THE 



FLORICULTURAL CABINET, 



MAY 1st, 1836. 



ARTICLE I. 



CULTURE OF THE BLETIA TANKERVILLIJE, 



BY MR. PARKIN, 



Gardener to J. S. Stanhope, Esq., Common Hall, near Barnsley, Yorkshire. 



The Bletia Tankervilliae, one of the many beautiful productions of 

 China, is an old inhabitant of British stoves, we, nevertheless, fre- 

 quently witness unsuccessful attempts to cultivate this plant, so as 

 to insure a 6ne show of its singular and beautiful flowers. When 

 properly managed, few plants present a more gay appearance when 

 in flower; we have here one plant in a pot, twelve inches in diam- 

 eter, which, in November last threw up nine stems, each of which 

 continued for three months to unfold a succession of its lovely flow- 

 ers ; we, therefore, flatter ourselves, that we have been tolerably suc- 

 cessful, and consequently, venture to offer for the consideration of 

 your readers and inquirers a few observations thereon ; not, how- 

 ever, presuming to have it thought, that no other method would 

 be equally successful. The plant in question, is one with many 

 others (when growing in the limited space of a flower pot) that may 

 be greatly injured by being overabundantly watered; any plants pro- 

 ducing abundance of roots, naturally suggests the idea of requiring 

 abundance of food : but here it becomes the duty of the cultivator 

 to enquire, what that food should be. — Water, is with undoubted 

 propriety considered to be the medium through which plants are sup- 

 plied with food, and is generally applied with a liberal hand, to such 

 as are provided with abundance of roots ; with the Bletia Tanker- 

 villiae, we may easily err ; for although, as long as the soil is open 

 and the pots well drained, a liberal supply of this element may be 

 required, yet when the plants have attained about the maximum of 

 their growth, the pots will have become crowded with roots to such a 

 degree, as will very materially interrupt the passage of water through 

 them, such being the case, water more sparingly, so as not to keep 

 the roots in a constant state of saturation, and on the other hand, 



VOL. IV. O 



