Jmaory 9, 1866. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



and close the earth over it. Probably this may be o£ great 

 assistance to some sorts that do not root freely. I have found 

 that by earthint; up spriggy plants every branch rooted. 



For staking cuttings September is the best time, because 

 the earth is hot, and the day and night atmosphere is colder, 

 and the sap is not so soon exhausted as in summer. The 

 best place to strike Roses from cuttings is under a wall facmg 

 the north. There they have sufficient heat without being ex- 

 hausted by the direct rays of the sun. When " Country 

 Curate " pots his cuttings he should place them in a shady 

 spot. His faUm-es arose from one of two causes, either from 

 carelessness, or the drying up of the new tender rootlets. 



With regard to Roses on the Manetti. whether they are 

 double-rooted or not, I can say that I never saw anything 

 equal to them as a class. They began blooming out of doors 

 in 18(j4 on the 7th of May, and in 1865 on the 14th of May, 

 and never stopped but one week till they gave up in the 

 winter. As soon as the main wood had bloomed its amazing 

 crop, the new shoots from the base began in a week to bloom ; 

 and, by the time these blooms were over, the next series 

 began again on the worked wood, and that wood never ceased 

 flowering ; to which might be added the next series of flowers 

 from the base shoots. A briar Rose never can be more than 

 one Rose, but a Rose on the Manetti (by striking, or being on its 

 own roots) may become many. The most favourable place for 

 striking Roses on the Manetti stock is the point of union ; but, 

 if the stems are earthed up high enough, and kept sufficiently 

 moist, some sorts more than others, they will strike abun- 

 dantlv, and give compound interest on their own roots besides 

 the Manetti plant. I have reserved about l'20(t plants to go 

 with me. Thev are now all together, and will be a tine sight. 

 I do not think of moving them till next fall.— W. F. Radclitfe, 

 Tarrant Jtuslitoii. 



COOL ORCHID CULTURE. 



I oeseuve the following remarks by Mr. Keane respecting 

 the cultivation of Orchids — "A high temperature was supposed 

 necessary for their growth ; to prove how erroneous that idea is 

 we would suggest a friendly visit to some of our most success- 

 ful neighbours." Would your correspondent be kind enough 

 to name a few places where Orchids are cultivated successfully 

 under cool treatment ? as I happen to he among the num- 

 ber of those who think a high temperatm-e absolutely essential 

 to the successful management of Orchidaceous plants. I know 

 there are a few exceptions, as some of the Odontoglossums, 

 Lyeastes, and a very few others, that thrive better in an inter- 

 mediate house, but not a greenhouse. I have visited several 

 places where it has been attempted to grow Saccolabiums, 

 .\ijrides, Vandas, i-c, in a cool house, and in every case it has 

 proved a failure. A few months ago I expected to hear of 

 Vanda tricolor and Cattleya labiata being strongly recom- 

 mended as bedding-out plants, so enthusiastic were the advo- 

 cates of the eool system. — B. F., Mancliester. 



[I beg to refer " B. F." to Messrs. Lee, Hammersmith, Mr. 

 Veitch, Chelsea, Messrs. Rollisson, Tooting, Mr. Kucker, 

 Wandsworth, and, in short, to every grower of Orchids to 

 prove, by occular demonstration, that some kinds delight in a 

 low temperature. For example, the treatment required for 

 Oncidium carthagenense would kiU O. bifolium ; Cattleya For- 

 besii will thrive where Cattleya Skinneri will die ; and in like 

 manner Dendi'obium pulchellum demands an amount of heat 

 and moisture which are unnecessary and indeed injurious to 

 D. aureum. To study the climate of the countries and locali- 

 ties from which the species come is the only sure guide. It is 

 no wonder that plants from the same country require very 

 iliSerent treatment, as Orchids grow in the tropics at all eleva- 

 tions between the level of the sea and 14,000 feet of altitude, 

 and, therefore, they will require a great diversity of climate. 

 When the many rare and beautiful species were sent home 

 from the high lands of Mexico and Guatemala, Mr. Hartwig 

 informed us, in his letters, that the thermometer was some- 

 times near- the freezing point where many of them grew, and 

 this was confirmed by the quantity of small mosses which 

 were found growing upon some of the branches to which the 

 plants had attached themselves. Many of them were removed 

 into a house which was kept cooler than the Orcbideous stove, 

 and they succeeded much better than others of the same kinds 

 which were allowed to remain in a high temperature, where they 

 were over-excited, and grew sickly and languid, forming small 

 pseudo-bulbs every year, untU they finally perished. Many 



growers have experienced the same results. The house in the 

 Horticultural Society's Garden at Chiswick, where they wei-e 

 grown, had no artificial heat during the greater part of the 

 summer, and in winter it was kept at about 55°. The air, 

 however, was kept more moist than in a common greenhouse. 



