64 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[July 21, 1888. 



is from the same source as the Botanical Register 

 figure above cited is clear from the remarks made 

 under each. So that Cytisus racemosus of gar- 

 dens appears to be derived from the wild Canary- 

 Island plant, its present altered appearance being 

 due to continued selection of the most compact 

 forms for cultivation. If this view be the correct 

 one it would add yet another instance of plants long 

 cultivated in gardens becoming, by a process of 

 selection, so different from their wild originals as 

 to be almost unrecognisable, unless some record of 

 their history be preserved, if. A. Bolfe. 



OECHID COLLECTING. 



Early in 1887 1 was up the Irrawaddy on a collect- 

 ing tour, but more particularly in search of a certain 

 Dendrobium which a short time previously had 

 caused a great sensation at home, plants in flower 

 having sold for upwards of sixty guineas each — a 

 wonderful price for an Indian Orchid, though small 

 compared with what some South American species 

 have since realized. 



I was staying at a place many miles beyond our 

 frontier, and had determined to remain a few days, as 

 the place was teeming with Orchids. My interpreter 

 succeeded in inducing the head man of the village to 

 come and see me. When he was informed what my 

 business was he seemed considerably astonished ; he 

 could not understand what the white man (the first 

 he had ever seen) could want with what he termed 

 "jungle plants." I endeavoured to explain that 

 they were to be sent across the Kali pani (ocean), 

 but this was too much for him to take in. I was 

 either humbugging him, or — what was far worse in his 

 eyes — a fool. It took us not only an hour's con- 

 tinuous palavering, but also two or three brass 

 utensils as presents, before I could propitiate his 

 highness. At last I produced my book of drawings, 

 and was careful to first show him the most common 

 kinds, which I knew were to be had in abundance, 

 and then gradually led him on to what I more par- 

 ticularly required, reserving my plate of Dendrobium 

 till the last. He recognised many of the others I 

 had shown him, and gave me their vernacular names, 

 and it was an anxious moment for me when I turned 

 up my trump card. Did he know it, or was I again 

 to be disappointed ? — for that unfortunate plate had 

 been through the hands of perhaps fifty men of his 

 class without being recognised. My anxiety may be 

 imagined when I state that we had got as far up the 

 river as was safe to venture in these days. The 

 old man looked at it carefully first, shook his head, 

 then a brilliant idea seemed ,to strike him — had I 

 ever seen the plant in flower myself? Yes. Was 

 the plate exactly the right colour ? I looked at it 

 carefully, and at first replied in the affirmative, but, 

 on second thought, I recollected that one of the 

 colours had been rather overdone — a purplish-crim- 

 son had been given where a deep pink or rosy-crim- 

 son would have been nearer the mark. This was 

 explained to my old friend, showing him from another 

 plate the proper tint. There was no longer any 

 hesitation, he knew it well, and it was plentiful 

 enough, and so it had been for the last thirty or forty 

 miles of my journey. Then ,'why had none of the 

 other men recognised it ? Simply because the plate 

 I carried was wrongly coloured. I had wandered 

 through miles of forest myself, and lived in a miser- 

 able country boat for upwards of three weeks without 

 any return simply for this reason ; and so it is with 

 many of the plates published. 



Well, the following morning my old friend returned, 

 bringing upwards of a hundred plants of the true 

 Simon Pure. And now to strike a bargain — often 

 not a very easy matter with natives. Money was of 

 no use, for at that time these men did not know its 

 value. I produced a lot of brass utensils, cloths, and 

 other articles that I brought for the purpose of 

 barter, and he set to making his selection from them. 

