so 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



Mat 14, 1908. 



a rise of 10 to 15 degrees in the day- 

 time. H. C. 



The plants forwarded showed a great 

 difference in condition and also more than 

 one cause of trouble. The soil seems to be 

 good in texture, and any deficiency could 

 easily be corrected by the addition of 

 lime, bone or manure, whichever seemed 

 to be needed. The Enchantress plant 

 seemed in good condition, except that 

 the stems seemed rather short. Late 

 planting might have caused this. 



The Lawson plants, however, show sev- 

 eral kinds of trouble. The largest plant 

 was affected with the branch-rot, which 

 has given so many growers no end of 

 trouble in growing this variety during the 

 last three years. No sure remedy for 

 this is known at this time. Another plant 

 had that curled up, weak appearance 

 which shoAvcd decided deterioration in 

 vitality. No doubt this plant was from 

 a cutting taken from a similar plant. The 

 third plant had the appearance of having 

 been planted late, or having never taken 

 hold of the soil properly. 



I certainly would not advise you to 



plant young plants propagated from cut- 

 tings taken from such plants as these. 

 If a large percentage of your Lawson 

 plants are like these, it shows that your 

 stock of this variety is in a bad way 

 and that you are due to stock up with 

 some other variety which is in more 

 robust health. 



Lawson was a grand variety, which 

 has made money for many growers, and 

 some growers have it in fine condition 

 yet. Where it has been propagated care- 

 fully year after year, it has lost but 

 little of its former quality and produc- 

 tiveness. It has been more sensitive to 

 disturbance and soil variance than most 

 varieties, and for that reason many grow- 

 ers have never attained the success with 

 this variety that others have. But, like 

 all other varieties, it is being excelled 

 and superseded by better varieties, some 

 of them being its own progeny, and 

 its decline has been rapid during the 

 last three years. A few more years will 

 see it going out of cultivation entirely, 

 but its fame and that of its raiser will 

 live a long time after the variety has 

 passed out of existence. A. F. J. B. 



r^r^. 



CATTLEYAS. 



[A synopsis of a paper by George E. McClure, 

 read before tbe Buffalo Florists' Club.] 



When the lay mind contemplates an 

 orchid, a cattleya is what comes before 

 his mental vision. In fact, we might 

 say that the cattleya is the type of an 

 orchid, not in a botanical sense, but as 

 far as the public is concerned. Fully 

 nine-tenths of the orchids sold in this 

 country are cattleyas, and the genus cat- 

 tleya will always hold first place as the 

 most showy and useful of the family. 



Among the 10,000 representatives of 

 the natural order, Orchidacese, there are 

 few to surpass the cattleyas in beauty. 

 The genus Iselia comes nearest to the 

 cattleyas in point of beauty and useful- 

 ness; in fact, -the uninitiated cannot 

 discern between the two. The chief dif- 

 ference is ao obscure botanical one. The 

 cattleya has four tiny pollen masses, 

 while the Iselia has eight. This may be 

 said to be the sole difference. 



Of Easy Culture. 



The idea generally prevails that cat- 

 tleyas, and in fact all orchids, are dif- 

 ficult to cultivate. This idea is entirely 

 without foundation, being induced by 

 the common belief that there is some- 

 thing uncanny or mysterious about or- 

 chids. The cattleya will respond to nat- 

 ural treatment as readily as most of 

 our common plants. 



Greenhouses specially built for cat- 

 tleyas are not necessary; any light 

 greenhouse, which is not too high, will 

 prove suitable. The plants need not -oc- 

 cupy valuable space on the benches, but 



may be suspended from the roofs of 

 greenhouses devoted to a mixed collec- 

 tion of plants, when a temperature of 

 from 60 to 05 degrees is maintained, and 

 in thia way will prove an acceptable by- 

 product. 



