13fi 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I I'ebniaty 17, 187«. 



on the contrary, ia five-angled, though branches often com- 

 menee growth with foar, afterwards assnmiDij a fifth, and the 

 colour of the young stems is distinctly inclined to brown. This 

 species is pretty well known, and as the other is similar in 

 habit we need not enter into minute description. 



Euphorbinm is a drug of very ancient use. Its collection 

 was described by Dioscoridos and Pliny ; the name, according 

 to the latter writer, being given in honour of Euphorbus, phy- 

 sician to Juba II., King of Jlnuritania, who died about A p. 18. 

 It is obtained by making incisions in the green branches, allow- 

 ing the milky juice to flow, which having hardened by exposure 

 to the air is ready for collection. The collector is obliged to 

 tie a cloth over his month and nose to prevent the entrance 

 of the irritating dust. It has a place in all the early pharma- 

 oopieias, but as a remedy it is now obsolete, and is said to be 

 in some demand as an ingredient of a paint for the protection 

 of ships' bottoms. 



To this we may add a f«w remarks on cultivation, answer- 

 ing equally well for others of similar succulent habit. As 

 might be supposed, they prefer a sunny position. The winter 

 temperature should be from 10' to 45' as a minimum, while in 

 summer, when fire heat is not required, the house with sun 

 heat may rise to what it will, supposing there be a moderate 

 amount of ventilation. It is a good practice not to close the 

 house entirely at night. Being kept dry when at rest it is 

 important to observe when there is inclination to grow, so as 

 to give ths required amount of moisture, otherwise the growth 

 may be stunted, as is sometimes the case with Cacti : so treated 

 they get into a weak unhealthy state, and may remain in that 

 condition for a length of time, or even die. Generally speak- 

 ing Euphorbias and Cacti, as well as most other plants having 

 a dry season of rest, require during their activity a consider- 

 able amount of moisture, as it were to balance and prepare for 

 the time of drought. 



In potting it is important to insure good and lasting drainage. 

 The compost should consist chiefly of loam, with a good part 

 of broken bricks, throwing in all the chips and dust, and if 

 sufficient is used no sand will be required. The larger pieces 

 may be used for fixing the stems, if they are not already firm, 

 on the roots, which of course they should be if not shaken 

 out. This is usually the best method when support is neces- 

 sary. The only method of propagation is by means of cut- 

 tings, except when seeds are imported. They grow so very 

 easily that no instructions are required. Cuttings may be 

 taken off whenever sufficiently firm, and if possible should be 

 removed close to the parent stem where there is usually a 

 contraction, so as to have as small a cut surface as possible. 

 Unlike Cacti, they are not benefited by being laid in the sun, 

 and will not throw out roots in the air. As soon as the end 

 is dry each cutting should be placed in as email pot as will 

 hold it, and be fixed in with bits of brick, using the same 

 compost as for potting. They root best on a shelf near the 

 glass. At the present time some Euphorbias are inclined to 

 grow, and those that have started must have water occasionally, 

 but no encouragement should be given till the days are longer 

 with more sun, when syringing once or twice a-day and shut- 

 ting up with heit and moisture may be resorted to. 



In the Orchid collection many attractive kinds are in flower. 

 Stenorrhyuchin speciosus has a spike of scarlet flowers and 

 bracts proceediug from a tuft of plain green or sometimes 

 spotted leaves. It is a terrestrial species, and should be better 

 known than is the case, being very showy and useful at this 

 season. Ada aurantiaca strikes the attention from the bright 

 orange colour of its flowers, a tint rare among Orchids. Odon- 

 toglossums are represented by several species, among others 

 the new 0. Roezlii in light and dark varieties, and the Lily-of- 

 the-Valley-like 0. pulchellum. Oncidium aureum is a new 

 introduction of the Messrs. Veitch. It has a bright yellow lip, 

 and is ornamental on that account ; but the sepals and petals 

 are much reduced in si/e and of a pale yellowish green. 

 0. serratum is remarkable from its excessively crisped seg- 

 ments. The flowers are large, with the petals united at their 

 tips, of a chocolate brown colour margined with yellow. The 

 spike is much branched and grows from ri to 12 feet in length. 

 0. cheirophorum produces a multitude of small yellow blooms, 

 and is one of the prettiest, (^luite distinct is the rose-coloured 

 0. cucullatnm, the hp covered with purple spots, and its beauty 

 is no less than its deviation from the usual aspect of the genus. 

 Of Lycaste Skinneri several plants are in flower, one extremely 

 dark and another very pale, the others being intermediate 

 tints. There are also in this house LoeUa anoeps and Cattleya 

 Waracewiozii, besides the very ouriona Kestrepia antermifera. 



