lOU 



JOtENAL 01'' HOKTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( Janaiu-y 29, 1874 



ject of eriperiment, as its flowering season is of considerable 

 duration. The effect would probably be enhanced by planting 

 it in association with the yellow-flowered S. orientalis, a plant 

 of similar habit and height. It must, however, be conceded 

 that neither of these plants can vie in brilliancy with the plants 

 usually employed in bedding, and their proper place is, perhaps, 

 the front row of the mixed border. — ()F. Thomjisoii's English 

 Flower Garden, Revised hy the Author.) 



A CENTURY OP ORCHIDS FOR AMATEUR 

 GROWERS.— No. 18. 



CALANTHE. 



In this genus we have two sets of plants, each widely dif- 

 ferent in habit of growth. The species and varieties here 

 included are aU winter-flowering plants, and yield a profusion 

 of lovely flowers, aUke useful for button-hole bouquets or the 

 embelUshmeut of a lady's hair. Unfortunately they lose 

 their leaves about the time the scapes appear, and therefore 

 are despised by many ; but it a few Ferns are grouped amongst 

 them the want of theii' own leaves is never felt, indeed some 

 of the more coriaceous-leaved Ferns may be planted in the 

 pots with them, and then it matters nothing. The compost 

 the plants enjoy is a mixture of peat, light loam, good leaf 

 mould, and dry cow manure in equal parts ; and observe when 

 potting not to elevate them upon a cone of soil, but pot like an 

 ordinary stove or greenhouse plant, a little below the rim. 

 During the growing season they enjoy an abundant supply of 

 water, but after growth is complete it must be administered 

 more sparingly, and therefore for this reason I have recom- 

 mended the selection of coriaceous-leaved Ferns for planting 

 with them, because they can better withstand a little depriva- 

 tion of water. At this season, when potting should soon com- 

 mence, the tops of the flask-shaped pseudobulbs may bo 

 broken-off and placed upon pots or small pans of sand, where, 

 if kept moderately moist, they will soon start into growth and 

 make fresh plants. 



C. VESTITA RHEEA. — As beforo remarked, these are free-growing 

 plants. They enjoy good heat when forming their pseudobulbs, 

 but when in flower may be brought into the dwelling-house 

 without injury. The flowers are very numerous, large and pure 

 white, saving a blotch of rich reddish crimson va the throat. 

 It blooms during winter and spring, and if kept dry the flowers 

 last a long time in perfection. This season we have had 

 another enemy to contend with in the shape of dense fogs, 

 which singularly stripped our Calanthes of all the expanded 

 blooms, and turned what few leaves remained upon them 

 suddenly yellow. Native of Moulmein. 



C. VESTITA LUTEA. — This is the exact counterpart of the pre- 

 ceding, saving in its having a large blotch of yellow upon the 

 lip instead of crimson, which makes it very desirable as a con- 

 trast with the red-eyed variety ; but I do not consider it so 

 useful for head-dresses, because yellow in my estimation has a 

 bad effect in a lady's hair. I may be wrong in this. What 

 do my fair readers think on the matter ? It is a native of 

 Moulmein. 



C. Veitchii. — A truly lovely plant, and, what is more, a 

 garden hybrid, having been raised in this country by crossing 

 C. vestita and Limatodes rosea. It produces spikes from 2 to 

 3 feet in length, bearing immense quantities of large, rich, deep 

 rose-coloured flowers, the throat or eye being white. I shaU, 

 however, hope to say something more respecting this plant, 

 with the Editors' permission, when recording the results of 

 hybridisation of Orchids at a future time. 



CYJIBIDIUII. 



Very few members of this genus find favour with the pro- 

 fessional Orchid-grower, although the two species here enume- 

 rated are exceptions to this iiile. Some of the less beautiful 

 kinds are not allowed to cumber the space. One, however, 

 which I consider should find a place in every house is C. si- 

 nense ; true, it is duU in colour, but then its fragrance is so 

 delightful that for this alone it cannot be too highly recom- 

 mended. These remarks will probably cause a laugh at my 

 expense from some, but I cannot cast off my love for many 

 of these good old things, much as I love the newer or more 

 brilliantly-coloured species which are continually being added 

 to our collections. It must be remembered I have not in- 

 cluded this plant in my " Century," but have thrown it in for 

 luck, so that my readers will please remember this if the colours 

 do not suit their fancy. Cymbidiums should be grown in good 

 rough fibrou.! peat, with a very little sphagnum mixed with it. 



