94 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[July 28, 1888. 



flowers pink; Sanibucus raceraosus runs into many 

 various forms of leaf; S. racemosus var. seratifolius 

 is one of the best of these. Eucryphia pinnati- 

 folia has white flowers, which appear in September, 

 is an evergreen of distinct appearance. Phila- 

 delphus microphyllns is a miniature Mock Orange, 

 with shilling-large white flowers, smelling of Pine- 

 apple. A very distinct-looking evergreen is seen in 

 Adenocarpus decorticans ; Buddlea intermedia has a 

 a long cluster of light purple flowers, not unlike those 

 of common Sage at a short distance. Several line 

 species of Japan Oaks, of undoubted hardiness, have 

 grown into good-sized bushes ; they would grow 

 equally well in the standard form. Quercus cus- 

 pidata, now in bloom, is one of the most distinct 

 forms; it has entire leaves, 6 — 7 inches long and 

 2 inches wide, of a dark green colour, and leathery 

 texture. Our 0. Ilex is a pigmy form beside this 



(To bs confirmed.) 



Orchid Notes and Gleanings. 



CATTLEYA SCHRODERiE ALBA. 

 Mb. Moese sends us a flower in which the parts 

 of the flower are in decussate or crossed pairs instead 

 of in threes, having two sepals and two petals with- 

 out a lip. The column is normal. 



Zygopetalttm stapelioides, Iichb.f. 

 This pretty little plant is now flowering in the 

 Kew collection, and though not a showy plant it is 

 one well worthy of cultivation. The flowers bear a 

 certain resemblance to those of certain Stape- 

 lias, especially in colour — a circumstance which 

 suggested the specific name. The whole plant 

 is but some 3 — 1 inches high, growing in a dense 

 tuft, the lanceolate leaves being very pale green, and 

 the flowers, which are borne singly on short peduncles 

 from the base of the pseudo-bulbs, measure 1£ — 2 

 inches across, the colour being pale greenish with 

 numerous transverse purple bars, except the lip, 

 which is very dark blackish-purple, running off into 

 spots on the margin. It i3 well figured at t. 3877 o! 

 the Botanical Magazine, under the name Maxillaria 

 stapelioiiles, from a plant collected by Gardner, on 

 the Organ Mountains, in Brazil, and which flowered 

 in the Glasgow Botanic Garden, in 1830. It was 

 originally figured and described by Link and Otto, as 

 Cymbidium stapelioides, then transferred by Lindley 

 to Maxillaria, in his Genera and Species of Orchid- 

 aceous Plants, afterwards made Promeneca stapelioides 

 by the same author, and finally this genus has been 

 merged in Zygopetalum, the name now standing as 

 above. 



Zl'GOPETALUM CIl'RINUM, Nicholson. 



Ciosely allied to the preceding and very similar in 

 habit is Zygopetalum citrinum, a really handsome 

 little gem, also flowering at Kew. The flowers are 

 a little more open, the segments mors acute, the 

 colour canary-yellow, the face of the column being 

 striped with reddish-brown, and the side-lobes of the 

 lip spotted with the same colour. It is also a native 

 of Brazil, and is the Promenaja citrina of Don. 

 E. A. E. 



OncIDIUM SPLENDIDUM, &C. 



This very beautiful Orchid is now flowering at the 

 residence of G. C. Raphael, Esq., Castle Hill, 

 Englefield Green. The plant in question is one of 

 very recent importation, and has proved to bs quite 

 true to name. Ths writer had an opportunity of 

 inspecting one of the very few plants of this species 

 when it flowered at Manley Hall, Manchester, now 

 some sixteen years ago, and has no hesitation in say- 

 ing that the one at present in bloom is in every 

 respect quite up to the original form. The imported 

 plant was placed in a basket with a little peat, 

 crocks, &c, and hung up in a house where 

 Dendrobiums were. 



Coelogynes, Miltonia vexillaria are doing very 

 satisfactorily here ; two new growths of the latter 

 species have pushed up which have made four 

 pseudobulbs ; the more forward one has made a 



spike 3 feet long, with three laterals, pro- 

 ducing altogether twenty-thres flowers of fine 

 size and substance ; the second spike is only par- 

 tially developed. In ths same house is Cojlogyne 

 Massangeana, with a spike of twenty-four flowers. 