The plants should never be more than 

 four feet from the glass and less than 

 that is better. The only objection to 

 the system of suspending cattleyas lies 

 in the fact that they are often neglected 

 and become too dry or too wet, at least 

 when suspended high enough to be out 

 of easy reach. When bench room can 

 be afforded it is well to grow the plants 

 in this manner, as better oversight can 

 be had over them. When the bench sys- 

 tem is pursued there should be a raised, 

 or secondary, bench placed upon the 

 regular greenhouse bench. This bench 

 should be made of wood slats, from one 

 and one-half to two inches wide, and 

 from one-half to three-fourths inches 

 thick. These slats should be made into 

 frames four to six feet long, so as to 

 be easily removed for the purpose of 

 cleaning the lower bench. The upper, 

 or slat, bench should be raised about 

 eight inches above the lower on wood or 

 iron uprights. The uprights should 

 stand in shallow pans of water to pre- 

 vent snails or woodlice from reaching 

 the plants. A layer of moss or fine 

 gravel should be spread over the lower 

 bench, which should be kept damp to 

 insure a moist atmosphere, which is ab- 

 solutely essential to the health of the 

 plants. 



A Special Cattlrya House. 



If a greenhouse is to be built for th« 



express purpose of raising cattleyas, it 

 should be designed to be as low as pos- 

 sible, and if the green house is 

 narrow and built to accommodate two 

 stages, the direction at which it is built 

 is of no consequence, but if the house 

 is high, with three stages and two walks, 

 it should, if possible, run north and 

 south, so that both sides have the bene- 

 fit of equal light in the winter, which is 

 essential. The central bench in a three- 

 bench house is usually broad and should 

 be raised in the middle for economy of 

 space. The raising of the plants in the 

 center stage would shade one-half of 

 the plants in the winter if the house 

 ran east and west. 



Shading. 



The matter of shading is an important 

 one. With a small collection, in a small 

 greenhouse, lath frames could be made 

 about the size of hotbed sash, or just 

 large enough to reach from the ridge 

 of the house to the eaves. The rough 

 laths of the plasterers could be used if 

 strict economy is desired; otherwise, 

 planed lumber would be more desirable, 

 as it could be painted and be more 

 sightly and durable. The laths should 

 be spaced according to their width; 

 there should be as much light as shadow. 

 Laths wider than one and one-half 

 inches should not be used. The frames 

 should be merely laid on the glass but 

 not fixed to the house, as they should 

 be removed in the evening and on all 

 dull days. 



During the early spring, when such a 

 shade would be too heavy, a temporary 

 shade may be secured by spraying the 

 glass with a lime wash to which a little 

 salt has been added. This shading can 

 be easily removed with a hose when the 

 lath shading is to be used. No shade 

 should be used in the dull winter 

 months. 



When cattleyas are extensively grown 

 the best shading is obtained by the use 

 of large wooden shades fixed to the roof 

 and made to work after the fashion "of 

 the Venetian blind, from the ridge of 

 the house to the eaves. The slats in 

 this should not meet. When closed there 

 should be a space one-fourth of the 

 width of the slat between each slat. 

 The slats should be not more than two 

 inches wide. Each slat should be at- 

 tached to a wooden rod, which can be 

 manipulated from the ground. This 

 rod can be so regulated as to admit 

 almost any degree of light required. In 

 dull weather the only light obstruction 

 is the width of the slat, about one- 

 fourth of an inch. This is a labor sav- 

 ing device and is far ahead of any 

 shade which cannot be controlled, such 

 as paint or whitewash. The Venetian 

 blind can be made to order at any plan- 

 ing mill at moderate cost, and if prop- 

 erly cared for, painted and stored each 

 winter,. will last many years. This shade 

 is also an insurance against hail. 



Culture. 



The failure which so often attends the 

 growing of cattleyas is nearly always 

 due to ignorance of the conditions un- 

 der which the plants grow in a state of 

 nature. Everyone knows that there is 

 a wet and dry season in the tropics and 

 many believe that the dry season is more 

 rigorous than it really is. Although the 

 rains cease, the condensing of the moist- 

 ure in the humid atmosphere of the 

 tropics results in a heavy dew, which 

 sustains plant ]ifo, during the resting 



