1 886. 



POPULAR GARDENING, 



As soon as new growth starts, all but the 

 strongest shoot sliould be pinched out. This 

 one .should be trained to a thick wire 

 attached to the rafter, and some 15 inches in 

 from the glass or wall. Besides this no 

 other growth should be allowed. In Sep- 

 tember the top should be pinched to check 

 the flow of sap, and strengthen the lateral 

 buds. A little before winter of each season 

 the vines should be taken down, pruned and 

 laid on the ground, covering them 

 lightly with straw or some other 

 .similar material. 



Concerning the further care of the 

 vines, all of which is a simple mat- 

 ter, we defer directions for some fu- 

 ture issue of Popular G.^rdening. 



ing a distinct botanical section, possess the same 

 peculiarity in their blossoming. 



Something About Orchids. 



BY MRS. E A. KENDRICK. 



The Orchids are now attracting much atten- 

 tion, and many persons are no doubt interested 

 in learning more of their peculiarities. 



Of the same type, broadlj- speaking, as the 

 Lilies, the parts of the flowers, however, in- 



A Freak of the Calla Not 

 Often Met. 



At intervals not occurring at all 

 often the well-known Calla produces 

 more than one spathe, as the large 

 white floral leaf, which is usually look- 

 ed upon as the flower, is called. Very 

 rarely the number of the spathes reach 

 three, as in the case herewith illus- 

 trated. This occurred to one in Mr. 

 Lampes' greenhouse, in Jersey City, 

 N. J. The spathes measured eleven 

 inches across, from tip to tip, and six 

 inches across the face in the opposite 

 direction— making quite a wonderful 

 "flower,'' indeed. 



One peculiai'it}- of this form of the 

 (^alla is that it seems incapable of 

 being perpetuated as a distinct form 

 or variety. The freak appears like the 

 flash of a meteor one time in ten thous- 

 and perhaps ; in no case which we have 

 seen or of which we have heard has 

 the same plant shown the same phe- 

 nomenon again. All of our cultivated 

 double flowers have originated through 

 some such departures from the single 

 forms, but which then became fixed 

 and capable of reproduction and im- ' 

 provement. In such respects the staid .^^'i 



old Calla seems willing to stand forth 

 as a case of obstinacy. 



Indeed we are not certain that flower lovers 

 generally would vote that to have double or 

 triple varieties of the Calla would be desirable. 

 The very simplicity in the form and color of 

 this flower as we all know it is its greatest 

 charm ; the double and single fonns the writer 

 has met have seemed to his eye much too stiff 

 and angular to be considered really handsome. 

 Like many another monstrosity, that of the 

 double or triple Calla is interesting and wel- 

 come as a curiosity, but for true beauty it must 

 stand in the shade of the single sort. 



A florist in Indiana, who is also much of a 

 botanist, in speaking of his experience with a 

 triple Calla, says that the plant which bore one 

 such flower soon afterwards, from some un- 

 known cause, rotted to the ground. He dug 

 down and took away the bulblets from the 

 sides of the tuber and planted them. Such as 

 grew produced single spathes similar to the 

 ordinary fonn. 



We have spoken of the Calla spathe as being 

 looked upon as the flower of the plant ; it is a 

 mistake, howbeit a very common one, to so 

 consider it. Let us get the right idea about 

 this matter concerning our beautiful favorite. 



The showy white spathe that looms up so 

 prominently is nothing more than a modified 

 leaf, botanically speaking, and has no relation 

 to any individual blossom. The no less beau- 

 tiful and delicately molded golden pillar, or 

 spadix, in the center comes nearer to being the 

 flower, for this is nothing other than a thick 

 mass of small antheriferous flowers, so closely 

 set together as to form almost a solid siirface. 

 These are the real blossoms. The well-known 

 Indian Turnip and various other plants, form- 



the canopied sepals and petals in a way to 

 suggest two clergymen under a sounding 

 board, the rostellum being the pulpit. It is 

 in some localities named Preachei-s in the 

 Pulpit on this account. Among the numerous 

 different species and varieties peculiar to the 

 United States are such as bear the names of 

 Whip-poor-will's Shoe, Venus Slipper, Old 

 Goose, Lady's Slipper, Noah's Ark, Adam 

 and Eve, Mocca.sin Flower, Ladies' Tresses, 

 Thi-ee Birds, Dragon's Claw, and others, all 

 of which names were suggested from 

 some real or fancied resemblance, in 

 many cases very marked. 



