52 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTORE AND OOTTAGB QABDENEB. 



[ Jaauary 21, 1S75. 



when to hold it fast required the subtlety of the savage plus 

 the pluck of the white man. Little was known of this plant 

 for many subsequent years, not until it was gathered by 

 Fendler in 1847, and after another long interval by C. C. Parry 

 in ISGl, in the very spot where James had discovered it — 

 namely, the head waters of Clear Creek, and on Alpine ridges 

 east of Middle Park, in the Colorado territory, lat. 40° N." — 

 [Ihid., t. 0142.) 



Blumenbachia chuqtjitensis. Nat. ord., Loasese. Linn., 

 Polyadelphia Polyandria.— Flowers orange and yellow. " A 

 handsome Peruviafl herbaceous plant, allied to the Chilian 

 B. coronata, but differing wholly in habit, this having a stout 

 erect, orsuberect and leafy stem, with the petioles and axillary 

 peduncles shorter than the leaf-blade, and B. coronata being 

 a tufted plant, with a short procumbent stem, very slender 

 petioles much longer than the blade, and long scape-like 

 peduncles rising from the ground. It was imported from Peru 

 by Messrs. Veitch in 1863, through their collector Mr. Pearce, 

 and there are indigenous specimens in the Kew Herbarium, 

 coUeeted by Lechler in Peru, at San Antonio. 



" B. chuquitensis flowered in Messrs. Veitch's establishment 

 in September, and is quite hardy. When first sent to view to 

 be named, in 1865, it was supposed to be the C. coronata, under 

 which name Mr. Veitch has consequently distributed it." — 

 (Ihid , (. 6143.) 



OnoNTOGLOssuH MAXiLLAEE. Nat. ord. , Orchidacea?. Linn., 

 Gynandria Moaandria. — Native of Mexico. Flowers white 

 with purple blotches. — (Ihid., t. 6144.) 



GOLDEN CHAMPION GRAPE. 



In reply to Mr. Grieve, I have to say that the Golden 

 Champion was not a sport from any other Vine. It was raised 

 from seed taken out of a berry that was obtained by a cross 

 between the Bowood Muscat and Black Hamburgh, but which 

 was a shy setter, though the berries that did set were very large. 



I cannot help thinking that Mr. Grieve is under some mis- 

 take when he suppo.'ses that his rod of Trebbiano has produced 

 a bunch of Golden Champion. The subject is a very interest- 

 ing one ; and knowing Mr. Grieve to be a man well accustomed 

 to close observation of vegetable distinctions, whether these 

 appear in fruit or flowers, I for one shall feel obliged if he will 

 say whether the foliage of the lateral that produced the sup- 

 posed Golden Champion bunch on the Trebbiano rod was the 

 foliage of that Vine or of the Golden Champion, for they are 

 very distinct ; and if he has saved the wood of the lateral in 

 question, will he grow an eye of it or send me one ? and I will 

 grow it, and if possible throw some light on the matter. Is it 

 not possible that the bunch in question was just a short well- 

 swelled bunch of Trebbiano, with berries nearly as large as 

 Golden Champion ? The spot on the berry is no criterion, for I 

 have seen Trebbiano, and even Muscats, have the same spot as 

 Golden Champion when grown in too damp an atmosphere. 



There was a short plump bunch of Gros Guillaume (Barba- 

 rossa), shown at the International Show in Glasgow exceed- 

 ingly like a Black Hamburgh, and it passed the ordeal of the 

 judges as such, though I and others pronounced it to be what 

 it really was — Gros Guillaume. It was named Pennington Hall 

 Hamburgh, and was offered to the public as a new variety of 

 Hamburgh, when its grower, if he had any discriminating 

 powers at all, must have known by the growth of the Vine and 

 its foliage that it was not a Hamburgh, but a well-known Vine, 

 perfectly distinct from every other. Here, then, we have a 

 Grape, as a rule producing large, long, and heavily-shouldered 

 bunches, producing at times bunches so hke the Black Ham- 

 burgh as to deceive good judges. No such .deception could 

 have taken place had they seen it on the Vine. I mention this 

 circumstance that Mr. Grieve may see that it is necessary to 

 take the foliage and wood into consideration before deciding 

 that the bunch he writes about is Golden Champion. 



