Jane 13, 1S72. 1 



JOUP.XAL OF HOPiTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



477 



lasting qualities is very valuable as well as beautiful. One 

 plant now in flower has eleven of its wliite-and-yellow flowers 

 not unlike those of D. formosum, which when placed in a cool 

 house and kept rather dry will last from six to eight weeks in 

 perfection. 



Of Epidendrums there are also many species, E. prismato- 

 carpum, with six leading growths, having five strong spikes of 

 bloom which last a long time in perfection. Odontoglossum 

 Phalffiuopsis has been ilowering freely ; 0. nfevium has seven 

 spikes, and seven to ten flowers on each ; 0. citrosmum and 

 its variety roseum ai'e pushing many promising spikes — as j-et 

 none of the delicate flowers are expanded. By far the most 

 prominent Orchid now in flower is a plant of Oneidium Mar- 

 shallianum, with a branched spike, bearing twenty of its rich 

 and maguificen; flowers, which are of the most beautiful yellow 

 spotted with brown. This, with 0. macranthum, might well 

 stand in the first rank among the most beautiful of aU Oncids. 

 It requires, however, rather more warmth than the last-named, 

 but when afforded the temperatui-e of the Cattleya house it 

 thrives admirably. 



Lycaste Skinneri is also largely gi-own ; where space permit?, 

 too much of it cannot be obtained, its flowers being invaluable 

 for cutting-purposes during the dull winter months. 



Among other subjects of interest are several species of 

 Miltonia, Stanhopea, Trichopilia, Calauthe, and Sophronitis, 

 which last are growing freely on small pieces of cork with a 

 little moss ; also many plants of the lovely PUumna fragrans 

 and BurUngtonia fragrans. 



I had nearly forgotten that sadly too-much-negleeted genus 

 Pleione. Why are the species not more generally grown ? 

 Perhaps on account of their flowering in the absence of foliage. 

 Certainly this need not be any objection, since they bloom at 

 a season when flowers are scarce, and by placing a few light 

 Perns among them the deficiency is compensated for ; indeed, 

 they should not be absent from any collection of Orchids how- 

 ever small. A plant of the pretty little P. humiUs produced 

 thirteen flowers and is now sending up fourteen vigorous 

 growths, while one plant of P. WaUichiana was a perfect mass 

 of flower, and has now upwards of thirty strong and healthy 

 growths. They delight in a good supply of moisture at the 

 roots, but axe rather impatient of it on the leaves, being very 

 apt to rot at the points. 



In concluding my remarks I would say that in the depart- 

 ment set ajjart for plants in flower are several plants of Odon- 

 toglossum borrowed from the cool house, among which is a 

 superb variety of Odontoglossum triumphans with eleven flowers 

 on one spike, a number, I think, not often exceeded if equalled. 

 The whole is under the management of Mr. E. Culley, whose 

 skill as an Orchid-grower has long been known to those inter- 

 ested in horticulture ; and he will be remembered by some as 

 the curator of the once-famous Bullerian collection near Exeter, 

 at which place I also had the opportunity of seeing the mode 

 of treatment carried out. — C. J. White. 



P.S. — Since writing the above I have again taken the mea- 

 surement of the tail-like sepals of C^-pripedium caudatum there 

 referred to, and find them to bo rather over 32 inches in 

 length. While maki»)g this remark I should be glad to hear 

 if that length has been exceeded. — C. J. W. 



[Our correspondent's communication has been unavoidably 

 postponed for several weeks. — Ens.] 



UTRICULAEIA MONTANA. 

 An arboreal or epiphytal Utricularia is a phenomenon as 

 exceptional in the vegetable kingdom as are the flying fish, 

 tree frog, land crab, and similar anomahes in the wide domain 

 of animated nature. Such a plant-wonder we have in the re- 

 cently introduced Utricularia montana — an acquisition to our 

 collections, and worthy of extended cultivation, not alone for 

 its botanical interest, but on account of the size and beauty of 

 its delicate flowers. Anyone seeing, for the first time, this 

 plant in flower would be likely to smUe sceptically if told it 

 belonged to the same genus as the curious little Bladderworts 

 i(Utricularia) of our pools and ditches. The fact is so, never- 

 theless, and our modest little aquatics have great reason to be 

 proud of this exotic relative, which, ignoring the homes and 

 habits of its kind, eschewing the pool and the marsh, finds its 

 congenial feeding ground high up on the mossy trunks of trees 

 in Trinidad, St. Vincent, and elsewhere. In habit, mode of 

 growth, and the aspect of its flowers, it simulates and rivals 

 some of the prettiest of epiphytal Orchidacefe — Phala?nopsids 

 for instance. In fact, when seen, for the first time, in flower 



and growing in Orchid-fashion, even an accomplished plants- 

 man might be takeu-in, and tempted to exclaim, "What a 

 pretty Orchid ! " 



