May 13, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



701 



Phalaenopsis X leucorrhoda A Gardener^s Views on MendeFs 



Law 



This beautiful Philippine orchid has been in cultiva- 

 tion since 1875. It first appeared among an importa- 

 tion of Phalaenopsis Aphrodite and P. Schilleriana, made 

 by Messrs. Hugh Low & Co. of England. Its hybrid 

 origin was suspected and Eeichenbach correctly de- 

 scribed it as a natural hybrid between Phalaenopsis 

 Aphrodite and P. Schilleriana. This has since been 

 proved by artificial hybridization. Several forms have 

 appeared of this natural hybrid, but in all of them the 

 characters of both parents can easily be traced. There 

 is one plant in bloom here at present which has white 

 sepals and petals, flushed with pink toward the base. 

 The lip partakes more of P. Schilleriana with slightly 

 longer tendrils, but the influence of P. Aphrodite is 

 plainly shown in the side lobes of the lip. 



It grows freely under the same treatment given its 

 two parents, of which about 400 are grown here, all of 

 which flower with the greatest freedom. In winter the 

 temperature at night ranges from 60 to 65 degrees, with 

 an occasional drop to 55 degrees, which will do no harm 

 if tlie plants are kept on the dry side. 70 to 75 degrees 

 during the day in winter is warm enough for them. 

 During summer from 5 to 10 degrees more heat is 

 given, also more moisture both at the roots and in the 

 atmosphere. From the middle of February to the mid- 

 dle of September shading must be carefully attended 

 to; for the rest of the year shade just enough to break 

 the rays of the sun and ground glass answers the pur- 

 pose here. We use osmunda fibre, but wherever sphag- 

 num moss can be made to grow freely it is to be pre- 



LIBKAR\ 



Editor HORTICDLTURE : NEW YO*(h 



Dear Sir: — Congratulations for your enterprise in 80Tanicai 

 introducing the readers of your magazine to the vitally qarD€N. 

 important and intensely interesting "Mendelian law." 

 To the thoughtful it will open various avenues of medi- 

 tation that will be instructive mentally, and perhaps 

 profitable commercially. I have in mind an esteemed 

 craftsman who has thus been singularly favored from 

 the latter standpoint, as no doubt he has from the other 

 "mentally instructive.'^ Yet I think he has been en- 

 tirely unconscious as to the identity of the Mendelian 

 law in relation to his adopted method and success of 

 doing things. 



He has established a method that might occur to any 

 observant and practical person, only he has scrupulously 

 adhered at all times to his plan of procedure wherein 

 lies his uniform success in my estimation. 



In short the method thus referred to, consists of the 

 keeping of his seedling plants no matter how promising 

 and excellent they may appear the first year, for a series 

 of years, and until, figuratively speaking, they settle 

 down from the exuberant vagrancy resulting from mixed 

 progenitors to steadfast, everyday characteristics. No 

 one studying Mendel's law but what must be struck 

 with the necessity of adopting a plan of this kind if a 

 reasonable assurance of permanent fixed characteristics 

 be the objective point. 



The person that I had in mind as above mentioned 

 is "honest Peter Fisher of Ellis, Mass." — as they call 

 him in England, and surely we honor him not less than 

 the Englishman on the same grounds that called forth 

 the latter eulogy. Doubtless, as premised, Mr. Fisher 

 has arrived on parallel lines with the Mendelian law 

 from nature's gift of eannyness backed with a scrupu- 

 lous honesty of aim. 



I have been drawn to say more than I intended to say 

 when I started to congratulate you for your praise- 

 worthy enterprise in putting before your readers such an 

 interesting subject as the Mendel law, for more than one 

 leason. First, the importance as I see it, of its study to the 

 younger generation of horticulturists, and the tucking 

 away of its salient points in their memory vest-pockets, 

 to be recalled as necessity requires for further practical 

 uses. Secondly, I always have had and do now have an 

 idea that, hitherto, even successful raisers of plants 

 have approached the subject in a bungling and child- 

 like way, largely dominated by the "curious" rather 

 than by the practical. When we eliminate the curious, 

 and try to establish the practical sources of success in 

 doing things in this particular line, there will be less 

 disappointment to contend with, less waste of energy, 

 time and space. 



:?^,%,:^ 



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ferred. 



Naugatuck, Conn. 



(^./-.■O^ 



Choisya ternata 



THE "ilEXICAN ORANGE BUSH" 



This is one of the most interesting plants that have 

 lieen shown for some time before the Gardeners' and 

 Florists' Club of Boston and at the last meeting at- 

 tracted considerable attention. As the common name 

 implies it is a native of Mexico and forms a large bush 

 five to six feet in lieight and proportionately broad. 

 The dark, glossy evergreen foliage is in itself very strik- 