 Oucidium Crcesus has two spikes ; 0. Gardnerianum 

 is in good form; Miltonia vexillaria Cobbianum, 

 almost pure white ; M. v. rubellum, very dark in 

 colour and nice in form ; Burlingtonia Candida, 

 Cattleya Mendelii gigas, C. Gaskelliana superba, 

 Disa grandiflora, Odontoglossnm, &c, in other houses, 

 are also bright and gav. W. 8. 



part decayed stable manure, and some crushed bones ; 

 and this material requires to be rammed into the 

 pots quite firmly. I have repotted them in sunny 

 weather, and kept the shoots from flagging, and the 

 leaves from dropping oft' by frequent syringings with 

 tepid water. J. Douglas. 



The Orchard House. 



In a season such as the present one, the value of 

 a heating apparatus in these houses is of great value 

 to bring up the flavour in the fruit, and also to 

 develope the wood in the first place, and assist in 

 ripening it later on. Those who have not had great 

 experience in growing orchard-house fruit (Peaches 

 and Nectarines) do not sufficiently realise the im- 

 portance of the special treatment the trees require 

 in the various stages of the growth of the fruits. I 

 have already detailed the management of the trees 

 when in bloom, and after the blossoms were set, up 

 to the stoning period. Eor about six weeks, when 

 the stones are forming, the fruit apparently makes 

 no progress, but this is only apparent, as growth is 

 quite as active at that time as at any other; and 

 when the stones are perfectly formed, the fruit 

 rapidly swells and ripens, but in this stage a high 

 temperature is necessary for the production of fruit 

 of large size and good quality; and in cold, dull 

 weather, such as we have had during the last six 

 weeks, this has not been attainable without arti- 

 ficial heat. I noticed this year that in our earliest 

 Peach-house, from which the fruit has just been 

 gathered, the fruits at the warmest part of the house 

 were much larger and of better quality than those 

 close to the ventilators, where the constant circu- 

 lation of air by day kept the atmosphere some 

 degrees cooler than the part of the trees near the 

 top of the rafters, where the air was at least 5° 

 warmer by night as well as by day. 



Pot Trees require a very great deal of attention 

 both during the stoning period and at the time from 

 the finishing of stoning until the fruit is nearly ripe. 

 Neglect to supply the roots with water would be dis- 

 astrous, and a high temperature can be kept up in 

 warm weather by shutting up the house early, say 

 4 in the afternoon. The temperature might rise to 

 90°, and at the time of shutting up the trees ought 

 to be well syringed with water that is nearly as warm 

 as the temperature of the house. In dull cold 

 weather artificial heat is of great service in improving 

 the quality of the fruit. When the fruit is nearly 

 ripe syringing should be discontinued, and more air 

 admitted, and during this time artificial heat may be 

 again very useful. It does not follow that the fruit 

 will not ripen in an unheated house ; but it is quite 

 certain that it ripens much better, is of larger size, 

 and superior in flavour with it. The young shoots 

 may have been stopped up to the end of July, but it 

 is better not to do so later. It is a great error 

 to leave too much young wood on the trees — not a 

 shoot should be left that is not necessary. This 

 applies to Pears and Plums ; they, of course, ripen 

 much more freely in an unheated house ; and some 

 of them do well when placed out-of-doors. I have 

 often urged the importance of repotting any trees 

 that require it soon after the fruit is gathered. The 

 object is to get them well established before the leaf 

 falls. They do not mind a considerable reduction of 

 the roots, even to the extent of chopping off the 

 matted mass of fibres round the ball, reducing it an 

 inch or more all round, and repotting them in the 

 same sized pots. 



Trees when planted out do not require a very rich 

 soil, or gross, unfruitful growth will result ; but 

 when trees are in in pots, and under the control of 

 the cultivator, a much richer compost becomes 

 necessarry. I use good fibrous loam four parts, one 



The Flower Garden. 



