260 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ October 8, 1868. 



they ■will liavo \fell filled the pot with roots, T^hen they may 

 be repotted in a larger pot, in a compost similar to that in 

 ■which they were first potted. Water should be used sparingly 

 until they have filled the second pot ■with roots. If the at- 

 mosphere is kept moist, little or no water will be required 

 nntil the pots are well filled with roots ; after this the plants 

 will bear water pretty freely, and as soon as the pots are 

 thoroughly filled with roots the plants may be well supplied 

 with moderately strong manure water three or four times 

 a-week, or oftener than this if they are growing freely. This 

 treatment may be continued till the end of September, taking 

 care to give them on all favourable occasions abundance of air. 



About the end of August, or early in September, the flower 

 spikes will make their appearance, breaking out from the side 

 of the bulb at the base. 



At the time of my visit, Mr. Yates's plants were pushing 

 ont flower shoots, more like good strong heads of Asparagus 

 than anything else. They were the most extraordinary lot of 

 plants 1 ever saw, and there is no doubt they will throw up 

 spikes more than 4 feet high, clothed with their pretty white and 

 Erimson flowers. Care must now be taken not to keep the 

 plants too thickly together. They should be set sufficiently far 

 apart to allow the air to circulate freely amongst them, and to 

 give sufficient light to the young flower spikes, for it these are 

 kept too much shadetl before they grow above the foliage, they 

 become very much weakened, and frequently damp-off. The 

 finest plants at Sale were set on inverted pots on a flue near 

 the glass. They had leaves, I should think, from 18 inches to 



2 feet inches long, and 3 or 4 inches broad at the ■sridest part 

 of the leaf. 



About the end of September the plants are placed in a tem- 

 perature a little cooler than that they have been grown in 

 during the previous four months ; and in order to preserve 

 them in flower for the longest possible time, the atmosphere 

 should be kept as dry as possible. I have known them to last 

 in great beauty in a drawing room for more than two months. 



During the winter, after the blooming is over, the pots should 

 be turned on their sides, and the plants kept without water till 

 it is time to start them into growth again. 



No plant is more useful for winter decoration than the 

 Calanthe, and no plant more easily grown if the above direc- 

 tions are properly attended to. Altogether, I should think I saw 

 nearly two hundred pots of this lovely plant in the most luxu- 

 I'iant health. 



Of the beautiful Ccclogyne cristata Sir. Yates has as many 

 plants as would fill a good-sized cart. All one side of a large 

 house was occupied with plants of it, many of which were 



3 feet across, and they are covered with large white flowers 

 early in spring. The soil they are grown in is a good fibrous 

 peat ; the pots and pans must be half filled with drainage, and 

 the lumps of peat well elevated above the rim. The peat 

 should be pressed moderately closely into the pans, and 

 squeezed as firmly together as possible above the rim. As the 

 plant extends its growth, fresh roots are emitted at the junction 

 ■with the old and the new pseudo-bulb. After the plants have 

 done flowering they are placed in a high temperature, kept well 

 supplied with wiiter, and frequant waterings with moderately 

 strong manure water are afforded. The Ccclogyne, like the 

 Galanthe, will bear a high and very humid temperature during 

 the growing season ; but as soon as the former h.as matured its 

 growth it must have all the air and sunshine that can be given 

 it, in order to ripen its pseudo-bulbs thoroughly, and during 

 this time only sufficient water must be afforded to prevent the 

 plants from suffering injury. From the eiid of August up to 

 the beginning of March a temperature of C5° will be the most 

 snitable. About this time the plant will commence pushing out 

 its flower spikes, and the flowers will preserve their beauty a 

 long time if placed in a cool dry temperature, similar to that 

 leeommended for the Calanthe. 



Of the Eucharis amazonica, Mr. Y'ates also holds a very 

 large stock and manages to have a supply of flowers all the 

 year round. The plants are gro^K-n in a very warm humid 

 atmosphere, and, treated in this way, are very useful and 

 onamental. 



Mr. Yates's houses also contain numerous other kinds of 

 plants, and the two or three houses set apart fur the cultivation 

 of Orchids are crammed witli the most choice species and 

 Tarieties of that most interesting order in the most luxuriant 

 state of health. Much care is also bestowed on the cultivation 

 of the Camellia, of which there is a very large stock of re- 

 markably fine plants of the best varieties. These are also 

 Srown for furnishing cut flowers. One or two vei'y lofty houses 



are planted with winter-flowering Acacias, Chorozemas, and 

 various other New Holland plants. Beneath one of the Acacias 

 we spent a very pleasant and instructive evening, and Mr. 

