ii8 



GARDENING. 



young sprout gets to be a foot or eigh- 

 teen inches high nip the point out of it to 

 make it branch. If the manure is old and 

 well rotted it matters little which is used, 

 but if the cow manure had got past its 

 pasty nature we should give it the prefer- 

 ence. 



Orchids. 



CARE OF ORCHIDS IN WINTER. 



Care must now be taken to place sucli 

 plants as Oncidiiim tigrinuw, O. vari- 

 cosum, Odontoglossuw citrosmum and 

 O. grande in a suitable place for rest; a 

 cool shady house whose temperature is 

 not apt to fall below 40° nor rise above 

 50°, with sufficient moisture in the at- 

 mosphere to prevent the bulbs from 

 shrivelling, will be about right. If kept 

 from sun heat or fire heat as much as 

 possible they will hardly require any wat- 

 ering, and see to it that no drip falls on 

 to them from a leaky roof. 



Cattkya Trianie will now commenceto 

 push buds through its sheaths, and to 

 save them from slugs it is time andmonej' 

 well spent to suspend the plants from the 

 roof as fast as the flower buds push 

 through, and I think this plan too helps 

 to hasten the buds into bloom, and if 

 watered, as we do with the hose on fine 

 mornings, they will dry up much faster, 

 and a little water on the flowers will not 

 hurt them provided it is free from sedi- 

 ment. 



Coelogyne is now showing its flower 

 scapes, and if placed in warmer quarters 

 with the liElias they will be in bloom at 

 or soon after the holida3'S. 



I find there is a great difference in qual- 

 ity of many strong growing orchids if 

 during their finishing period they are 

 treated to a little weak manure water; a 

 little sheep manure, hen manure, wood 

 ashes, or soot, given them about twice a 

 week does wonders in finishing up their 

 growth and sending up strong flower 

 shoots. Cypripedium insigne will repay 

 any trouble in that way by sending up 

 much finer flowers both in size and color. 

 Cytnhidium Lowi and Dendrohium for- 

 mosum will also respond to such treat- 

 ment in very liberal growths and conse- 

 quently a large crop of fine flowers. I 

 have also tried carefully the same treat- 

 ment on Odontoglossuin crispum and O. 

 Pesca tore/ with good effect. 



Calanthes should now be placed in as 

 strong a light as possible; do not allow 

 them to g;t very dry; water them fre- 

 quently with weak manure water. Care- 

 fully protect the young flower spikes 

 from slugs and cockroaches. The success 

 of orchid culture depends very much on 

 such little attentions. 



Utica, N. Y. Wm. Mathews. 



THE CYPRIPEDIUM DOESN'T BLOOM. 



M.J. C, Mt.Kisco,N.Y., writes: "Why 

 does not my cypripedium bloom? It is 

 kept in a house having a night tempera- 

 ture of 50°, but in a partly shaded place." 



Your question is rather indefinite, you 

 do not mention anything about age, size 

 of plant, or what variety. If your plant 

 is of good size say large enough for a Si/o 

 or 4-inch pot it should flower. Cypripe- 

 diums as a rule like plenty of light" (shad- 

 ing only in the summer season either by 

 planting the glass roof or by outside 

 blinds), and they should not be over- 

 potted, and almost the year round they 



should have a warm moist atmosphere. 

 For potting material we use nothing but 

 clean sphagnum moss with plenty ot 

 potsherds in the bottom of the pot for 

 drainage. Although they like plenty of 

 moisture at their roots they will not 

 thrive if in a water logged condition like 

 an aquatic. Sometimes it is the case that 

 in rapid propagation by division the 

 plants make rapid and strong growth 

 and will not flower the first year, but if 

 left undisturbed will, when their roots 

 fill the pot, flower, and will after that 

 blossom once or twice a j'ear according 

 to variety. Of course some varieties such 

 as Morganiie, etc., cannot be counted on 

 for a heavy crop till they are well estab- 

 lished and strongly rooted when they 

 should become very floriferous, carrying 

 often two and three flowers on a stalk. 

 Wm. Mathews. 



Cacti. 



Here we have a group of 29 kinds of 

 cacti showing a good many different 

 types. They are queer, weird, interest- 

 ing plants, but as they look there onecan 

 hardly call them beautiful. There is a 

 peculiar fascination about them, however, 

 and once a person gets to know them, the 

 interest in them deepens, and pretty soon 

 he will be "a crank" and eligiblefor mem- 

 bership in the Baltimore Cactus Club. 