They like a good supply of water during summer, but less will 

 suffice in winter ; but at no time should they be dried-up, or 

 the lower leaves will turn yellow. 



C. EBUENEDM. — The species is both beautiful and rare, a de- 

 sideratum of Orchid-growers of aU grades. The plant is very 

 handsome when not in flower ; the leaves are narrow, some- 

 what erect, and bright green in colour; flowers large, and thick 

 and fleshy in texture, pure waxy-white, saving the centre of 

 the Up, where it is stained pale yellow. It usuaUy blooms 

 early in spring, and lasts in fuU beauty several weeks. Native 

 of Assam. 



C. Masieesii. — In general appearance this resembles the 

 preceding ; the foliage, however, is somewhat broader, and 

 more pendulous. The flowers are produced during winter, the 

 spikes bearing numerous flowers, simUar to C. ebumeum, 

 but much smaUer. Native of the East Indies. — Expekio 

 Ceede. 



NEW BOOK. 



The Treasury of Botany : A Popular Dictionary of the Vege- 

 table Kingdom. By .J. Lindley and T. Mooke. Longman 

 and Co. New and revised edition, with Supplement. 

 We noticed and commended this book of reference when it 

 first appeared, and its revised re-issue with a Supplement of 

 one hundred pages entitles it to another commendation. It 

 shall be in one sentence — It is a very useful and trustworthy 

 book. We give a specimen from the Supplement. 



" Bono dina. — The Feejee name of a species of Solanum 

 (S. Uporo, also known as S. anthropophagorum) which, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Seemann, ' ought in Feejeean estimation to accom- 

 pany a cannibal feast. It is a bushy shrub, seldom higher than 

 6 feet, with a dark glossy foliage, and berries of the shape, size, 

 and colour of a Tomato. The fruit has a faint aromatic smeU, 

 and is occasionaUy prepared Uke Tomato sauce. The leaves are 

 wrapped round the bokola as those of the taro are around pork, 

 and baked with it on heated stones. Even the white settlers 

 use the leaves as a pot-herb.' " 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



It is announced from Vienna that a process, indicated by 

 M. Hooibrenk, for facilitating the feetilisation of plants 

 has proved successful in the Botanical Gardens there. The 

 process consists simply in touching the end of the pistil — that 

 is, the stigma — in a flower with a pencU dipped in honey, or, 

 better, in honey having mixed with it some poUen of the plant 

 operated upon. A Hibiscus mexicanus, which had never yielded 

 fruit, having undergone this treatment, produced quite a large 

 quantity of good seeds. With several fruit trees the process 

 also succeeded. Further, after operating on certain branches 

 only of trees which did not yield fruit, it was found that fruit 

 formed on these, whUe the branches left in the natural state 

 gave none. The effect, if real, may be explained by supposing 

 that the honey retains the poUen grains on the stigma, and thus 

 favours the formation of a poUen tube, which is indispensable 

 to the fertUisation. 



In a letter to the French Society of Horticulture a 



chemist, M. Fremont, mentions that a good way of peesekving 

 cut flowees in a state of freshness is to dissolve sal-ammoniac, 

 or chlorhydrate of ammonia with the water in which the stems 

 are put, in the proportion of five grammes per litre of water. 

 They will thus often be kept fresh for a fortnight. The experi- 

 ment is one which can be easUy made. — (English Mechanic.) 



■ Alfeed de Eothbohild, Esq., has consented to preside 



at the thirty-first anniversary festival in aid of the funds of 

 the Gaedenees' Eoyal Benevolent Institution, to be held 

 in the ensuing summer. 



Peize Cups, of five guineas each, wiUbe presented this 



year by Messrs. Sutton, at the Beading Horticultural Society's 

 Spring and Autumn Shows ; International Fruit and Vegetable 

 Show, Belfast ; Royal Berkshire Root Show, Eeading ; and 

 Bu-mingham and Midland Counties' Show. 



CANADIAN ORCHIDS. 

 This peculiar and beautiful famUy of plants is tolerably well 

 represented in Canada. They form an exceUent example of 

 the mutual dependauoe existing between the vegetable and 

 animal kingdoms. When the flower is examined, it is evident 

 that the only way in which most of the species belonging to 

 this order can be fertilised, is by means of receiving the poUen 