The Golden Champion will not succeed as a late Grape in a 

 damp atmosphere, but if grown in a Hamburgh house, in a 

 rather dry atmosphere, it will produce splendid fruit that will 

 keep till Christmas. — W. Thomson, Tweed Vineyard. 



though it is said rarely to attain more than 2 feet. The plant 

 resembles an Echinocactus, and the flowering part produced 

 on the summit consists of a dense cylindrical mass of woolly 

 hails and slender red spines, among which appear the small 

 Mammillaria-like flowers ; in this case it is more than a foot 

 high. From a fancied resemblance it has earned for the plant 

 the name of Turk's Cap. It is also known as Pope's Head 

 and Englishman's Head, the latter presumably byway of com- 

 pliment, it being known to the French as tete-ii-VAvglais. It 

 grows in the arid districts of South America and the West 

 Indies, where the mules conveniently quench their thirst by 

 drinking the juice of the interior, after first removing the 

 spines with their feet. If desired to cultivate, small plants 

 should be obtained from a nurseryman, or they may be im- 

 ported without soil in a box of any dry loose material that 

 will preserve them from injuring one another. On arrival 

 they should be placed on a dry surface in the full sun, or may 

 be potted, but in either case must be kept dry until there is 

 an inclination to grow. In winter a temperature of .50' is 

 sufficient, but in summer they will not be the worse for the 

 highest degree of heat convenient, with a proportionate amount 

 of moisture. In the cultivation of Cacti many prefer potting 

 to be done in June, as at that time a large proportion commence 

 growth, a preference, of course, on the assumption that plants 

 should not have fresh soil until the roots are ready to make 

 active use of it, because of its getting out of condition. But 

 as Cacti do not require water until growth commences, the 

 rule does not apply with so much force, and there seems no 

 reason, if more convenient, why potting should not be donS 

 from February onwards ; indeed, by experiment it is found to 

 answer. 



Among the Orchids is a very interesting Dendrobium, D. te- 

 tragonum. It is chiefly remarkable from the long tetragonal 

 pseudobulbs, which are pendulous and terminate in a pair of 

 leaves. The flowers are not highly coloured, but yet from their 

 number and peculiar form cannot be considered unattractive. 

 The perianth segments are narrow, the two lateral segments 

 curiously twisted. It is a native of Moreton Bay, Australia, 

 and does well on a block in a cool house. Masdevallia at- 

 tenuata, a charming though diminutive species, must also be 

 mentioned. It was first described three years ago, then in- 

 troduced by the Messrs. Veitch from Costa Eica. The height 

 does not exceed 3 inches, and among the numerous leaves 

 appear many sweetly-scented white flowers with orange-coloured 

 tails. This plant is growing freely suspended in a basket, a 

 position that is often convenient, as it insures safety from 

 outrage by slugs. 



DISEASE OF CUCUMBER ROOTS— VIBRIOS. 



I AM very glad to find that my observations on the presence 

 of a parasitic Nematoid in the nodules which frequently occur 

 in the roots of Cucumbers and Melons, and which have also 

 been found in Gardenia, have attracted attention. I used the 

 word Vibrio in the sense in which it was originally employed 

 by Miiller and Bauer, as more immediately intelligible than _a 

 new term to persons acquainted with Vibrio Tritici, which is 

 now Tylenchus Tritici, Bastian. It is quite true that the term 

 Vibrio is now applied to a different set of organisms. Those 

 who wish for an account of the rather extensive family of 

 Anguillulidffi may consult Dr. Bastian's paper in the "Trans- 

 actions " of the Linnean Society, vol. xxv., p. 73, 1865. The 

 species in question is not included in the paper, as I was well 

 aware when I recorded its occurrence a second time under the 

 old name of Vibrio. — M. J. Berkeley. 



NOVELTIES IN THE ROYAL GARDENS, KEW. 

 In the Succulent house we observe an unusually fine speci- 

 men of the Turk's Cap, Melocactus communis. It has just 

 been imported, and, like all that have formed the cap, is only 

 of use to exhibit the peculiar character of the species until 

 the time when it is pleased to die. Its height is about 2 J feet. 



OUR BORDER ADONIS-FLOWEES. 



We hail with pleasure the early flowers of our borders, and 

 look upon them as the harbingers of spring in whatever garb 

 they appear, and we bid them welcome, though of short 

 duration. 



The Adonis family is but a small one, comparatively speak- 

 ing, but we treasure them in our memories as well as in our 

 borders and spring gardens. 



Adonis vernalis, called by some " The God of Love," is of 

 easy culture, requiring a good loam mixed with Hmestone grit, 

 well-rotted manure, leaf mould, and a little sandy peat, well 

 drained, but watered when required. The soil in the border 

 should be broken up to the depth of 18 or 20 inches, and the 

 above particularised compost incorporated with it ; the aspect 

 should be sunny, and when planted they should be firmly 