We have a particularly warm feeling 

 for cacti. A good many years ago we had 

 charge of an extensive and very beautiful 

 and choice collection of the spiny beau- 

 ties; we planted them out of doors in 

 summer, lifted and potted them in August 

 before the cool dewy nights of autumn 

 came upon them, and kept the managea- 

 ble ones in a cold frame for a month, 

 covering it with sashes at night and in 

 moist weather, but removing the sashes 

 in the day time in fine weather. In this 

 way we' saved them from rust. There 

 fresh and clean and glistening in their 

 fatness, in their clean pots and standing 

 on a bed of coal ashes they really were 

 beautiful as plants. And some of our 

 proudest moments were when one sum- 

 mer the late Dr. Englemannof St.Louis- 

 our greatest scientific authority on cacti 

 —used to sit down with us on the side of 

 that frame, an hour at a time, admiring 

 the little beauties, verifying their names, 

 and telling us about them as he found 

 them in their native wilds. 



As plants perhaps they are more odd 

 than beautiful, but when they are in 

 bloom many of them aresuperb, and their 

 flowers bright and gay, even gorgeous. 

 At the same time there are modest little 

 plants among cacti, and some are com- 

 monplace, just as we find in every order 

 of plants, even among the aristocratic 

 orchids. 



Our illustration, from the Botanical 

 Guide to the Fhipps Conservatory, Pitts- 

 burg, Pa., shows a group of cacti 

 arranged a purpose to have their jiicture 

 taken, then each kind was numbered and 

 named bv Mr. A. Blanc, the cactus spe- 

 cialist of Philadelphia. The following 

 are the names, the number conesponding 

 with the same ones in the illustration. 



1. Cereus gemmatus. 



2. C. variabilis. 



3. C. Jarnacari. 



4. C. Peruviamis. 



5. C. grandidorus. 

 0. C. Micheldii. 



7. C. Pasacana. 



8. C. pugioniferus. 



9. C. Duwortieri. 



10. Bcbinocereus eumeacanthus. 



11. B. pectinatas. 



12. E. viridifforus. 



13. Pilocereus senilis. 



14. Mammillaria applanata. 



15. M. Candida. 



16. M. crassispina elegans. 



17. M. elegans. 



18. M. Kramer i. 



19. M. wicromeris. 



20. M. pusilla. 



21. M. tuberculosa. 



22. Anhalonium prismaticum. 



23. Echinocactus hicolor. 



24. E. cylindraceus. 



25. B. Grusonii. 



26. E. longihamata. 



27. E. rhodophttialamus. 



28. Opuntia. 



29. Pereskia. 



It IS winter, and a vital question with 

 those who grow cacti is — What should I 

 do with them now? Of course the answer 

 must be qualified to suit various condi- 

 tions and kinds. 



Some cacti as Opuntia vulgaris, O. 

 Missouriensis, and O. Rafmesqui are 

 hardy and should be left alone out of 

 door's, always taking care that they are 

 growing on" ground high enough to be 

 above water pools in winter. 



Many species of different genera from 

 the far west and south western states, 

 although not hardy at New Y'ork will 

 bear a good many degrees of frost with 

 impunity, but our advice is, keep them 

 away from frost, for it does them no 

 good. Keep them cool and dry in win- 

 ter, especialh' dry overhead. 



Our epipliyllums.or lobster-claw cactus 

 are in bloom, and bright and pretty they 

 are in December. They together with the 

 different kinds of phyllocactus (or flat 

 leaved cactus), and cereus of the night 

 blooming order love a little warmth in 

 winter, say 50° or thereabout in a green- 

 house and'the temperature of an ordinary 

 room, in a dwelling house. If they are 

 very healthy and well rooted water them 

 sparingly, if they are sick give them less 

 water or none at all. Echinops, echino- 

 cactus, mammillarias, and other cushion 

 or bunch cacti may be kept on a shelf and 

 pretty dry; they don't need sunshine 

 while at rest, so may be kept in a shady 

 room. The cellar is a poor place forcacti. 

 Because they don't die right off does not 

 signify that they enjoy their quarters; 

 they dislike the stagnant, muggy atmos- 

 phere of a cellar and too the parching 

 breath and dusty quarters of the furnace. 

 Under the stages in a greenhouse, where 

 florists often put them, is a very bad 

 place for cacti. 



The Flower Garden. 



RESTORING fl WORN OUT LflWN. 



I have an old lawn of about five acres 

 which has been neglected for many years 

 and the grass is thin and poor in quality. 

 It is naturally good grass land but needs 

 manuring. I do not want to plow up the 

 lawn if it can be avoided, but am anxious 

 to improve the grass. I shall be obliged 

 for any suggestions asto the best methods 

 of treatment. W'ill it be best to apply New- 

 York stable manure which can be had for 

 $2.25 per ton on cars here, or would a 

 good commercial fertilizeror ground bone 

 and wood ashes be better? How much 

 of each should be applied to produce the 

 best results and when should they be put 