In the Orchids, peculiar to the Tropics 

 and grown under glass in the North, 

 we find the family at its best and show- 

 ing every conceivable color, except 

 blue, which is never met with in the 

 family, although violet, pui-ple and 

 lilac aie. Brown, so rarely seen in 

 flowers is in these quite common. Un- 

 like with most plants, cultivation seems 

 not to improve this family. 



Roots and leaves, as well as the 

 flowers, help maintain the reputation 

 of this family for oddity. Some of the 

 plants have genuine roots, fibrous, bulb- 

 ous or coral-like, and grow in the 

 ground like all well regulated vegeta- 

 bles, while others are epiphjtic, some 

 time air-plants, many parasitic and a 

 few are saprophytic. 



A TRIPLE CALLA. 



stead of being in threes are throughout the 

 family erratic as to their formation. Two ot 

 the outer whorl (sepals) often unite into one, 

 and together give the appearance of two sepals 

 instead of three. These are petal-like in color 

 and often of odd shape. 



In the next petal whorl one of these differs 

 greatly from the other two, and is called the 

 labellum or lip. This we see as the pouch in 

 the Cypripedium genus. The office of this 

 peculiar part seems to be to secrete nectar, to 

 model itself into various shapes for holding 

 fluid and to render itself attractive to the eye 

 of both man and insects. This remark may 

 seem sui-prising, but it is a fact that unless the 

 flowers are aided in fertilization b}' insects no 

 seeds mature, and extinction might follow. 



It is to be noticed that while in other flowers 

 the stamens (pollen producers) and pistils 

 (pollen receivers) are distinct, the former 

 arranged conveniently around the pistils for 

 depositing the pollen, in the Orchids these 

 organs are greatly modified. In most of them 

 there is but one fully developed stamen, and 

 this uniting with two of the pistils, forms the 

 coliunn, the remaining stigma being modified 

 into what is known as the rostellum. It is the 

 curious combinations of labellum, column and 

 rostellum that give these flowers their gro- 

 tesque appearance, resembling as they do 

 bees, butterflies, birds, spiders and even a dove 

 in one, a frog in another, and yet another is 

 like an ostrich feather, of rose and violet. 



One of our Northern Orchids, the superb 

 Showy Orchis (O. spectabilis), found growing 

 in shady places from Canada to the Southern 

 States, has the anther cells arranged under 



Fuchsias as House Plants. 



The Fuchsia, or Lady's Eardrop, is 

 one of the few house plants that may 

 be depended upon to yield a good quan- 

 tit)" of bloom throughout the winter. 

 But not every one who raises house 

 plants is successful in its culture, a 

 reason for this being that the plant is 

 a little delicate in some respects, al- 

 though in others it is anything but this. 

 On the subject of attention to the 

 peculiar wants of this plant in winter, 

 a writer in the Ohio Fanner offers 

 some useful ideas. Concerning the 

 complaint of the plants dropping their 

 leaves or flowers, he says there are 

 several causes, a principal one of which 

 is the destruction of the roots, either with too 

 much water, or they have been at times allowed 

 to suffer from getting too dry. 



Roots ot Fuchsias, the same writer goes on to 

 say, are very tender by being kept too wet or 

 too dry, and just as certain as the roots get 

 destroyed from any cause whatever the leaves 

 and flowers drop off. An escape of gas from 

 the burner or from the stove also makes the 

 leaves drop off. By keeping watch of these 

 evils there is not much trouble in growing and 

 flowering some ki nds of Fuchsias during winter. 

 There are, of course, certain varieties which 

 will not flower during the winter season, even 

 under the most favorable conditions given them 

 in a greenhouse ; therefore he would not advise 

 such as these being tried in the house. 



Fuchsias grow best in a mixture of good rich 

 loam and decayed vegetable fibre, such as comes 

 from an old turf heap, or else leaf mold from 

 the woods, about equal parts of each, A suffi- 

 cient mixture of sand to make the compost 

 open and in a condition to allow the passing of 

 the water freely is quite essential. If the pots 

 used are four inches or more across the top, 

 give drainage of pot-sherd or charcoal, until 

 about one-fourth of the pot is fUled, over which 

 place some moss to prevent the soil from mixing 

 with the drainage. After any shift, water 

 sufficiently to thoroughly wet the soil and keep 

 in a pai'tially shaded position until fresh roots 

 have made a start. After this care should be 

 taken not to give too much water to the roots; 

 a sprinkle overhead occasionally will do much 

 good. Keep the plant in as sunny a position 

 as available in winter, and sometimes turn it, 

 that all sides may be lienefited by the sun's rays. 



