374 



JOURNAL OF HORTICOLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



( JuEC 3, 1869. 



pots, above which place a mixture of chopped sphagnum and 

 fibrous peat, adding a little white Eflnd. Compress this com- 

 post firmly, and raise it in the form of a cone far above the rim 

 of the pot, placing the plant on the top, the roots (fibres) only 

 being buried in the moss, &e." 



Mr. Warner, of Bromfield, Chelmsford, one of the most 

 enthusiastic and skilful of cultivators of Orchids, follows in 

 18C6, with a paper read before the Botanical Congress, held in 

 London, on " Cool Vinery Orchids." Mr. Warner after a few 

 introductory remarks, and mentioning how he became an ad- 

 vocate of the cool treatment of Orchids, in the first instance 

 by a successful experiment with imported plants of Lycaste 

 Skinneri twelve years ago, states, "After my first year's ex- 

 perience with Lycasle Skinneri, other Lycastes were tried, and 

 did equally well ; also, Odontoglossums grande, pulchellum, 

 &c. ; next, Arpophyllnms ; and, lastly, Pleione lagenatia, and 

 various others, including Catlleyas. All did well under the 

 shade of the Tines in summer, but I should not recommend 

 Cattleyas to rpmain during winter at the same low temperature 

 which is sufficient f jr OJcntogloesums and Lycastes. 



" It is not, however, desirable at the present time (186G) to 

 describe too minutely the treatment of what are now called 

 cool Orchids ; suffice it to say, that in my opinion there are 

 very few Orchids but feel the beneficial effects of warm fresh 

 air, and of the sun's rays, especially if the latter are made to 

 pass between Grape leaves. Temperature in winter, 45° to 

 50° Fahrenheit (7° to 10° C), sometimes lower, if frost is severe, 

 hut never below 40° (4.44° C), even at night. Summer tem- 

 perature varies according to the weather outside. Plenty of 

 fresh air is admitted when the days are fine and warm, entering 

 by front sashes through perforated zinc, and passing directly 

 over the foliage of the Orchids, so that the leaves may gently 

 wave about. As a rule, artificial heat is dispensed with in 

 warm spring, summer, and autumn days ; but at those seasons 

 if the weather is cloudy or cold, a little fire heat is given to dry 

 up the moisture occiisioned by watering the plants. The tem- 

 perature of the water should be at least 10° higher than that of 

 the atmosphere of the house. 



" Thus many Orchids may be grown well, and at little cost, 

 for two different crops are produced cut of one simple house ; ] 

 the first consisting of beautiful flowers to please the eye in the 

 winter and spring months ; and the other, siich fruit as no one 

 would refuse to partake of in July, and the early autumn." 



We should bear in mind that the above was written in 18fi5 

 and 1866 when the idea was young, but I believe advancing to 

 maturity, which it may now be snid to have arrived at ; at least 

 nothing appears to have altered Mr. Warner's views. 



Both Messrs. Backhouse and Mr. Warner distinguish between 

 " cool" and " warm " vinery Orchids which is a very essential 

 point, and one that cannot be too well known, for I must 

 confess to having at even at a somewhat recent period, no 

 great faith in the successful culture of Orchids in vineries and 

 greenhouses as then contrived and managed, and anyone 

 embarking in their culture now who does not make them and 

 not the Vines the principal object ■»i!l only meet with disap- 

 pointment. I say it with all due deference, and with as great 

 a liking for orchidaceous plants as any one can well have, and 

 a desire to see them more extensively cultivated, that Orchids 

 and Vines cannot, and are not successfully snd perfectly grown 

 in the same structure, though I admit that Orchids of certain 

 species may be grown perfectly in a vinery, but the Grapes 

 must be made secondary to them. To have Grapes in perfec- 

 tion everything must be subservient to the Vines. I write 

 this as a gardener, and not as an enthusiastic grower of plants 

 of my particular lik'ng, for though employers may wish to 

 grow all they can, and a little of everything in one house, it is 

 only fair to the gardener that they should know that Grapes 

 grown in a house filled with Orchids must not be expected to 

 compete with those produced at Trentham, Kuowsley, Keele 

 Hall, or Garston. I think it very necessary that this should 

 be known to employers, and if they are prepared to have 

 Orchids grown in vineries (as they can, and well too), along 

 with Grapes, which though not so fine as those of Mr. Meredith, 

 of Garston, are, nevertheless, perfect for table, then the matter 

 is at an end, it being well to set out with a clear understauding, 

 for disasters will come thickly and often enough without com- 

 mencing with a mistaken idea of what we are going to do. 



