iSg6. 



' GARDENING. 



73 



OYMBIDIUM LOWIANUM 



There are also white-flowered varieties 

 of many other species of Cattleya, and 

 all are precious. 



CYMB1DIUM LOYVlflNUM. 



Eleven years ago among other things 

 we got a small plant of this from Eng- 

 land, it had just been imported from its 

 native wilds in Burmah. When we got 

 the plant we shook it out of the i ompost 

 in which it had been potted, washed the 

 roots clean, and repotted it into fresh 

 compost which consisted of chopped fern 

 root and broken pots. The fern root from 

 the woods is all the peat we use for 

 orchids here. As the plant filled its pot 

 with roots I repotted it into a larger one, 

 being careful not to injure the roots, and 

 it has flowered freely every year since we 

 got it. When photographed it was grow- 

 ing in a 15-inch pot and had 1-4 flower 

 spikes, bfct since that photograph was 

 taken it has been in blossom again; it had 

 18 flower spikes, and as many as 26 

 blooms on some of them. The plant is 

 grown in a greenhouse kept at 50° to 55° 

 at night, and it is liberally watered dur- 

 ing its growing season, and even when at 

 rest in winter it is not allowed to get 

 quite dry; when in vigorous growth w r e 

 give it a little liquid manure as a stimu- 

 lant. 



I crossed C . Lo wianum with pollen of C . 

 eburneum in the spring of L892, and 

 obtained ripe seed which I sowed in 

 January 1893. In two months timethree 

 seedlings came up, and two of these are 

 now showing flower spikes; and to-day 

 (October 12, 1986) there is a seedling 

 from the same sowing just coming up 

 through the moss on the pots in which 

 they were sown . 



From Cattleya Bowringiana, and C. 

 labiata, also Dendrobrum formosum 



giganteum, we are getting some fine 

 flowers for cutting, they also render the 

 greenhouse quite gay. Some of the plants 

 of D. formosum giganteum are now flow- 

 ering here for the twelth consecutive sea- 

 son, and they are vigorous enough to 

 indicate that they will bloom for many 

 vearsmore. Among the cypripediums in 

 bloom are several hybrids that were 

 raised here and flowered before, and 

 others that are now blooming for the 

 first time. The deciduous calanthes are 

 blooming nicely; the larger bulbs are 

 mostly bearing two spikes apiece. To get 

 fine flowers one must have fine bulbs. 

 George McWilliam. 

 Whitinsville, Mass., October 12, 1896. 



fl YEAR'S GflTTLEYflS. 



Cattleya Trianx is at its best in Decem- 

 ber, January and February; C. Schroderre 

 runs through March; C.Mossiae although 

 most beautiful in April and May will run 

 well into summer; C. Mendelii is gayest 

 from May to midsummer, and is suc- 

 ceeded hy C.gaskelliana; afterthat comes 

 C. gigas and C. Warneri, and C. Harriso- 

 nix, and for the late summer and autumn 

 months C. labiata is our mainstay. Now 

 all of these are of the easiest possible cul- 

 tivation, showy and beautiful, and any 

 amateur who grows orchids at all can 

 grow them successfully. A. D. 



ORCHIDS. 



Calanthes, Cattleya Percivalliana, and 

 C. Trianx, Dendrobium formosum gigan- 

 teum, D. Phalxnopsis, Cypripedium in- 

 signe.and a good many other orchids are 

 now making abeautiful display, and how 

 lovely they are! Among the tens of thous- 

 ands of greenhouse plants grown at 

 Schenlev Park the orchids are the most 

 admired, and this is notby theconnoiseur 



alone, but by the common uninitiated peo- 

 ple. Be sure you have a good lot of pot- 

 ting material, say fern root and live 

 sphagnum moss on hand. Turn out the 

 fern root ( or peat as we call it ) and let it 

 dry. this allows the earthy material to be 

 easily shaken out of it; this earthy stuff 

 becomes pasty, and it holds water and is 

 apt to sour; the best peat is free from it. 

 But we must keep the moss alive and 

 green, as dead or rotted orchid roots don't 

 take as kindly to it or live in it as well as 

 they do in fresh green moss. Spread it 

 out in a cold shed and keep it moist. 

 Don't let dendrodiums or other orchids at 

 rest shrivel for want of water. 



MIMICAL ORCHIDS. 



The fox bush orchid is ^Brides Field- 

 ingii; the goat or.hid, Masdevallia chi- 

 mxra, the parson in the pulpit orchid, 

 Oncidium dasy stile; the cradle orchid, 

 Anguloa Clowesii; the jewel orchid, 

 Anxrtochillus petala; the moon orchid, 

 Aspasia Iunata; the dandy orchid, Ca- 

 tasetum scurra; the sad orchid, Cirrhxa 

 triste; the bottle orchid, Pleione Lage- 

 naria; the swan orchid, Cycnoches chlo- 

 roclnlon; the bull's mouth orchid, Chysis 

 aurea; the old man orchid, Dendrobium 

 senile; lily of the valley orchid, Eria con- 

 vallarioides; the Javan star orcdid, Eria 

 stellata; thePunchand Judy orchid, Gon- 

 gora atropurpurea, and the butterflv or- 

 chid, Oneidium Krameri. A. D. 



Vanda Ccerulea alba is a white flow- 

 ered form; and it opens blue and soon 

 changes to almost pure white, more's 

 the pity. Vanda ccerulea is the best blue- 

 flowered orchid in cultivation, and blue 

 is very rare among orchids. Of white 

 flowered orchids we have a host, and 

 don't need this intruder; keep to the blue, 

 and the bluer the better. 