— W. iiEANE.] 



VISITS TO GARDENS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. 



Messrs. Low k Son's, Clapton. 



.\mongst the old-established nurseries in and about London, 

 none is better known or more deservedly celebrated than that 

 which for so many years has been known as that of Hugh Low 

 & Son, Clapton ; aiid although the head of the firm not long 

 ago died full of years and honours, yet it is still carried on 

 with the same vigour and energy which have chai-acterised it 

 for so long a period. It was on a miserably wretched day in 

 the month of October, when the rain came down in " buckets- 

 ful," that I found myself at the nursery, and was fortunate 

 to have an hour or two's tour of the houses accompanied by 

 Mr. Stuart Low, from whom I learned much that was new to 

 me, and saw much that was novel also. 



In some vei7 important respects the Clapton Nm-sery has 

 spik-ialites of its own. One will not find in it the magnificent 

 specimens of stove and greenhouse pl.ants, and Orchids, that 

 are to be seen at Mr. Veitch's or Mr. Williams's, nor the 

 curious and multitudinous novelties that Mr. Bull grows ; but 

 you will see houses full of Orchids in every stage, from the 

 plants just imported to those which are growing finely and 

 fiowering; whole ranges full of Heaths, especially those for 

 winter and spring decoration ; thousands and tens of thou- 

 sands of young Conifers gi-own from seed ; house after house 

 filled with Camellias of all sizes and kinds ; not a great deal of 

 order and neatness, but an air of business that showed that 

 matters were thriving ; and that as this house has contributed 

 in no small degree to the taste for horticulture by the extensive 

 importations it has made from all ([uarters of the globe, so it 

 is in its turn deriving no small degree of benefit from that 

 increased taste. 



And now as to the Orchids. It is well known how many 

 beautiful plants of this remarkable tribe have been added to 

 our collections by the enterprise of this firm ; and it shows the 

 manner in which it is ready to seize upon any fair opening, 

 that immediately on the cool treatment of Orchids coming into 

 vogue, a collector was dispatched to South America to obtain 

 from the high altitudes of New Grenada and Guatemala the 

 Odontoglossums and other Orchids with which those districts 

 abound ; and it may give an idea of the extent of the importa- 

 tions to say that in three months were received about 150 cases 

 of Orchids. Were these all to arrive in good condition they 

 would indeed afford a rich harvest ; but they have to go through 

 an ordeal by which hundreds of them perish. They are col- 

 lected on the heights of New Grenada at an altitude of 24,000 

 feet, where the average temperature is about i'2' ; but before 

 they reach the steamer they have to come down eight hundred 

 miles to the coast by the Maddalena River, oue of the hottest 

 steaming countries in the world. The consequence of this is 

 that they actually melt, all the tissue turning into water, so 

 that when the skin of the pseudo-bulbs is not buist you can 

 squirt the water out of them as out of a syringe ; but in some 

 species when even this is the case, and the rhizome is sound, 

 the plant will recover and make fresh bulbs, as, in fact, I saw 

 many of them doing. Amongst the Odontoglots were gloriosum, 

 Bluiitii, radiatum, and many others, which are niost probably 

 entirely new, and thus promise the incentive of novelty and 

 expectancy to those who purchase ; for hither hie that nurne- 

 rous and increasing class of horticulturists to whom Orchids 

 are precious— some thinking they can detect something strange 

 and novel, others pretty sure that they have found a gem, and 

 many contented with anything they can pick up. Of Cattleyas 

 from New Grenada there was also a great variety, in every 

 degree of colouring, from that of Mossiie to pure white. Then 

 there were Dendrobiiims of all kinds— albo-sanguineum, very 

 rare, from Moulmein, growing well. Look, too, at this lot of 

 Lrelia anceps, imported only in .June, and now flowering ; and 

 Liplia majaUs, assumed by most to be a difficult plant to grow, 

 but here doing well, and that in a low temperature. 



On the subject of low temperatures for Orchids I had a long 

 and interesting chat with Mr. Low, he being decidedly of opmion 

 tliat a great deal more has been said of it than it warrants ; 

 and that manv persons, misled by what has been written on 

 the subject, will bum their fingers, or rather, should we not 



