7S 



JOUilNAL OF HORTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



{ July 31, 1873. 



on March 31st, one plant under each light of a three-light 

 frame. They grew and set without a drawback, on .June 24th 

 I cut the first ripe fruit, and within a fortnight had cut a 

 doz3u fruit of an average weight of 4 to 4Jlbs. I could have 

 ha^^ them larger, but size in Melons, as in many other things, 

 is obtained at the expense of flavour. Some fruits weighed 

 nearly Gibs., although the plants were stinted of water. The 

 plants are good for another crop. Little Heath will grow to a 

 large size, no doubt, if well supplied with water, and slightly 

 shaded from bright sun. If cut before it is very ripe the fruit 

 will keep for a fortnight or more ; indeed, it has no superior in 

 keeping properties that I know, except in the old and I believe 

 extinct (Jabul Melon, which I have known kept for weeks. I 

 should be glad of a few seeds of the Cabul, through the Editors 

 of this .Journal, if it is at present in cultivation. It is ellip- 

 tical in shape, yeUow outside when ripe, with a greenish white 

 iiosh. Little Heath Melon is the true Beeohwood, with a fruit 

 precisely similar, and not so strong a vine, and the fiesh is 

 scarlet. It wUl be extensively grown, and be everybody's 

 favourite scarlet-fleshed Melon. — G. Abbey. 



COLAX JUGOSUS. 



What is Colax jugosus ? This question has been asked me 

 by many amateur Orchid-growers during the past season, and 

 a few words respecting it will, perhaps, not be considered out 

 ol place in the pages of the -Journal, for the benefit of those 

 amateurs who may contemplate adding it to their coUections. 



Colax, then, is a genus very nearly allied to Maxiliaria — in- 

 deed, so closely, that it is questionable if the differences are 

 really sufficient to warrant its separation, the chief feature 

 which has given rise to its elevation to generic rank being its 

 peculiarly long-pointed glandless caudicle ; but as the genus 

 is acknowledged and upheld by the highest authorities, we 

 must accept it as being sufficiently distinct. 



Turning, however, to this plant horticulturally, Colax ju- 

 gosus is a plant of dwarf compact habit, producing flowers of 

 great beauty, and is well deserving a place ia every amateur's 

 collection, no matter how Umited the accommodation. The 

 full height of the plant seldom exceeds 12 inches. The 

 pseudo-bulbs are smooth, somewhat ovate, and about 3 inches 

 in length ; from these it produces dark green leaves both from 

 the top and base ; the leaves are usually from 6 to 8 inches 

 long, and about IJ inch, or from that to 2 inches, broad. The 

 scape springs from the base of the pseudo-bulb, and is clothed 

 with large imbricating scales, bearing upon the top sometimes 

 three, but more frequently two, somewhat globose flowers, 

 which when expanded are about 2 inches in diameter. The 

 sepals are vei-y broad — indeed, almost round, and soft cream- 

 coloured ; the petals are also very broad, but more oblong than 

 the sepals, and their colour is pure white, beautifully marked 

 with transverse bands of rich dark purple; the lip is small, 

 furrowed, and velvety ; the side lobes white striped with dotted 

 lines of deep purple, whilst the semicircular front lobe is also 

 white, dotted and striped with rich velvety purple. By this 

 description it will be seen that Colax jugosus is a little gem. 

 and a plant that is not hkely to outgrow the convenience of 

 even the smallest stove ; and when I add that its flowers are 

 produced very freely during April and May, it must, I think, 

 be acknowledged worthy of eveiy attention from aU lovers of 

 the chaste and beautiful. 



With a few words upon its culture I will bring these brief 

 notes to a close. Until quite recently Colax jugosus has been 

 extremely rare and so little heard of, that, as its name is out 

 of the usual stereotyped genera, it having made its appearance 

 with some frequency at the pubUc sales during the past year, 

 it has come upon amateurs as a surprise. Many Orchid- 

 growers imagine it to be a cool-country plant, and to some 

 extent it is so, but it likes a little more heat than the majority 

 of Odontoglossums, and I have found it succeed best when 

 treated in every respect the same as Cattleya Mossia;, and, like 

 the last-named plant, it is a native of Brazil. — Experto Crede. 



THE NEW STBAWBEEET DWAKF TOMATO. 