It much resemblea a Pleurothallis in habit, but the flowere are 

 very different. The dorsal sepal is very long and has a thick- 

 ened point ; in calour it ia yellowish white streaked with 

 purple. The lateral sepals are connate below with a broad 

 blade 1\ inch long, brownish red and thickly dotted with 

 darker colour ; oaoily mistaken for the lip under which it ia 

 placed. To this with the petals, which resemble the antenna 

 of an insect, is due the singular character of the flower. These 

 are very long and coloured like the dorsal sepal. Tlie lip is 

 small and inconspicuous. 



In the next house is a fine plant of Vauda suavis with three 

 large spikes, and a fourth in view, (toodyera discolor is not 

 unlovely with its white flowers in contract to the dark foliage. 

 Several plants of PhaUeuopsis amabilis and grandiflora are 

 coming into flower. Of Dendrobium nobile there are five 

 varieties. D. heterocarpum is just opening. Angriecum ebur- 

 neum virens is very usefal and free-blooming, though less 

 magnificent than A. sesiiuipedale. 



APPLE TREES CANKERING-THE 

 HAWTHORNDEN. 



Odb Ilawthorndeu Apple trees are in a similar dilemma with 

 those of " C. R." and "An Old G.\rdenek." They are on the 

 Doucin stock, and though the trees bear freely the fruit is very 

 much pitted and cracked, and the branches are very much 

 cankered, dying-off annually until the trees have a wretched 

 appearance. The soil is a light sandy loam naturally, but has 

 been well manured and fresh soil added, and is well drained. 

 I have trees of this kind as standards on Crab stocks, and these 

 are, if anything, worse in point of canker than those on the 

 Doucin or Paradise stock — the standards are in a turfed 

 orchard, in the reverse of an over-stimulated state from richness 

 of soil, whilst the pyramids are not pinched for manure. Thus 

 I have trees in rich and poor soil. Poverty of soil or its oppo- 

 site extreme are not the best means of avoiding canker, yet 

 no tree that I have seen of this valuable Apple planted within 

 the last thirty years has done other than grow vigorously for 

 a few years, eventually succumbing to canker, the disease 

 spreading at a rate proportionate to the previous free growth 

 of the trees. 



In the vale of York I have seen from standard trees very 

 heavy crops of fine unpitted fruit produced by trees any- 

 thing rather than large and vigorous, they, in fact, being 

 seldom more than half the size of other kinds of the same 

 age. In Vale Royal I have noticed the same result — viz,, 

 moderate-sized, and I should say old trees, very free-bearing, 

 producing abundant crops of tine fruit. All the trees I have 

 seen uncankered and producing unpitted and uncracked fruit 

 were certainly not planted within the last twenty years, not 

 one that I have seen in that time doing other than fail. 



Seeing that it was utterly futile to continue planting this 

 Apple I have reserved but two trees, and upon those I intend 

 to experiment to the last. They are, or rather were, pyramids, 

 for one is eaten by canker almost to the stump, and is as ugly 

 as a tree well can be. They are on the Paradise stock, and 

 are about thirteen years from the graft. One tree I have 

 cured of canker already in so far as respects the wood, but the 

 fruit is still spotted and cracked. This tree is certainly not 

 half the size of other kinds planted at the same time, but the 

 other woe-begone subject is little beyond a bare stem, gnarled 

 to the wood by canker, its fruit being scabbed and cracked to 

 the core. The roots are healthy, and throw up shoots from 

 the stock freely — proof positive that the channels of the scion 

 are almost closed to the upward passage of the sap : hence 

 new parts are put forth for its appropriation. There is cer- 

 tainly small hope of a tree such as this being restored to 

 health and fruit-bearing, but there is a prospect of the scion 

 originating new parts proof against canker, from not being in 

 a diseased state, showing " a deficiency of vital energy, and 

 consequent inability to imbibe and elaborate the nourishment 

 necessary to sustain its frame in vigour, and much less to sup- 

 ply the healthful development of new parts." — {Scii'iicc and 

 Practice uf Ganlniiug, page .'JoS, in which from pages 347 to 

 S.")(j inclusive is admirably stated the causes of canker.) 



The case ia clearly one of debiUty. It may have arisen from 

 over-excitement, from the use of unripened scions, and by the 

 employment of scions taken from trees in an advanced state 

 of decay from canker or old age ; but I do not desire to enter 

 at present upon the cause of this disastrous malady ; only, as I 

 have stated that I have not seen a healthy tree of Hawthorn- 

 den planted within the last twenty years survive a bearing 