Memoranda. — In regard to summer bedding plants 

 the present is a good time for taking notes of defects 

 and shortcomings, that they may be avoided in future, 

 and especially in respect of novelties, the arrange- 

 ment of plants, contemplated changes, and other 

 matters. I would also advise the stay-at-home gar- 

 dener to leave his retirement and make a point c f 

 seeing what his neighbours are doing if he would net 

 lag behind in his profession. Tuberous-rooted Be- 

 gonias are rapidly rising in favour as summer bed- 

 ding plants, and in such wet weather as we have re- 

 cently experienced, their superiority over Pelargo- 

 niums has been well proved, so that those who have 

 not hitherto grown them in beds would do well to 

 give them a trial next year. Some of the most 

 attractive beds in the gardens here consist of these 

 plants with a groundwork of Alternanthera aurea ; 

 the latter, however, is not so effective as Mesembry- 

 authemum cordifolium variegatum, used on a pre- 

 vious occasion, and another year we must seek for an 

 improvement in other directions; some of the Sedums, 

 Saxifragas, or Herniarias, will probably answer the 

 purpose. Other effective bedders are to be met with 

 in the double-flowered Ivy-leaf Pelargonium Jeanne 

 Gillet, of a rich magenta colour, the bed being edged 

 with Golden Pyrethrum. Of the newer zonals I 

 have not yet seen anything to surpass Henry Jacoby 

 or Jenny Dodds, rich crimson and pink respectively ; 

 whilst amongst scarlets John Gibbons will probably 

 hold a foremost place for a considerable time to come. 

 Coming to sub-tropical subjects, I find that Cannabis 

 gigantea interspersed with Lilium auratum, on a 

 groundwork of Mesembryanthemum, and an edging 

 of Alternantheras make effective beds ; the same may 

 be said of Solanum laciniatum with a groundwork of 

 Petunia Countess of Ellesmere, and an edging of 

 scarlet Tom Thumb Tropreolums. Again, S. ro- 

 bustum, Purple King Verbena, with a broad band of 

 Stachys lanata, may be noted. The plan of forming 

 carpet-beds in a series of terraces has exceeded our 

 most sanguine expectations, and will certainly be 

 adopted next near ; we regard them as being infinitely 

 more pleasing and effective than those that are 

 planted on the old and monotonous " one level " 

 system ; of course they require a larger number of 

 plants and more labour to keep them in good order, 

 but this is more than amply compensated for by re- 

 results. Cyperus natalense, which we are employing 

 for the first time as a " dot plant " on carpet-beds, 

 i3 found to be a grand acquisition, and will be largely 

 used for the same purpose in the future. 



Hardy Bulbs. — Certain species of spring-flowering 

 bulbs growing in mixed borders, and which have 

 been undisturbed for two or three years, may now be 

 lifted and replanted, the principal object being to 

 give them a change of soil, without which bulbous 

 ) ike other plants will deteriorate in the course of time. 

 Amongst others that will be benefited by this treat- 

 ment we may name Scilla sibirica, S. bifolia, Chiono- 

 doxaLucilice, ParrotTulips.andNarcissus. Although 

 many successful growers take up the bulbs — dry, 

 store away and plant at a later period, the practice is 

 not absolutely essential to secure success, and I my- 

 self prefer that the work of lifting, sorting, cleaning, 

 and planting should proceed simultaneously. Of 

 course there are cases where this line of 

 practice must be deviated from at time3, as in the 

 case of Ranunculus Asiaticus, Anemone coronaria 

 and their varieties, which may be lifted when ripened 

 off, stored away in a cool place, and planted at a 

 later period. 



Hedges. — Where these have not been already 

 trimmed and put in good order, that work ought not 

 to be further delayed. Those of a deciduous 

 character may be cut with a pair of shears, but with 

 evergreens, such as Laurels, &c, it is best to use a 

 knife or secateur. Those that were planted last 

 autumn or spring may be left uncut. Hoe and clean 

 the soil at the bottom as often as becomes necessary ; 

 and see that the young growth does not get choked 

 with weeds. J. Horsr-Jield, Heyteshnry. 



