December 23, 1916 



HORTICULTURE 



841 



ORCHID CULTURAL NOTES. 



By the time these notes appear In 

 print many of the autumn flowering 

 Cattleyas will have entered into a 

 period of rest; it will be worth while 

 to carefully look over them and attend 

 to any of their requirements. Very 

 often, when a flower is cut, the flower- 

 sheath is left in a damaged condition, 

 and even when a clean cut is made the 

 base still remains, only to decay in 

 the course of a few days. An oppor- 

 tunity now exists to inspect tliese 

 C-attleyas and to remove all that is 

 left of the old sheath, which can gener- 

 ally be done by pulling it gently away 

 in the opposite direction to the leaf. 

 As the old spike is often left as well, 

 a good plan is to split the sheath and 

 remove each half separately, thus well 

 exposing the remains of the spike, 

 which can be finally removed by means 

 of a sharp knife. Insect pests are very 

 fond of getting into the crevices, and 

 are best removed by a small brush and 

 suitable insecticide. 



Some have the habit of tying up the 

 bulbs far too closely, so much so that 

 they are brought out of the perpendicu- 

 lar and make the top of the plant even 

 smaller than the pot. This is a great 

 mistake, for with the bulbs out of 

 their natural position, the leaves also 

 are wrongly exposed to the light, and 

 if bright sunlight is allowed to fall on 

 a portion of the leaf hitherto unaccus- 

 tomed to it damage to the tissues Is 

 almost sure to result. On the other 

 hand, the bulbs must not be allowed to 

 hang down in a weakly style, hence 

 the cultivator must use his discretion 

 and arrange them in a natural as well 

 as neat manner. 



Many plants will require re-potting, 

 or at least some attention will be need- 

 ed in replenishing the food supply. 

 Whenever new roots are to be seen 

 pushing from the base of the last-made 

 bulb this operation may be taken in 

 hand with the least shock to the 

 plant's constitution. In some cases 

 almost the whole of the old compost 

 will have to be removed, but in the 

 majority of well-cared-for plants the 

 chief need will be a slightly larger pot 

 with fresh compost to fill up the extra 

 space. A few plants will only require 

 the surface to be picked over with a 

 small pointed stick, and any weak 

 places filled up with compost. It is of 

 little use surfacing with moss those 

 plants that will be kept on the dry side 

 for the next few months, but the 

 smaller ones, which have not flowered 

 and are making a second growth, often 

 receive beneficial support by adding 

 living heads of sphagnum moss around 

 the edge of the pot. All potting fibres 

 have considerably advanced in price, 

 and some are unobtainable at any fig- 

 ure, consequently many plants that in 

 normal times would he repotted this 

 season will have to wait until the fol- 

 lowing one. 



Temperatures will now be consider- 

 ably lower, except in the houses where 

 seedling Cattleyas are being raised. A 

 minimum night temperature of 65-70 

 will be found suitable for Cattleyas. 

 with 5.5-65 for Odontoglossums and 

 other cool-house Orchids. No matter 

 how a house is constructed, there is 

 some difference to be found in the tem- 

 peratures when taken at various posi- 

 tions, hence the cultivator has many 

 places to select for his plants, and if 

 they fail to grow well in one situation 

 removal to another place will often 



CHRYSANTHEMUM HAMBURG LATE WHITE 





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One fault with the so-called White 

 Maud Dean chrysanthemum is that it 

 is not pure white but has more or less 

 of a lavender tinge. Four years ago 

 there was found amongst the stock of 

 C. T. Guenther, Hamburg, N. Y., a 

 plant which produced a pure white 

 flower. Cuttings were taken from this 

 plant and the flowers kept the same 

 pure white color and Mr. Guenther 

 now has several thousand plants in 

 bloom. 



The variety will be called "Ham- 

 burg Late White" and is pnre white 

 under all weather conditions. The 



variety has been grown for the past 

 three years and when taken on a late 

 bud will be in flower all during De- 

 cember and the early part of January; 

 in fact, the flowers are generally so 

 late that it cannot be shown at the ex- 

 hibitions or during time when commit- 

 tees of the Chrysanthemum Society of 

 America meet. Keeping qualities are 

 excellent and being somewhat fuller 

 than the original JIaud Dean it forms 

 a very graceful white flower. 



This variety will be disseminated in 

 Spring 1917, by William F. Kasting 

 Co. and E. G. Hill Co. 



bring about the desired good result. 

 Frequently it will be found that cer- 

 tain plants grow well at the warm end 

 of an Odontoglossum house when they 

 fail in the cool part of the Cattleya 

 house, although the temperature of 

 both positions may be almost identi- 

 cal; the reason for this is that there 

 is a vast difference in the humidity or 

 circulation of the atmosphere. Prac- 

 tical experience alone will discover 

 these suitable positions. Growers will 

 do well to remember that plants sus- 

 pended high up are in a very different 

 atmosphere to those nearer the ground, 

 both in temperature and in humidity; 

 and here, again, the removal of a 

 sickly plant from one position to the 

 other may bring it back to a vigorous 

 condition. Sunny positions as well as 

 shady ones both have their value, and 

 it only needs the thoughtful attention 

 of the cultivator to decide which plants 

 are most suitable for the one or the 

 other. This may seem an unimportant 

 point, but practice will prove its value 

 to an unexpected degree. 



— The Orchid World. 



THE BAGATELLE ROSE GARDEN. 

 Calling attention to the editorial 

 note in our issue of December 2d, in 

 which we said that — 



"We .ire Informed th.it it Is proposed by 

 the Government "f the City of Paris to 

 establish in the Department of the Seine a 

 ■Rose Concourse' to continue for three 

 years— 1917-1919." 



Mr. Robert Pyle, president of the 



Conard & Jones Co., writes as follows: 

 "The point of similarity and dissimi- 

 larity leads me to believe that there 

 has been a slight misconception of the 

 exact situation, because the Govern- 

 ment of the City of Paris did estab- 

 lish in the Department of the Seine a 

 "rose concourse" about ten years ago. 

 This was and is called the Bagatelle 

 Rose Garden in the Bois de Bolougne, 

 and the government of the City of 

 Paris invited rose originators and 

 raisers from all countries to send con- 

 tributions, especially of their new 

 seedlings. Furthermore, they invite 

 representatives from each nation each 

 year to be present at the time of the 

 judging of the roses, etc., and it is my 

 impression that the invitation from 

 the City of Paris to which you now 

 refer marks the continuation of this 

 plan, which, much to their credit, has 

 been kept up steadily even during the 

 past two tragic ye^rs of the war. 



"You may remember that I had the 

 honor and pleasure of acting as the 

 representative of The American Rose 

 Society and was the only American 

 present at the judging of the rosea In 

 this Garden in 1911, and it has been 

 a great pleasure to me to keep In 

 touch with their work ever since. 



"I am very glad that you are calling 

 the attention of American Rose Rais- 

 ers to the opportunity of exhibiting in 

 the Bagatelle, which up to this time 

 has been the most noteworthy Inter- 

 national Rose Garden on the globe, I 

 believe." 



