4G2 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Decemier 11, 1873. 



country shows coxild not be reckoned to the good of the South 

 Kensington estate, the " Expenses Committee" ought not to 

 sanction the risk. We then said, " We will take the risk of 

 loss; but as j-ou decline risk of loss, you can have nothing to 

 say to the profit if there be any." Experienced people have 

 a way of disliking risk. I thought it was a plucky thing of 

 the Council, and proved their being strong horticulturists, or 

 they would not have taken it. The shows did yield a profit, 

 which was considered sacred to horticulture proper. Most of 

 the surplus from Bury St. Edmunds was put into the success- 

 ful orchard house at Chiswick Gardens. I am told, I hope 

 that it is not true, that the country shows' surplus has been 

 used for the general purposes of the Society. 



The country horticulturists appear to be fairly roused. I 

 believe that the horticultural power of the country has deter- 

 mined to assert itself to take its proper position, and to have a 

 real representative Society. If this be so, uo Kensingtonian 

 power or interest can long stand against it. I fear that you 

 wiU consider this letter too long, but pray let me add just this : 

 My first letter ended with an appeal for some one with time 

 and a fresh head at bis disposal to come forward and take the 

 lead. Such a leader is more than ever wanted. He ought not 

 to be too old. I know by experience that after a certain age 

 people like attending to their own gardens better than contro- 

 versy, though they may feel bound by a sense of duty to take 

 their share in distasteful preliminary work. — George F.Wilson. 



A CENTUEY OP ORCHIDS FOR AMATEUR 

 GROWERS.— No. 15. 



ACIKETA. 



I AM quite aware that many of the aristocratic collections 

 of Orchids do not contain any of the plants belonging to this 

 genus; indeed, the remark is often made that those old 

 Acinetas are not worth growing. From such an opinion, how- 

 ever, I beg to differ ; for although these are not high-priced 

 plants, they are none the less handsome and interesting, and 

 well deserve the amateur's care. 



Acinetas are evergreen plants of easy culture, requiring to 

 be grown in baskets, which should be suspended from the 

 roof, because the long spike which issues from the side of the 

 pseudobulb near the base takes a downward direction, and 

 pushes through the bottom ; this, if they are grown in pots, 

 cannot escape, and therefore the bloom is destroyed. The 

 outside layer in the wire or wooden baskets should be long 

 sphagnum moss, and the plants should be surrounded with a 

 mixture of rough fibrous peat and sphagnum moss, to which 

 may be added some pieces of charcoal to keep the whole open. 

 They enjoy copious supplies of water during the growing 

 season, but may have a long season of drought during the 

 winter, their thick fleshy pseudobulbs sustaining them for a 

 long time without water. 



A. Barkebii. — This is an old inhabitant of our plant 

 houses. The pseudobulbs are dark green, supporting a pair 

 of broad leaves of the same colour ; racemes produced from 

 the side of the pseudobulb, and pendulous, bearing numerous 

 fleshy, rich yellow flowers, which last a considerable time in 

 full beauty it kept from wet. It blooms about midsummer. 

 Native of Mexico. 



A. HuMBOLDTn. — Pseudobulbs large, somewhat angular, bear- 

 ing a pair of large, broad, membranous, ribbed, dark green 

 leaves. The racemes are about a foot long, pendulous, and 

 many-flowered. The flowers are large, thick, and fleshy ; 

 colour deep chocolate brown, speckled and spotted with crim- 

 son ; they are slightly fragrant, and open early in summer, 

 but are not very long-lived. As a rule, the flowers of both 

 these plants pass away some days sooner than would be the 

 case if a little care were exercised in preserving them from 

 water ; therefore no water should be given after the buds begin 

 to show colour, for as the spikes push through the bottoms of 

 the baskets they form a channel, which carries the water 

 straight to the blooms, and I have seen these destroyed in 

 this manner before fully open. Native of Bra::il. 



MILTONIA. 

 Amongst this genus may be found some of the most beauti- 

 ful objects which decorate our Orchid houses ; they may be 

 distinguished by the similarity of both sepals and petals, and 

 in having an undivided sessile labellum, which is, as it were, 

 glued to the column. The pseudobulbs are somewhat flat, and 

 bear narrowish leaves, which have the somewhat objectionable 

 character of always exhibiting a yellow unhealthy hue ; the 



grand flowers, however, compensate for this. The Miltonias 

 are very easily grown if exposed well to sunlight ; when grown 

 under heavy shade their foliage may be kept green enough, 

 but then very little flower results. Naturally Miltonias are 

 epiphytes, but under cultivation they succeed best treated as 

 pot plaut.s. The drainage must be ample, and kept in perfect 

 working order, and the compost should be peat and sphagnum 

 moss in about equal parts. Lately we saw in a contemporary 

 that the great secret of Orchid-growing lies in giving the 

 plants bottom heat. Now, I can understand any tree or shrub 

 which takes root in the ground in a tropical country reaping 

 advantage from bottom heat under cultivation, but I certainly 

 am at a loss to understand upon what natural law bottom heat 

 can be necessary to any plant which grows upon the branches 

 of the forest trees, throwing its roots out into the air, and 

 deriving its nourishment solely from the moisture of the at- 

 mosphere. For this digression, however, I must ask pardon, 

 and return to my subject, the Miltonias, fine species of which 

 I purpose including in my Century. 



M. sPECTAciLis. — This species seldom grows higher than 

 G or 8 inches. The pseudobulbs are compressed, and bear a 

 pair of short, narrow, thin leaves of a yellowish hue. Scape 

 radical ; flowers large and solitary ; sepals and petals white ; 

 lip large, flat, measuring from 3 to 4 inches in diameter, in the 

 best varieties rosy violet bordered with white. It blooms 

 from .July to the end of August, and lasts upwards of a month 

 in full beauty. Native of Brazil. 



M. MoRELLiANA. — In every aspect of growth this plant re- 

 sembles the preceding ; indeed, by some it is considered a 

 variety. Upon this, however, it is not necessary to raise an 

 argument ; suftice it to say that in a cultural sense it is most 

 undoubtedly distinct, and both are of such sterling merit that 

 no amateur's collection should be without them. As in the 

 previous kind, the scape is one-flowered, the flower large and 

 flat, measuring in good varieties from 3 to 4 inches in breadth 

 of labellum; sepals and petals deep rich purple; lip broad, 

 rich purple, veined with rose. It blooms at various timea 

 during August, September, and October, and lasts six weeks 

 in beauty if not allowed to get wet. Native of Brazil. 



^^^^ 



Miltonia Morelliana. 



M. CANDIDA GEANDiFLOBA — We have in the present a plant 

 which differs considerably in habit. The pseudobulbs are 

 more ovate, and are not flattened to the extent of either of the 

 preceding, and the raceme bears several flowers instead of these 

 being solitary. Pseudobulbs thick and somewhat ovate, beai'- 

 ing narrow, longish, light green leaves; scape radical, bearing 

 several flowers, which are somewhat distant ; sepals and petals 



