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Deckmbbb 28, 1911. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



19 



SEASONABLE NOTES. 



Cypripedium Leeanum. 



Next to insigne, and immediately fol- 

 lowing it in flowering, comes C. Leea- 

 num. The flowers of this cypripedium, 

 while not borne on quite so stout stems 

 as insigne, are really handsomer and 

 worth more money, as their dorsal 

 sepal, with its great breadth, and their 

 attractive, showy flowers at once rivet 

 one's attention. Cypripedium Spiceria- 

 num X C. insigne produced this fine 

 Market variety, and anyone wanting a 

 companion to C. insigne should get 

 some of C. Leeanum; it is of easy cul- 

 ture, flowers freely and as an individ- 

 ual plant is even better than C. insigne, 

 unless some of its choice yellow forms 

 are included. Both C. insigne and C. 

 Leeanum do better in fibrous loam 

 than in fern root. I give them a night 

 temperature of 60 degrees in winter 

 and provide a little shade even in the 

 middle of winter. The great enemies 

 of cypripediums are thrips and red 

 spider. These soon disfigure the Leea- 

 nums, but if a generally moist atmos- 

 phere is kept, a high night tempera- 

 ture guarded against and the plants 

 sprayed on _ clear days, these pests 

 should not trouble them when once they 

 are located. Sponge the affected plants 

 carefully with soap and water. Aphine 

 has also been found to be good. 



Odontoglossum Crispum. 



The past hot summer was extremely 

 trying on these semi-alpine orchids and 

 the improvement many have been mak- 

 ing for two or three years preceding 

 was largely lost. Now, thanks to cool 

 weather, the plants are again picking 

 up and will, failing unforeseen contin- 

 gencies, give a fine crop of flowers the 

 coming spring. While the odontoglos- 

 sums want little of our broiling sum- 

 mer sun, they should, during our winter 

 months, get as much of old Sol's rays 

 as possible. It is utterly wrong to 

 give them a dark north space, where 

 in midwinter no sun will strike them 

 for months. It is also a mistake to 

 give them so low a night temperature. 

 We can educate them to 50 or even 55 

 degrees, and, given this night tempera- 

 ture and plenty of sun, it is really 

 astonishing how much progress they 

 will make. The leaves should take on 

 a bronzy hue. This makes them harder 

 and better fitted to stand our, to them, 

 severe summers. It is better to make 

 but sparing use of sphagnum moss for 

 surfacing the pots, as it is liable to 

 bring a crop of the small shell snails, 

 which raise havoc with the young flower 

 stems as they appear. Wrap the base 

 of each stalk in cotton-wool, as a pre- 

 ventive of their attacks. A night tem- 



perature of 50 to 52 degrees suits odon- 

 toglossums better in midwinter than 

 one 5 degrees or more lower. 



Coelogsme Cristata. 



The new bulbs of Ccelogyne cristata 

 are now well made up and flower spikes 

 are pushing from their bases, strong 

 bulbs bearing two spikes in many cases. 

 Though C. cristata requires a liberal 

 water supply while growing and enjoys 

 occasional doses of liquid manure, it 

 should now have a muen reduced sup- 

 ply of water — not, of course, to the ex- 

 tent of causing any shriveling of the 

 bulbs. This orchid is one which dis- 

 likes a high temperature and no at- 



tempt should be made to force it into 

 flower. The colder end of the cattleya 

 house is the warmest location it should 

 have in winter, while in summer it does 

 better with the really cold orchids, such 

 as odontoglossums and masdevallias. 

 For general work, few orchids are as 

 valuable as C. cristata, and as it is in- 

 expensive and easily grown, any coun- 

 try florist able to grow a few varieties 

 should include it. There is an ex- 

 tremely poor type, characterized by 

 round bulbs, which flowers sparsely 

 and carries small racemes of narrow- 

 petaled flowers. There is a lot of this 

 in cultivation, but it is of little value. 

 The Chatsworthi type is the one to 

 grow; this has long, oval bulbs and 

 broad-petaled flowers, carried four to 

 seven on a raceme. The variety C. 

 cristata Lemoniana, with pale lemon 

 lip, and C. cristata alba, pure white, 

 follow the Chatsworthi variety in flow- 

 ering and should always be included. 



Pans and baskets are better for coelo- 

 gynes than pots. Fill these half full 

 of broken crocks and let the other half 

 be fern fiber, with some sphagnum and 

 charcoal added. Raise the plants well 

 over the tops of the pans. When break- 

 ing them up, use wire pegs to firm 

 them. The plants will not flower much 

 the year after being repanned, so it is 

 not wise to overhaul the whole of the 

 plants in one season. 



SWEET PEAS DO NOT THBIVE. 



I have some sweet peas, winter 

 varieties, which, when sown in a bench 

 in my carnation house in August, germi- 

 nated satisfactorily, but when about 

 two or three inches high they began to 

 lose their leaves and wither away. I 

 have resown them, and, although not so 

 bad, they do not see-m to thrive. The 

 soil is a light, sandy loam, with a little 

 lime added, and they have been care- 

 fully watered. I should l)e glad to re- 

 ceive anv information on the subject. 

 S. J. 



It is possible that the trouble may be 

 in the seed rather than in the compost. 

 If rather old, the seed may germinate 

 but may never display much vitality. 

 Try sowing the seed in flats of pure 

 sand, and later pot the plants ofiP 

 singly, using sandy loam to which has 

 been added some old hotbed manure or 

 mushroom manure. Do not use any fresh 

 manure. Avoid chemicals. Do not use 

 any lime in the soil. This should not be 

 necessary, and if used in excess it is 

 much more harmful than helpful, as it 

 releases the ammonia from the manure 

 in the soil, leaving it much impover- 

 ished. C. W. 



SWEET PEAS TURNING YELLOW. 



I am enclosing a couple of Christmas 

 Pink sweet peas. Will you be kind 



enough to state what causes the back 

 of the flowers at the top to come with 

 a sort of yellow tinge on the edge of 

 the pink ? They will not bleach out in 

 the sun and will not open right. I was 

 troubled all of last winter in the same 

 way. The white sorts do not do it so 

 badly. Is it caused by fumigating! 

 They were in good condition until 

 about two weeks ago. They come all 

 right in the spring of the year. 



C. S. L. 



The most likely cause of your trouble 

 is a too low night temperature. This 

 should be kept at 48 to 50 degrees as 

 a minimum during winter, for plants 

 that are flowering. The trouble is 

 likely to be aggravated during long 

 spells of cold, sunless weather, and if 

 you can give a little more heat it will 

 improve them. Do not force them in 

 any way; temperatures of 55 degrees 

 on dull days and 60 to 65 degrees as a 

 maximum on sunny days are about 

 right. Ventilate freely on every possi- 

 ble occasion. Do not use tobacco stems 

 for fumigating. Tobacco dust answers 

 well; also some of the nicotine papers. 

 No scorching will result if these are 

 used. C. W. 



Gretna, La. — B. M. Wichers and Miss 

 Lulu Kuntz, the latter of Cincinnati, O., 

 were married recently on one of Mr. 

 Wichers' trips to that city. 