 In the midst of this laborious task his eye hap- 

 pened to fall on an empty beer bottle. Here was a 

 prize indeed ! I noticed the old man's action, and 

 knew at once that he really meant business : he 



examined it carefully, and seemed satisfied with the 

 result. Would I give him this in exchange for the 

 plant ? Oh no, it was far too valuable. Well, what 

 did I want, then ? Simply another hundred plants 

 as good as he had already brought. After a slight 

 demur he consented, starting off at once to bring 

 them in. During his absence several other men 

 came in from his village ; as soon as they saw the 

 kind I was most anxious for, and the price for which 

 their head man had bargained, every man started at 

 once to collect them. Here was a good thing cer- 

 tainly ; but where were all the bottles to pay for 

 them ? The first thing to do was to overhaul my 

 stores. I found I had only thirty-three bottles of 

 beer left. There was nothing to be done but draw 

 the corks and empty their contents into the river. 

 By the following evening every bottle had been bar- 

 tered away, and still more plants were coming in. I 

 showed every article that I had brought for the 

 purpose of trade, but it was of no use — bottles, and 

 nothing but bottles, would they have. Well, I had 

 still seven bottles of whiskey left ; there was 

 nothing to be done but sacrifice the precious 

 fluid, and make the best bargaining I could. 

 Here was something new for them, being of white 

 glass, and of course I dilated on their superiority, 

 and they evidently thought so. One enterprising 

 spirit commenced by offering 300 plants for a bottle ; 

 this was quickly followed by 350 and at last came a 

 plucky offer of 400. Had I stuck out, I might have 

 got even a better figure, but I knocked the lot down 

 at the price, and the rest were taken up at the same 

 rate. This was probably the first public auction ever 

 held in the kingdom of Ava, now a dependency of 

 the British Crown. 



With the assistance of the natives it did not take 

 us long to pack all my purchases into the boat, and 

 being a beautiful moonlight night we started doivn 

 the river at once. I cannot say that the voyage was 

 a very pleasant one. Being a forced adherent to the 

 Temperance League is anything but agreeable, 

 especially on a river teeming with floating animal and 

 vegetable matter. In due course we arrived in 

 Rangoon without any mishap, and with probably the 

 cheapest cargo ever lauded. This is how one of the 

 first shipments of Dendrobium were col- 

 lected and paid for. I have often been up the same 

 river since, and landed at the same spot, where my 

 old friends are glad to greet me — but bottles will not 

 go down with them now. They know the value of our 

 silver currency well enough, and can drive as hard a 

 bargain as any nation I know. Cook's Universal 

 Tourist Budget, ex Indian Agriculturist. 



OSTEOWSKYA MAGNIFICA. 



Dr. Kegel did well when he spoke of this as a 

 wonderful Campanulaceous plant. It was collected 

 by Dr. Kegel's adventurous son on the high moun- 

 tains of Chanat Darwas, in Eastern Bokhara, and 

 was described by Dr. Eegel himself in a publication 

 not likely to be very accessible to the majority of 

 our readers.* The plant was exhibited by Messrs. 

 James Veitch & Sons from their nursery at Combe 

 Wood on Tuesday last week, and constituted the most 

 striking feature of the remarkable exhibition of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society on that day. It obtained 

 a First-class Certificate from the Floral Committee, 

 but in the case of an entirely new plant of this excel- 

 lence a Botanical Certificate would surely have been 

 the more appropriate award. This, however, is a 

 matter of relatively little consequence. The plant 

 amply deserved any award. 



It is a hardy perennial with tuberous roots. As 

 shown the stem is about 3 feet in height, green, 

 sprinkled with small red spots, with four-leaved 

 whorls at intervals. The leaves are glabrous, 

 rather fleshy, shortly stalked, oblong acute, coarsely 

 toothed. The inflorescence is cymose, the flowers 



* Ostrowskya magnilica, Kegel, nov. genus et nov. spec., in 

 Dascript. Plant. Nov. ct Minus Cognitarum, fasc. ix., St. Peters- 

 burg, 1884 ; Gartenflora, 1885, p. 135 and 1887, p. 639 ; Haage 

 & Schmidt, Catalogue, 1887, ic. parod et pessima. 



on long stalks, at first pendulous, afterwards nearly 

 erect ; when fully expanded they measure 5J inches 

 in diameter. The sepals are linear-lanceolate, with- 

 out appendages at the base, shorter than the bell- 

 shaped, pale lilac, eight-lobed corolla, the veins being 

 of a darker bluish-lilac colour. The eight filaments 

 are dilated at the base, the style beset with collecting 

 hairs, and the inferior ovary deeply furrowed. 