It is scarcely more than a year since this lovely and interest- 

 ing little rarity found its way to Europe. Scarcely was it in- 

 troduced than, thanks to the never-thing energy of Dr. Moore, 

 a plant was secured for Glasnevin, where we had the pleasure 

 of seeing and admiring it in flower on more than one occa^^iou 

 dming the past month. The plant is astemless epiphyte, with 

 pale green, enth'e, narrow lanceolate leaves, fi'om 4 to G inches 

 long. The leaves spring from a fascicle of oval, hollow, green, 

 semi-transparent tubers, formed on wiry fibrils, which bear at 

 intervals minute bladders or utricles, similar to those borne by 

 our home species, and whence the name of the genus. The 

 flowers are borne on a slender curved wiry scape, and may 

 number from one to five or more. They are vei-y large, neaiiy 

 2 inches in diameter, the pedicels about thi-ee-fourths of an 

 inch long, the calj-x-lobes pale yellowish green. The corolla 

 is white, with a large yellow blotch on the centre of the lower 

 lip. The upper hp or hood is roundish, with a truncated base ; 

 the lower hp is twice the size of the upper, very full and pro- 

 minent in the centre, closing the throat and concealing the 

 anthers ; the spur is a stout, curved, horn-shaped body, nearly 

 an inch long, of the same colour as the corolla. 



As regards multiplication and gi-owth, both seem to be of the 

 easiest kind. The former is effected by means of stolons, 

 which are freely produced somewhat after the fashion of the 

 Strawberry. At Glasnevin it accommodates itself and flowers 

 freely, treated either as an epiphyte and grown in a suspended 

 basket, or as an ordinary pot plant in hght open soil. The 

 first mode, however, seems to commend itself as being the 

 most desu-able way of growing it ; for as we understand that 

 in its native haunts the plant shows to most advantage when 

 growing on trees, so in our plant houses its effect will be en- 

 hanced when grown as an epiphyte or in a suspended basket. 

 With regard to temperatui'e, it requires, we believe, the hear 

 of the stove, but as it is found not alone in Trinidad and other 

 islands of the West Indies, but in New Grenada and Peru, it 

 may very probably be grown successfully in an intermediate 

 house where the heat is very moderate. — {Irish Farmers' Gazette.) 



PINE APPLE CULTURE.— No. 2. 

 Heating. — By a reference to the section of the Pine house 

 {ftij. 1, page 456), it wiU be seen that along the front of the 

 house there is a shelf 2 feet wide on which pots of winter 

 Cucumbers, Vines, &o., are placed at intervals, and between 

 them Dwarf Kidney Beans. Next to the shelf is a pathway 



2 feet 10 inches wide, and sufficiently high to allow a person to 

 walk underneath the Grapes that may be hanging above. Then 

 there is a 4i-inch brick waU with a timber coping, which I 

 like better than cemented brickwork, as not so likely to jar the 

 pots that may be rudely placed upon it. This wall is strength- 

 ened in places by 9-inch work, and is, on the whole, 3 feet 

 8 inches high ; there is a clear space for the tan bed of 7 feet 



3 inches between it and the back wall, and 84 feet 6 inches long, 

 giving altogether a bed on which we rarely have less than 

 200 plants, and often 250. There is no division in the house, 

 and only a door at each end. The eye of the observer is either 

 on a level with, or sUghtly under the fruit ; consequently the 

 plants have not, perhaps, such a good appearance as when 

 looked down upon, which would be the case if they were in a 

 pit, and seen from the back ; but in some respects they are 

 more easily managed than when in a pit, whete there is not 

 room to work amongst them. 



The house is also advantageous, as the overheating of the 

 tan bed can be avoided ; for, in a house, we can with a little 

 contrivance shift a few plants at one end, tiun over the bed if 

 it is becoming too hot, and replace the plants as the work goes 

 on. Just as in trenching, the soil taken out at first is put 

 in last, so the plants first removed ai'e replunged last. This 

 could not well be done iu a pit where there is barely room for 

 a man iu a stooping postirre or half lying down, and tha 

 removal of plants outside in cold weather cannot be otherwise 

 than hm-tful to them. There ai-e other advantages also in 

 having a httle room in a house — plants can be potted inside, 

 and, in fact, all the necessary work done, so that no Pine plant 

 nor portion of one, unless it be the crown of some favourite kind, 

 when once it passes out of the door is ever brought back again. 

 Only some pot Vines which may have been growing inside 

 during the summer, and are placed out of doors to harden their 

 wood and rest awhile prior to being taken-in in the autumn, 



