42 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



\ February, 



regions of Australia, where it assumes the form 

 of a small scrubby bush or woody vine. Its 

 leaves and young wood are thickly clad with 

 white woolly hairs; its brilliant scarlet blossoms 

 have a large black-purple spot at the base of the 

 standard, are very showy, and vividly distinct 

 from any other of our cultivated flowers. Al- 

 though a true perennial, as a garden plant, it 

 has usually given most satisfaction when treated 

 as an annual. 



TRICOPILIA TORTILIS AND T. SUAVIS, 



BY C. H. S,, BALTIMORE, MD. 



The above Orchids can both be cultivated in 

 the same way though they come from different 

 countries. Owing to their mode of flowering 

 they are best cultivated in pots, and I find that 

 tney are impatient of too much water when they 

 are beginning to grow, being liable to damp off 

 if too much heat and moisture is given at that 

 time. I fill the pots to within two inches of the 

 top with broken crocks, then fill with sphagnum 

 moss tightly pressed down, and then make a 

 mound nearly two inches high, and on the top 

 place your plant. This is necessary, because the 

 flowers are pendant. It would be advisable in 

 making pots for orchids to have some small 

 holes under the rims, through which to run 

 copper wire to secure the plants on the moss. 

 After they have become well rooted the wire 

 may be drawn out. This mode of potting is 

 suitable to all the Tricopilias, Lycastes, Maxil- 

 larias, Pilumnse, Bollas, Batemania and other 

 orchids that have large flowers with short stems. 

 I prefer, with any of the above, to give the roots 

 a good soaking, by putting the pots in water 

 once every two or three days, to slightly damp- 

 ing the moss with a syringe. This will be often 

 enough even when in active growth, and when 

 they have finished, once a week will be suffi- 

 cient. Tricopilia tortilis and suavis do well with 

 a rather dry temperature of from 50° to 60° 

 from November 1st until April, and after that 

 to be kept from 60° to 75°. It may be that at 

 times the thermometer will go up to 90° in spite 

 of shading, but it will do no harm if the house 

 is kept well saturated with moisture. Odonto- 

 glossum Cervantesii and all its near allies, are 

 a little difficult to grow nicely, owing to our ex- 

 tremely hot and dry climate. They come from 

 an elevation of about 4000 feet in Mexico in the 

 shady valleys. The young growth is easily rot- 

 ted ofi" by too much heat and moisture, which is 



also the case with most cool orchids. I grow 0* 

 Cervantesii in saucers, such as are used to place 

 under flower pots, but the saucers are hung 

 vertically, and the plants secured by wire through 

 holes made for the purpose. I am growing 

 many small Orchids in these saucers, which are 

 one and a half inches deep and of various diam- 

 eters. Odontoglossum Rossii, 0. Ehrenberghii, 

 Oncidium Kramerii, O. varicosum, all do well, 

 and it is impossible almost to overwater them, 

 even though they ai-e dipped every day, in the 

 growing season, as any surplus immediately 

 runs off. These saucers can be made of any 

 size. 0. Cervantesii should be grown as cool 

 as possible in summer, and at about 50° through 

 winter. 



STEAM HEATING. 



BY WALTER M. TABER, DETROIT, MICH. 



If agreeable to the readers of the Gardener's 

 Monthly, we accept Mr. Fowler's invitation and 

 give our experience with steam heating, well 

 knowing that if it give others the satisfaction it 

 has given us, the days of hot water heating, as 

 well as those of all other modes are short. In 

 August, 1880, we intended placing in our green- 

 houses a hot water apparatus, when the articles 

 in this magazine by Mr. Bochmann and Parker 

 Bros, on steam heating, attracted our attention. 

 And after quite a correspondence with these 

 gentlemen, and for whose kindly suggestions we 

 are grateful, we erected what we believe to be 

 the first successful steam apparatus in the West. 

 Our boiler is below the radiating pipes, thereby 

 doing away with the use of a steam trap, which 

 would only be necessary were the boiler placed 

 above the pipes, and which comes to the relief 

 of those who cannot secure drainage, to place 

 their boiler below the ground surface. We carry 

 the steam from the boiler through a two inch pipe 

 to a two inch pipe crossing the ends of all the 

 houses, above the doorways in the shed, with a 

 drop pipe and valve of from one to one-and-a- 

 half inches for each coil, according to the amount 

 of radiating surface in the coil, which connects 

 by a manifold with one inch radiating pipes 

 under the bench, running the entire length of 

 the house, with eight inches fall in one hundred 

 feet, connecting at the further end of the house 

 by manifold pipe and valve with a two inch re- 

 turn pipe to boiler, which crosses the ends of all 

 the houses, receiving the condensed steam from 

 all radiating coils — the return pipe being about 

 one foot under the ground, and having a fall 