 Yates very humorously described the origin of his Oichid fancy, 

 and the failures and successes he had met with during a long 

 series of years. There are besides two large Rose houses, 

 several Fern houses, and in the open air many acres of ground 

 are covered with the choicest specimens of Conifers, Hollies, 

 Khododendrons, &c. To do full justice to the fine stock of 

 plants in this old-established place would take a long series of 

 articles, and several busy days with pencil and note-book, but 

 when I visit it again 1 hope to have more time to devote to its 

 contents. 



Leaving Manchester next morning for London, I broke my 

 journey at Sheffield. This horribly dusty and smoke-begrimed 

 place is the last in the world near which one would expect to 

 see plants grown ; yet at a very little distance from this region 

 of smoke and dust Messrs. Fisher, Holmes, & Co. have a 

 very fine and extensive nursery filled with a very choice col- 

 lection of trees, shrubs, fruits, &c. I had but time to take a 

 hasty glance of it. In running through a portion of the grounds 

 I came upon a long row of the Lawton I51ackberry. This was 

 covered with fruit, had a very pleasing effect, and will, no doubt, 

 become a useful addition to our fruit garden. In the glass 

 houses there was a very fine collection of all the popular plants 

 in cultivation ; but in one house I was much struck with the 

 beauty of a plant of Lapageria rosea, completely covered with 

 flowers. There could not be less than two hundred fully ex- 

 panded flowers on it, and Mr. Fisher told me the plant had 

 been covered just in the same way all through the season. Two 

 other houses which I entered were filled with Tricoloured and 

 double-flowered Pelargoniums. They certainly formed one of 

 the finest sights 1 have seen for a very long time. The Tricolors 

 were splendid in colour, and the double varieties were the finest 

 I have ever seen, showing what a valuable race of plants these 

 are for conservatory decoration. There was to be seen the 

 beautiful Madame Lemoine, far outstripping all the other 

 varieties that were grown beside it, fine though they were. 



I thought on leaving this nursery, if such great results as 

 these can be obtained in such a region of sulphur, dust, and 

 smoke, surely we in London ought not to complain, seeing that 

 the climate of London is much more favourable to the growth 

 of plants generally than that of Y'orkshire. 



I will state in conclusion, that the Manchester Botanical 

 Gardens were looking well, and there had evidently been a very 

 fine display of bedding plants. The contents of Mr. Findlay'a 

 plant houses were in fine health ; and in the Victoria regla 

 house I saw the finest plant 1 have ever seen of that most 

 beautiful Lily. The leaves were very large and of great sub- 

 stance. J. \VlLLS. 



MR. STANDISHS LAST NEW GRAPE, 

 This is the Early Ascot Frontignan, an amber-coloured 

 Grape, with a fine Muscat flavour, the berry and bunch, as 

 regards size and shape, resembling the Boyal Muscadine. It 

 is a free setter, very hardy and vigorous, and the earliest Grape 

 I have grown, if we except the Chasselas Vibert. 



This valuable variety came into my possession as follows : — 

 Mr. Standish, having heard of my introducing a new kind of 

 glass structure for the protection and the earlier ripening of 

 various fruits, kindly sent me on the 20th of August, 18G7, a 

 few cuttings of this new Grape, thinking it might answer well 

 in these structures. These cuttings were sent to me under a 

 promise that I would part with no plant without his permission, 

 and this I intend strictly to adhere to. The cuttings, about the 

 size of a small goose-quill, were grafted immediately on Black 

 Humburgh stocks. One on a stock of its own size has grown a 

 rod of 12 feet in length, but it is the one grafted on a spur of 

 an established Hamburgh I wish to call attention to. This 

 had two eyes, very small indeed, and no one would have 

 imagined that each eye could have produced a vigorous shoot 

 and a bunch of Grapes. One shoot was stopped, but the other 

 grew 15 feet in length, when it wi^s accidentally broken off 

 early in the season to 9 feet ; it would otherwise have extended 

 to 20 feet at least. The girth of this shoot is 1 J inch ; the wood 

 is ripe, short-jointed, and the eyes very prominent. Three 

 weeks since the Grapes were dead ripe, whereas those of the 

 Hamburgh, on which it was grafted, are not yet fully coloured. 

 I consider this a most valuable variety as far as 1 have yet 

 had experience of it. With the protection of the upright hexa- 

 gonal and octagonal glass cases, in which I intend cultivating 



