



There are a good many dififerent varieties even 

 of the same species to be met with in their native 

 habitat, and by importing directly we get some 

 of the finer kinds, as well as the poorer varie- 

 ties. Youngs town, O. 



CORAL TREE. 



BY MR. CH.\RLES E. PARNELL. 



The cockscomb coral tree, Erythrina crista-galli 

 is a very beautiful summer blooming shrub of 

 deciduous habit, belonging to the natural order 

 Leguminosae, and it is a native of Brazil, from 

 whence it was introduced in 1771. In its native 

 country it is said to attain to the height of a tree, 

 some forty feet or more, but in cultivation it rarely 

 exceeds six or eight feet. It is a plant of robust, 

 vigorous growth, having an arboreous unarmed 

 stem, the prickly petioles bearing the bright green 

 ternate leaves which are slightly notched on the 

 under side. The pea-shaped flowers which are 

 very showy, and of a brilliant scarlet crimson 

 color, are produced in pairs at the axils of the 

 leaves, during the plant's season of growth, 

 some three or lour times. This Erythrina is a 

 plant easily grown, and can be cultivated by 

 all, as during the winter season it requires no other 

 protection than that offered by a dry frost-proof 

 cellar. When grown as a single specimen on 

 the lawn it forms an object of great beauty; its 

 showy crimson scarlet flowers form such a decided 

 contrast with its bright, glossy foliage, that it can- 

 not fail to attract the attention even of the most 

 indifferent or careless observer. The prefera- 

 ble method of cultivating this plant is to set 

 it out about the tenth of May in a well enriched 

 deep soil, and as soon as hot, dry weather sets in 

 a liberal mulch of coarse stable manure applied 

 and liberal supplies of water given. Thus treated 

 the plants will produce very satisfactory results 

 until the foliage is destroyed by frost, when the 

 plants should be carefully taken up, placed in a 

 tub or box, the roots covered with earth and stored 

 in any dry frost-proof cellar, where it can remain 

 until wanted for planting out another season. The 

 plants are apt to grow rather straggling, and on 

 this account they should be cut back into shape, 

 before being planted out in the spring. In hot, 

 dry weather the plant is sometimes troubled by 

 the red spider and as soon as these pests are 

 noticed, the plants should be copiously syringed 

 until the pests are destroyed. Propagation is 



