April 15, 1875. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



291 



TropoBolnm on a serpentine border 2 feet wide and abont 

 CO yards long Amongst other plants in the border were six 

 Irish Yews 7 feet high ; on each of these were trained three 

 plants of this Tropseolnm, and althongh exposed to severe 

 g*les of wind, it looked very pretty, and was admired by 

 many. — Whjjaii Laurie. 



AURICULAS. 



April, as the derivation of its very name imports, is truly 

 the month that opens the year. To the florist it is the 

 entrance into bloom of his first-born favourite — the Auricula ; 

 tba flower which, let me confess, is with me the heiress, the 

 princess royal of my floral love. 



From this time forth till brown October comes, those of us 

 who grow " the round " of florists' flowers have now no break 

 in our Daisy chain. No two links in this succession are alike ; 

 and although I know not one flower in the world that stays 

 long enough to tire ns, still there is rare richness and an in- 

 tended refreshment in complete changes. The Auricula, Poly- 

 anthns, TuUp, Ranunculus, Pink, Eoee, Carnation, andPicotee, 

 which form the length of the lovely chain with me, leave me 

 naught to envy though much to admire in other gardens. 



I have no " popular" flowers except the best of the Roses in 

 fat beds (they will lie in any depth of "feathers," these luxu- 

 rious beauties), all my non-florist flowers being quaint herb- 

 aceous oddities — plants that have quietly withdrawn themselves 

 from the glare of gardens a la mode, but take kindly to the 

 shelter of an old place like mine, where they seem to know they 

 are welcome for their own strange beauty's sake, and are not 

 rated at the common estimate of the world for how much of 

 " effect " they are worth. But I must keep to the objects for 

 which I write. 



One is to apprise all interested in the culture of the Auricula 

 that the National Auricula Society's next show will be held on 

 April 27th (Tuesday), in Manchester, and in conjunction with 

 the Spring Exhibition of the Manchester Botanical Council, to 

 whom are due the hearty thanks of florists for the encourage- 

 ment given to the public exhibitions of florist flowers. As a 

 rule these have of late been virtually private, being held among 

 the growers of a neighbourhood and their friends. 



Another matter on which I would say a word is the question 

 raised lately by " G. S.," whether an Auricula with a tall root- 

 less stem could be cut down with safety. It is a constant prac- 

 tice of my own to do so, and the operation is perfectly safe. 

 Not only is there no danger to fear, but considerable profit to 

 expect. Some sorts are fond of making long stems— f.j.jCathe- 

 riua. Lord Lome, and Mrs. Sturrock ; but a collection should 

 not be allowed to run into this habit. Cut off your rootless 

 top, and rub the wounded surfaces with powdered charcoal. 

 Pot this top firmly — very firmly, and keep the soil but mode- 

 rately moist ; cover it with a broken wineglass or a cheap 

 tumbler, or pot the cut piece low enough for a square of glass 

 to lie over the pot top. See that no wet lodges in your plant, 

 and keeping it thus close and cool you may justly expect it to 

 prosper. It can root from any ring on the stem from which a 

 leaf has sprung, and when the heart shows signs of growing- 

 out admit air freely. The old topless but rooted stem can 

 hardly fail to break some dormant eyes, and so you gain at 

 both ends. I will here state that most of my fine stock of 

 Page's Champion has been won by my twice beheading plants, 

 striking the rootless head, and then receiving that back as a 

 fine short-necked plant while the old "carrot" has gone on, 

 throwing offsets at the eyes that were dormant before. I have 

 plants at this moment undergoing this little device. The only 

 notable failure I can recall was with a plant of Japiter — my 

 only one, and I cut it because of unsoundness, hoping a little 

 at the top would come round, but I could not save it. It is 

 wonderful how this plan of striking an Auricula top will 

 answer, and if you can save a single ring of stem you are not 

 past hope with it. 



I have had pieces like this strike root out of the very leaves 

 near their base, and I have a gem of a seedling now thriving 

 after that narrow escape. Again, I have cut rootless heads off 

 in the autumn, kept them under a small glass, had them root 

 during the winter, and go on with the rest in spring, the same 

 as offsets. There is a time for all things, and when " G. S." 

 wrote his query the spring foliage of Auriculas was so far 

 advanced that a rootless top would suffer more than if taken 

 off in quieter times. Often a plant makes two hearts after the 

 b'oom, and a two-headed plant cannot take both trusses to an 

 exhibition. Not choosing to wait till both heads are rooted, I 



save a year by sharply cutting the whole stem down, allowing 

 each head half the roots, rubbing all wounds with powdered 

 charcoal. I have seen Auriculas beheaded and struck, and the 

 old stem, or carrot, fairly quartered, and all the quarters giving 

 out eyes. 



