i8g8. 



1 ' GARDENJNU. 



149 



The Greenhouse. 



THE BLUE MARGUERITE. 



The common marguerite with its white, 

 daisy-like flowers and silvery leaves, is fa- 

 miliarevery where. A closely related plant 

 has yellow blooms and is useful in much the 

 same way as the white one, although not 

 near so common or so popular. But the 

 blue marguerite, otherwise known as 

 Agathwa ccelestis, is very seldom culti- 

 vated in this country, and yet it is a very 

 beautiful plant and useful in producing 

 flowers during the winter months. The 

 accompanying illustration shows the 

 plant at its best as a winter bloomer. 

 The leaves are deep green in color, the 

 flowers of a lovely skj'-blue tint with yel- 

 low disk — the former a rare and precious 

 color in our greenhouses. 



A. ccelestis is easily grown. Cuttings 

 of the half-ripened wood root freely in 

 heat during the spring months, and their 

 subsequent treatment may be pretty much 

 the same as that given chrysanthemums 

 grown in the open and potted in autumn. 

 The plant, however, requires a trifle more 

 heat than chrysanthemums during the 

 late autumn and winter months. It is 

 sometimes rather difficult to procure suit- 

 able material for cuttings on account of 

 the free-flowering character of the plant, 

 but this difficulty iseasily removed by cut- 

 ting back a few specimens to a moderate 

 extent in January or February, thuscaus- 

 ing a new growth from which cuttings 

 may be selected in abundance later on. 

 The blue marguerite has been used as a 

 bedding plant in England with very favor- 

 able results, and it would be difficult to 

 imagine a floral scene of greater attract- 

 iveness indoors or out than onecomposed 

 of blue and white marguerites, judiciously 

 blended with a view to obtain the most 

 from the variety of color afforded by the 

 flowers and foliage of both plants. 



ORCHID NOTES. 



The calanthes have now been in bloom 

 several weeks, and are likely to remain 

 attractive through an additional period 

 of similar duration. C. Veitchii is grown 

 here principally, and we have the plants 

 in 5-inch and 6-inch pots. There are from 

 one to three spikes to a plant, each spike 

 bearing from twenty to twenty-five flow- 

 ers of a rich rose color. The spikes vary 

 in length from thirty inches to three feet. 

 After the flowering season the bulbs are 

 put awav for a brief rest, where they can 

 be kept dry, in a temperature ranging 

 from 55° to 60°, keeping them in the pots 

 they have been grown in. About the first 

 week of March the bulbs are shaken out 

 of the soil, placed in shallow pans of 

 moist sand and removed to a shelf close 

 to the glass in a house where the 

 temperature rises to 65° and 70°, or in 

 that neighborhood. Soon after the 

 young roots begin to form, the bulbs are 

 potted in a mixture of fibrous loam and 

 dried cow manure, one part of the latter to 

 two parts loam. Care should be taken to 

 provide good drainage, and potting com- 

 pleted the plants maybe returned to their 

 former position near the glass. Some 

 judgment is needed in watering until the 

 plants are well established, when weak 

 liquid manure can be applied two or three 

 times a week. With this treatment fol- 

 lowed closely, shading lightly and syr- 

 inging daily in bright weather, good 

 plants should result. 



Several plants of the beautiful Coelygyne 

 cristata are coming into bloom. These 

 are suspended from the roof of a rather 



cool house in perforated pans. The pot- 

 ting compost consists of fern roots and 

 sphagnum, top-dressed with live sphag- 

 num. The long lance-shaped leaves are 

 deep green, contrasting well with pure 

 white flowers, blotched with yellow, 

 which proceed from the base of the bulbs 

 in large drooping clusters. In order to 

 get a good crop of flowers from these 

 plants, we have found cool culture indis- 

 pensable, even to the extent of placing 

 them outdoors in summer. A slightly 

 raised bench beneath tall trees, sufficiently 

 dense of foliage to exclude all fierce sun- 

 shine, is an ideal place for them. But the 

 plants must be so disposed as to receive 

 a maximum amount of light, drawing the 

 line only against direct sunlight. Ample 

 drainage is strictly essential to their wel- 

 fare, for they require water in abundance, 



SOME CONSERVATORY BLUNDERS. 

 It is quite common to hear the ex- 

 pression, "I wish I could afford a con- 

 servatory," and with all due respect to 

 the many good men and women who 

 make this statement I reply that in a 

 majority of cases such language only 

 betrays ignorance of the subject. One, of 

 course, who has not a room fit to live in 

 cannot accomplish much, but any person 

 in possession of a house that will bear the 

 addition of a bay window can as easily, 

 and for the same expense, have a conser- 

 vatory. On the other hand a large ma- 

 jority of those who conclude that they 

 can afford one waste a few hundreds of 

 dollars in arranging a box of a room in 

 which nothing will live but green-fly, 

 mealy-bug and the red spider. I have 

 never yet seen a conservatory made by an 



THE BLDE MARGUERITE. 



overhead and at the roots, during the 

 season of growth. The plants should be 

 moved back to the cool house again early 

 in September, and kept at a night tem- 

 perature of 50° or 55° until the flowers 

 show in January-, when, if necessary, the 

 development of the blooms may be 

 hastened somewhat by a rise of 5° or so 

 in the temperature. 



Cypripedium insigne still holds its posi- 

 tion as a general favorite with all classes 

 of orchid growers. It is truly a "general 

 utility" cypripede, valuable alike as a 

 decorative plant and for cut flower pur- 

 poses. We have some fine plants in large 

 pans, but specimens of medium size, say 

 in 7-inch pots, are by farthe most service- 

 able. The latter are easy to move about, 

 and they produce more flowers in a given 

 space than those of larger dimensions. 

 Robert Shore. 



architect that was worth the price of the 

 glass used in its construction. This gen- 

 tleman generally gets a lot of fancy wood- 

 work on the outside to obstruct the light; 

 he forgets to arrange for ample ventila- 

 tion; he has theinterior finished in highly 

 polished walnut or cherry, with a tile 

 floor thrown in; and above all, to keep it 

 warm, the heat is supplied from a hot air 

 register. 



No one can afford such a place for the 

 cultivation of plants. I have succeeded in 

 teaching a few how to keep plants alive 

 in these contrivances, but it was not 

 worth the trouble. Imagine a house like 

 this full of palms and ferns, where the 

 temperature in winter should not rise 

 much above 70" in a moisture-laden air. 

 Syringe and all is well for thirty minutes; 

 then the sun comes out and runs the tem- 

 perature up to 90°. Ventilate in the best 