We are perfectly wilhng to admit that the Strawberry To- 

 mato is the same as Physalis edulis, but we are not aware that 

 Physalis edulis has been used, or at all events of late years, as a 

 vegetable. The name " Strawberry" and the description were 

 taken from American catalogues of repute ; the wholesale 

 price Is. per oz., and the retail price (id. per packet, being in 

 accordance with the current value of Physahs edulis. It is 



not the custom with the majority of the trade to put the scien- 

 tific name to vegetables, and we were justified in putting " new " 

 against it on account of the novel application of an almost 

 unknown esculent. Wherein, therefore, consists the deception ? 

 In the American catalogues we had observed a slightly increased 

 charge was made for this novelty ; we, however, refrained 

 from charging more than the current value of Physalis edulis. 

 If we had put the scientific name of Physalis edulis, proKably 

 your correspondent would then have seen a fraud in our not 

 calling it Cape Gooseberry. Some people see deceptions where 

 deception is not intended. — Introduceks. 



EXHIBITION FRAUDS. 



I ENCLOSE a letter which reached me yesterday, and which 

 I have resolved to hand to you to deal with as you may think 

 fit. It has long been whispered that prizetaking plants and 

 flowers are not always and altogether the property of the exhi- 

 bitors ; and some exhibitors have been charged with valuing 

 the artifice of beating an opponent by borrowing, more than 

 by the skill required to beat him by cultivating. As to the 

 honour of winning a prize by the exercise of industry and skill, 

 honour, not being a marketable commodity, is never thought 

 of, or reckoned as nothing by such people. It has long seemed 

 to me that some steps should be taken to stop these practices, 

 or the morality of our flower shows wUl soon sink to the level 

 of the ordinary race-course or the low country fau'. — ^WUiLiAii 

 Paul, Wahham Cross, London, N. 



"Juh/ 21,l&7d. 

 " To W. Paul. 



" Sir, — Would you be kind enough to send me word by return 

 of post if you can supply me with twelve cut Eoses about the 

 last week in August, to be shown in a stand of three ? Please 

 send your terms for the same, and oblige yours — H. Walton, 

 Carr Mill Terrace, Saslingden. Lancashire.^' 



APPLICATION OF NITRATE OF SODA TO THE 

 GLADIOLUS. 



"Y)., Deal," .asks. How and in what proportion to use the 

 nitrate of soda? Perhaps the best answer I can give is, Much 

 as you would apply guano to an Onion bed by sowing, or dis- 

 solved in water, or by mixing it with the soil during the winter 

 turning. I do not think it is so powerful as some people seem 

 to imagine. I hope that I am not understood to mean that it 

 will entirely eradicate the disease, but rather that by its use I 

 avoid wireworm, and grow the Gladiolus more gross than with- 

 out it. I generally use as much as I can lift with one hand in 

 about sis gallons of water. 



I am afraid we hear far too much about well-decomposed 

 manure. This year my Gladiolus bulbs are amongst new cow 

 manure, to which I strongly advise all your readers to give a 

 trial, especially if then- soil is light. They wiU then avoid its 

 being washed and dried, and will never afterwards have reason 

 to regret using it. 



Your readers will form some idea of my love for the Gladio- 

 lus when I mention that on the loth inst. I was to be found 

 some 3-50 miles from home examining Mr. Banks's collection, 

 for the sake of information and compai'ison. I am glad that 

 I then found many as good, and growing as robustly as heai't 

 could desire ; but, unfortunately, also, many were just as sickly- 

 looking, whole beds going off together — in fact, worse than I 

 had ever previously beheld them. I should gladly have seen 

 " D.," of Deal's at the same time, but cu'cumstances did not 

 allow of my doing so. 



Two things in particular, in passuig over that eighty-two 

 miles of hue from London to Deal, which made a deep im- 

 pression on my mind, were the poverty-stricken appearance of 

 the land on each side of the rail, and the fact of seeing men 

 hacking with scythes at old, dried, brown meadows — strangely 

 ripe to what we out grass in the north — and never in all that 

 distance seeing one mowing machine. My wonder ever after 

 shall be not that the south-country farm labourer is poorly 

 paid, but that his employer is able to recompense him at all, 

 seeing that the latter has to compete with such immeasurably 

 superior arrangements. We call out — aud justly so in some 

 places — about the evil effects of the Game Laws ; pray let us in 

 future carry on a war of extermination against Nettles, Docks, 

 Thistles, Poppies, and other such impoverishing weeds, and 

 the result may be a national blessing. My impression, from 

 close observation during my long journey, was that our culti- 

 vated lands on the average do not yield half the produce that 