It may shock my friend " D., Deal," to hear of Auriculas 

 being so knocked about. He will handle his with tenderer 

 touch ; but a friendly correspondent of mine, the Rev. Mr. 

 Tymons, seems to side with me. It is no new thing I speak of, 

 but a practice pursued by growers with less advantages than 

 I have. I am thinking of my friend Benjamin Simonite of 

 Sheffield among others, who in the very thick of that black, 

 and bleak, and dismal air grows the Auricula right well, besides 

 the Carnation and Picotee. It was of him bringing flowers in 

 fine order to an exhibition that a friend once said, " Here 

 comes the man that grows his flowers up engine-house 

 chimneys!" 



Talking of exhibitions and meetings reminds us always of 

 those who will not be there next time — of the friends we have 

 lost between while. We shall not see Robin Lancashire with 

 us any more. He is one more genuine florist of the old school 

 gone; his age 77 ; his Auriculas the last flower in his posses- 

 sion as with so many old florists. The sort known as Lanca- 

 shire Hero was raised by him ; it is a name familiar as a house- 

 hold word among growers, and we shall grow it a long time 

 yet. — F. D. Horner, Kirkby Malzeard, Eipon. 



THE ORCHID-HUNTER IN BURMAH.— No. S. 



Pegu and its neighbourhood are so rich in many fine Or- 

 chids, which are not so abundant in any other part of Burmah, 

 that before continuing a description of the various Dendrobia 

 it may not be uninteresting to enlarge on the different Orchids 

 found in that district. By placing a description of these plants 

 side by side, and giving a description of the climate in which 

 they all grow, a fair idea may be arrived at of the treatment 

 required to grow them to perfection. 



Pegu is probably the hottest part of Burmah, the average 

 temperature during the day in the shade from June to the end 

 of March being 80°, and in April and May 90°. The variation 

 of temperature during the day is not great — abont 5 more or 

 less. "The nights are comparatively cool, the heat being 10° less 

 than during the day. There are a few showers in April, and 

 from the end of May to the beginning of October a very heavy 

 rainfall, averaging 150 inches during the season. 



The Orchids of Pegu are common to the lower parts of 

 Burmah, and are pretty freely scattered throughout the dif- 

 ferent districts ; the Orchids of Upper Burmah, and again of 

 the mountains of Burmah, being quite distinct in character, 

 and in the circumstances in which they are placed by Nature. 



Vanda teres is the Orchid of all others that most strikes the 

 eye in travelling through Pegu. When in flower the way in 

 which it lights up the trees on which it grows is very remark- 

 able, making the trees look as if they themselves were in full 

 bloom. This plant is almost invariably found growing on 

 Lagerstromia reginse, a large tree, bearing beautiful mauve 

 flowers, which are generally out of blossom by the time 

 the epiphytes inhabiting it come into bloom. This tree has 

 very smooth branches, to which the roots of the Vanda cling. 

 The stems of Vanda teres are cylindrical, frequently .SO feet 

 long, often branching, and throwing these branches into the 

 air well above the trees on which they grow, so that when they 

 flower in midsummer the whole top of the tree is a mass of 

 blossom. The foliage is terete, rigid, colour dark green, more 

 like the foliage of the Luisias, and entirely distinct from that 

 characteristic of the other Vandas, with the exception of Vanda 

 teres Andersoni, which is a variety of Vanda teres, and Vanda 

 Hookeri. It bears splendid spikes of flowers, frequently ten 

 flowers on a stem. The flower is large, 3 inches across, vary- 

 ing from rosy red to pure white tinged with yellow. If Vanda 

 teres can only find a dead or leafless tree of Lagerstromia reginse 

 to grow on it is then indeed in its glory ; it embraces the tree 

 with its tendril roots like a beautiful creeper, completely cover- 

 ing the stems, and forming a glorious and gigantic bush of 

 flowers. 



Success in the cultivation of this plant in England has been 

 limited, and perhaps from the foregoing description the horti- 

 culturist may gain a few suggestive facts : First, that the roots 

 of this plant like the cleanest and smoothest of barks to grow 

 on ; secondly, that the plant loves the greatest amount of light ; 

 and lastly, that the more sun and heat it has the more freely 

 it grows and flowers. Cultivators in England generally con- 