It is well to observe that cool-house Orchids are not to be 

 grown in greenhouses in which Epacrises, Heaths, Lesche- 

 naultias, Eriostemons, Boronias, Pimeleas, and similar plants 

 are expected to be grown as specimens, which for gcod foliage, 

 form, and profusion of bloom are fitted for the exhibition table. 



These plants require toomnohair.andan atmosphere altogether 

 unsuited to Orchids, though many of the last would fare better 

 were they placed in a Heath house in winter, rather than 

 stewed and broiled alternately as they are in many so-called 

 Orchid houses, with no equal in point of night temperature and 

 evaporation, often no better then a stewing pan. I have in 

 previous communications entered more fully into details of the 

 culture needed. — G. Aebet. 



OUT-OF-DOOR GRAPE CULTURE— WINE 

 MANUFACTURE. 



{Continued from pa pe 211.) 

 We will now return to fig. 1 [We here reproduce the wood- 

 cuts mentioned, for convenience of reference], and train the 

 Vine during its second season, as it will by tbi5 time have made 

 sufficient growth to assist my descriptions. When ten or a 

 dozen shoots, or more, buret forth on t. young Vine where seven 



'J^^^?^>^^^'^^^^^">'.':'^;^'r-— --'*— 



Fig. 1.— First year's appearance at the November proning, the dotted 

 lines fhomng the places to which the unripe wood is cut down. The 

 arrow heads show the buda from which laterals are to be produced in the 

 following year, n, a, are the trial buda. 



ought to be — the right number for the development of a proper 

 model — by degrees remove the superfluous shcots by the finger 

 and thumb, and leave seven only to take their course upon it. 

 Make them equidistant aa rf gards their positicns. Let there be 

 two leaders, and two shoots below at the base of the horizontal 

 or main stems, as I will now call them, in a lirie with the arrow 

 heads; give one vertical shoot to draw the sap, and train two 

 inwards just above the bend of the main stsiDS. Allow that ver- 

 tical shoot, and the extreme shoots on the main stems, to take 

 their upright course and grow without hindrance, and do not 

 fail to secure them to the wall with nails and shreds, but do not 

 press the shreds too tightly round them, as that would stop the 

 free circulation of the sap. Stop the pair of shoots under the 

 main stems, and their corresponding young branches above 

 them, when they have made about six joints each. For the 

 satisfaction of the cultivator, to prove whether he has been sup- 

 plied with the right sort of Grape, the trial buds, c, a, may each 

 be permitted to bear a bunch of fruit, thinning their berries 

 well out, but. do not tax the strength of the Vine beyond that 

 for the present season, and bear in mind that fruit is most 

 sure to arrive at earlier maturity, and i:ever fails to appear, on 

 the young branches which are cultivated specially for the 

 purpose in the previous year. I give lUis caution, otherwise 

 those who are only accustomed to grow Mne.i in a hothouse 

 might induce you to prune the caces after fb') fashion that a 

 schoolboy would a walking slick, on the jirgle-rod system, 

 without considering that in a hothouse nntuieis encouraged 

 by artificial heat. Even in my cool vinery and orchard house I 

 always allow the young bearing wood to be matured one year for 

 bearing the next, on the system Ihatlnowauvise for out-of-door 

 culture, and I have never yet failed to produce crops of Grapes. 

 These fruit-bearing shoots for next year will eudenvour to jush 

 forth fresh spray at the joints below which they were stopped, 

 but they must not be allowed to do so. A; soon as they offer 

 a fresh gi'owth of three leaves, pinch the points eft their succu- 

 lent ends to one leaf, and so on continually till growth cease. 

 Operate on all lateral spray by degrees as advised last year, 

 stop the main stems in October, shorten them to their ripened 

 wood, cut the central brar:cb, with those that bore fruit, com- 

 pletely away in November, and the training and pruning are 

 completed for the second year, as seen in /_7. 2. 



At the beginning of the third year the system of training for 

 fruit in the future is to begin in earnest, so some consideration 



