H ORTI CULTURE 



A White Cattleya gigas 



The accompanying cut sliows a Cattleya gigas with 

 pure white sepals and ])etals; the lip is of a beautiful 

 lilac and with a whitish margin. Albino forms of 

 Cattleya gigas are extremely rare, and hence it may 

 prove of interest to some of your readers. The plant 

 has just flowered with us from a lot of ])lants im- 

 ported some time ago. 



Lager & Hurrell. 



A Correction 



To THE Editor of Horticulture, 



Dear Sir: — On reading your e-stimable paper, I 

 saw something about my carnations which I would 

 like to have corrected. The number of flowers cut 

 is correct as given, but fertilizer was not used quite 

 as freely as ten pounds a hundred square feet a bench 

 every ten days. I used from six to ten pounds 

 every ten days for a certain period, of a special 

 mixture, and the results were very good. This cor- 

 rection is for the information of anybody that might 

 like to experiment with fertilizer and by following 

 the first-published advice would be overdoing it. 



If anyone would like -to know jnore about how to 

 use it in detail and what to use, I will be pleased to 

 offer advice. It works equally well on roses and all 

 kinds of plants. 



^^ ;#^ 



Hingham, Mass. 



Culture of Ccelogynes 



Editor Horticulture: — Will you kindly ask 

 some of your orchid -growing contril)Utors to give 

 some hints on potting and growing ccelogynes? 

 How and in what material to pot them (newly im- 

 ported plants)? IIow much water? Shade or full 

 sunshine? How much rest, and when? And any 

 other information the contributor may be kind 

 enough to give. 



Res])ectfully yours. 



"Greenhorn." 



Greenhorn does not name the species of newly- 

 imported coelogyne he has. This very interesting 

 family of the orchid world has numerous varieties, 

 all of them when in bloom more or less interesting 

 and beautiful on the j)lants, biit the flowers have 

 no lasting qualities in a cut state. They all succeed 

 in a mixture of half peat and half sphagnum moss. 

 Some species require abundance of heat and mois- 

 ture, while others succeed well with ordinary green- 

 house treatment, especially Coelogyne cristata, which 

 is the best known of them all, and perhaps is the 

 one Greenhorn refers to. It is very cheering to see, 

 in the early spring, a well-grown plant covered with 

 its snow-white flowers and certainly no orchid is 

 more charming at this season. But it is rather a 

 bad orchid to establish when newly imported for 

 the bulbs always shrivel up so much during transit 

 from their native habitat. When the imported 

 plants are received, all the decayed portions and 

 long roots should be cut away. It is then a good 

 plan to put several pieces together in one pan, 

 placing the leads here and there toward the center, 

 and pot firm, but water very sparingly for a time. 

 Give the plants a spray -over once or twice a day, 

 and keep a nice moist atmosphere by frequent 

 damping between the pots. They do well grown 

 cool during the summer months, but do not need 

 much shade. In the fall they are all the better if 

 given a good sunny position in the cattleya house, 

 and at this stage of their growth they require abun- 

 dance of water at the root. About the end of Sep- 

 tember, if the plants have been treated right, the 

 flower spikes will be seen to be pushing from the 

 new bulbs, and then is the time a little care is needed 

 in watering. Only sufticient water should be given 

 to keep the bullis plump, for if the plants are kept 

 too wet at the roots at this period the spikes often 

 turn to growth instead of flower and so it is safer to 

 keep them on the dry side till the spikes are well 

 advanced, or till the turn of the year. It is also a 

 good plan to rest them for a time after flowering, 

 and on no account must they be disturbed at the 

 root by repotting too often, for they appear to flower 

 all the better when pot-bound, even if some of the 

 leads are away over the side of the pans. 



' ^^ Scrrf^. 





