i8g6. 



GARDENING. 



183 



MASTERS' PITCHER PLANT I' 



Never give side ventilation to orchids. 

 ICnglish growers recommend bottom air, 

 which is quite a different thing; it is given 

 Ijy means of sliding shutters below the 

 hot water pipe line, and is an excellent 

 method for lowering the temperature of 

 the house, and as the air is warmed by 

 the hot water pipes before it reaches the 

 plants it is productive of no inj iry. Ven- 

 tilation is not the sole means ot keeping 

 down the temperature; shading and 

 damping down the floors and benches are 

 other important factors. Where the 

 greenhouses are in a range, a good way to 

 change the air isto open the ventilators in 

 the cool house and also open the doors of 

 the several other compartments. 



SiHDiNG. — If the winter rains have 

 washed the paint (white lead and naph- 

 tha) off the glass, and if the condition of 



the weather does not permit a renewal of 

 the application, "scrim" or cheesecloth 

 can be run up along the glass inside the 

 house. It is very cheap and suitable, but 

 not sufficiently heavy for summer shad- 

 ing. In shading the idea should be not 

 to exclude the sun's rays entirely, but to 

 soften and temper them that they will 

 not burn the plants. Different species re- 

 quire different degrees of shade, and a 

 few species, Dendrobiuni nohile, Sobralia 

 and Pbajus in variety, and Cypripediutn 

 insigne, provided the greenhouse is kept 

 moist and they are not too near the 

 glass, do not need it at all. 



The following orchids are in bloom on 

 this place just now: C<vlogync cristata, 

 which may be said to retjuire generous 

 treatment. When the specimens get too 

 large it is better to divide them. 



Brassavola glauca. which has pale 

 green flowers with a large white lip; it 

 does well on blocks. Oncklium sphacela- 

 luw, a reliable old species with yellow 

 flowers; it does best with basket culture. 

 Phajus grandifoUiis. We have a very fine 

 lot of this fine old orchid just cominginto 

 bloom; I pot it in a compost of two- 

 thirds peat fibre and one of sphagnum 

 moss, with about two inches of drainage. 

 Cypripcdium Boxallii and C. Pitcheri- 

 aiium, which is a fine variety of C. Har- 

 risianum and often blooms twice a year. 

 Cattleya Lawrenceana, one of the most 

 beautiful cattleyas extant, and not yet 

 plentiful; color is a rich purplish crimson 

 of the shade of some of the finer forms of 

 Lrtlia purptirata. Grow it in baskets 

 in an intermediate temperature. 



Orange, N J. Wm. Fitzvvii.liam. 



Roses. 



I found from experience that my roses 

 did not do well under double glazed sash. 

 1 have now removed the inside glass, but 

 one of our florists informs me that it will 

 be impossible to be successful with roses 

 in my conservatory. It is properly 

 heated with hot water and Is located on 

 the south-east of my house, where it gets 

 the sun all day. He claims that the sun's 

 raj'S do not strike the roses properlj' 

 through the perpendicular glass on the 

 sides and the quarter-inch thick ribbed 

 sky light glass on the top does not give 

 them the right kind of light. We have 

 had some roses but nearly all have been 

 malformed and imperfect, but the bushes 

 seem healthy and are free from aphis, red 

 spider and mildew and although I have 

 had the inside glass out only two days 

 the plants seem to look better already. 

 If roses can be grown successfully I want 

 to accumulate young plants for next 

 winter. With the new conditions I cannot 

 see why they will not do well. I love the 

 flowers and am willing to put plenty of 

 work on them but want success. My 

 wife is a crank on begonias (and by the 

 way who has the finest selections of the 

 latter?) and I ditto on roses, and if the 

 latter can be successfully grown in our 

 conservatory we will make a specialty of 

 the two. A. L. W. ■ 



DesMoines, Iowa. 



Double glazing is bad for roses. Rose 

 bushes planted on the front bench and 

 next the glass should give you prettv 

 nice flowers though not equal' perhaps to 

 regular greenhouse blossoms, and while 

 Papa Gontier and some other easv-to- 

 grow sorts may bloom beautifully, Perle 

 desjardins, American Beauty and some 

 others may be disappointing". How well 

 the roses may do there and what varie- 

 ties are best suited for the place is a 

 question of expeiiment largely. But as 

 you have a propagating corner in your 

 bench, strike a lot of cuttings any wav, 

 you will need the plants to set out in'a 

 bed in the garden in summer for late sum- 

 mer and autumn blossoms. Lots of tea 

 roses grow and bloom very prettily in 

 this way. 



About begonias. Write to Storrs & 

 Harrison Co , J. C. Vaughan, Henry 

 A. Dreer, G. R. Gause & Co., Siebrecht & 

 Wadley, and others advertising green- 

 house plants in G.\RnENiNO for their 

 catalogues of plants. 