The plant, despite a paleness of colour in the 

 flower, is certainly one of the finest herbaceous 

 plants ever introduced, and as there can be no doubt 

 as to its hardihood, and little if any as to its adapt- 

 ing itself readily to cultivation, it is sure to become 

 a popular favourite. 



NAMED GLOXINIAS. 



At Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons' nursery recently I 

 noted the following new hybrids, which are certainly 

 improvements on older ones : — Ivanhoe, purple, 

 white centre, purple spotted — the flowers have a 

 margin of bluish-white ; The Moor, deep rich purple ; 

 Rajah, bluish-purple — large, well formed ; Celia, 

 purple-white, throat, spotted purple ; Jubilee, whitish 

 ground, spotted purple, with a margin free from spots ; 

 Cygnet, white, lilac margin, large open mouth ; Vir- 

 ginalis, the best pure white flowers — very large and of 

 handsome form ; Delicata, peculiarly feathered red, 

 margin white, flowers of fine form ; Irma, scarlet, 

 white throat ; Orestes, well formed flowers, of a 

 crimson colour, the margin paler; Cordelia, large 

 flowers, white, very densely spotted ; Comet, bright 

 crimson-scarlet ; Sunbeam, light scarlet, whitish 

 throat. The above gives an excellent variety of 

 colour, and as Gloxinias can be easily propagated a 

 stock of them is soon got up. The entire leaves or 

 portions of the leaves inserted in sandy soil will form 

 roots. The cutting pots should be placed in a warm 

 house, and to prevent the leaves flagging too much 

 they are better for being covered with bell-glasses, 

 to be kept close at first, and when it is seen that the 

 leaves are established, a small amount of air may be 

 admitted, gradually increasing the quantity until 

 the glasses may be removed altogether. The sandy 

 soil dries rapidly, and care must be taken to keep 

 it of an uniform degree of moisture, especially 

 first. Small tubers will form at the base of the 

 leaves, and as the leaves, or portions of them, decay, 

 water should be withheld gradually, until they are 

 quite decayed, when it becomes no longer necessary. 

 The tubers will keep well in the dried sandy soil, 

 until it is time to shake them out early or late the 

 following season, according to the time they are 

 required to flower ; or a succession may be obtained 

 by their being potted early or late. They are to be 

 seen in their best condition during the months of 

 May and June. 



Many persons have an idea that the stronger these 

 and allied plants can be grown the better it is for 

 them, and to that end they set the tubers in very 

 rich soil, whose richness is afterwards supplemented 

 by doses of manure-water frequently applied ; but 

 this is certainly an error in culture, and may pro- 

 mote a disease which causes black streaks to appear 

 in the leaves that checks growth. They will make a 

 clean healthy growth in a compost of three-parts 

 fibrous loam, one of light fibrous peat, one of leaf- 

 mould, and one of dried cow-manure, adding 

 sufficient clean, sharp sand to keep the compost 

 open. Each tuber may be potted separately in a 

 small pot ; to be repotted again when the plant has 

 grown sufficiently to fill the space with roots. It 

 must be well borne in mind that the plants are not 

 only checked but severely injured if they are allowed 

 to become too dry at the roots. The leaves suffer 

 from the attacks of thrips more than those of any 

 other plant, and generally make their appearance 

 after the plants have suffered a check. I never 

 syringe the leaves, and they seldom suffer from insect 

 pests when grown in the genial atmosphere of a 

 medium hothouse. When the plants are well in 

 flower they may be put into a greenhouse or cool 

 conservatory, where they will stand for a long time in 

 good condition. Those who do not care to grow 



